Better Backs aimed to reduce the:

• incidence of back pain and upper limb disorders (ULDs) caused or made worse by work;
• impact of back pain and ULDs;
• number of working days lost due to back pain and ULDs.

We encouraged employers and workers to work together to help people return to normal activities, including work.

The campaign built on the success of last year’s 2006 campaign, which focused on reducing cases of back pain caused or made worse by work. This year the focus of the campaign has been on prevention of manual handling and ULD related injuries in the workplace. We will also continued to promote the importance of managing back pain more generally by “staying active” and good return to work practices.

We were keen to see the continuing involvement of businesses, professional bodies, trade unions and employees’ representatives, trade associations and the voluntary sector in Better Backs. To this end we encouraged people to carry out activities that supported the campaign.