Living with pain can lead to job loss, but more flexible jobs could help

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-09-12 00:01

Australia; International

Photo by Standsome Worklifestyle on Unsplash

People who experience periods of pain in any given year are more likely to be out of work the year after, according to a study of Australian data. The research suggests that the impact of pain in undermining people’s ability to work explains why pain eventually leads to being out of work. They found that people with greater ability to adapt their work tasks were less likely to end up out of work.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research BMJ Group, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Journal/
conference: Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: City St George’s, University of London, UK

Funder: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for- profit sectors.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.