ABSTRACT
Back injuries are a relatively common cause of disability and a major contributor to worker sick leave time. Evaluation of back injuries has been notoriously difficult. Some estimations suggest that verifiable diagnoses are obtainable in only about 15 percent of patients with low back pain. While diagnosis may be difficult, disability evaluation of patients with back injuries can be performed. These aim to determine whether the patient’s condition is permanent and stationary, the percentage of impairment, and whether it is safe for the patient to return to work. The determination of impairment and safety are functional capacity evaluations which involve non-medical procedures. Such evaluations assess an individual’s physical strengths in light of the requirements of the work place. While this straight-forward approach is attractively simple, complications associated with functional capacity evaluation include the problem of malingering (less than maximal effort) and the justified hesitation to maximally stress an injury for fear of re-injury during the test.
