Did you know?

• Over 1,500,000 cases involved days away from work due to nonfatal injuries and illnesses in private industry in 2001. (Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Department of Labor. 2001.) For latest numbers, see www.bls.gov.

• One in four workers sustained back injuries that required days away from work. Median days away from work were six. (Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Department of Labor. 2000. Lost-Worktime Injuries and Illnesses: Characteristics and Resulting Time Away From Work. Washington D.C.: USDL 02-196.)

• More than 600,000 people a year miss at least one day of work due to injuries from repetitive stretching, bending or typing. (Haddad, Charles. 2000. OSHA’s new regs will the ease the pain – for everybody. Business Week Issue 3710 (December 4): 90.)

• Ten percent of the average payroll is spent on direct and indirect costs resulting from employee disability. Of an estimated 5.9 million workers injured in 1998, 2.8 million or approximately 47 percent of the injured workers resulted in lost work time. (Fitzpatrick, Mary Ann and Phyllis M. King. 2001. Disability management pays off. American Society of Safety Engineers. January: 39-41.)

• Early intervention helped to return employees to work 20 percent faster than expected, or 2.7 weeks sooner than their expected return to work date. Employers who do not start return-to-work efforts during the short-term disability stage risk higher long-term disability claim costs and longer lost-time absences. (Martin, Melissa. 2001. Early intervention can speed employees’ return to work. Occupational Hazards 63, no. 7 (July): 19-20.)

• Work Conditioning – is a post-acute, work related, intensive, goal-oriented treatment program specifically designed to restore an individual’s systemic, neuro-musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary functions. The objective of the Work Conditioning program is to prepare the injured worker for return to work, job search or job retraining by providing an intensive, active, rehabilitation program that addresses their physical needs.

• Return-to-Work Strategies – the RN Case Manager works closely with the employer to identify the most appropriate return-to-work transition for the injured worker, which can include: same or different job, light duty, combination of work site and clinic based rehabilitation.

Industrial Testing: The Company offers different tests to assist employers in objectively managing injury-related costs.

• Post-employment/pre-placement testing – Santé’s testing procedures review and assess an employee’s capabilities in relationship to the physical requirements of the job position. Screening identifies employees at possible risk of injury and establishes a baseline profile, which will guide rehabilitation if the employee is later injured. Santé tailors the testing to accurately reflect the working conditions.

• Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) – determines a patient’s functional abilities, cardiovascular fitness, endurance and flexibility. The FCE is performed prior to entering, during and before discharge from the Work Hardening or Work Conditioning Program.

Work-related injuries and conditions appropriate for rehabilitation therapy include:

• Back/Neck Pain

• Hand/Wrist Injury

• Ankle and Knee Injuries

• Shoulder Dysfunction

• Headache and Jaw Pain

• Post-surgical Pain and Dysfunction

• Most musculoskeletal injury that results in the patient suffering a loss of function (unhealed fractures excluded)

Since a door was not available at the loading dock, Ray F. decided to improvise. He parked his semi-trailer in the parking lot, and manually started to pull the skid to the rear of the truck. When the skid broke, the force threw Ray out of the trailer with such impact that his body bounced in the air and flipped him over face down on the pavement. Ray remembers regaining consciousness… the pain in his shoulder and neck was excruciating and his left leg was awkwardly extended.

Several hours later, Ray was released from the emergency room with a soft neck collar. After the physician at his company’s clinic reviewed the X-ray report, Ray returned to light duty at work and went to physical therapy at Santé. Five weeks later, the clinic physician was ready to release him to full duty. When Ray mentioned his left thumb and little finger were tingling, a MRI was ordered.

The MRI scan and subsequent X-rays showed that the vertebrae were dislocated and pushed into the spinal cord. An emergency cervical fusion was performed. It was a close call… if Ray’s spinal column had been narrower, it would have been severed and he could have been paralyzed from the waist down.

Following surgery, Ray started light physical therapy three times a week at Santé. After four months of therapy, he transitioned to the Work Conditioning Program. Ray completed the program early and was back to full duty six months after his injury. “Thanks to Santé’s Work Conditioning Program I’m in better physical shape than before my injury. The therapists were extremely competent, professional, and very knowledgeable. They worked very closely with me to ensure I did not re-injure myself.”

In his free time, Ray is back building and repairing computers. “This injury has taught me to listen to my body. I never realized how much I use my neck muscles while driving the semi-trailer or sitting in front of the computer. Even though my physician has discharged me, I’m still going to Santé to keep myself in condition. I lost over 40 pounds and want to keep it off, said Ray.