For many years the sports industry has been the leader in musculo-skeletal rehabilitation, with injured players undertaking a vigorous and sustained daily program of both active and passive treatments – all designed to speed up the rehab process. In some sporting clubs it’s a 24 hour rehab process, the aim being to get players back on the field in the shortest possible time.
The workers compensation field has been left behind with people going to a couple of appointments a week, mainly for passive treatments that include rubbing, crunching, heating and vibrating. The responsibility for getting better is devolved to someone wearing a white coat.
THE POINT OF DIFFERENCE
The point of difference is that
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on the sporting field, muscles, ligaments and tendons are torn by trauma. Players suffer from injuries. |
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in the workers compensation arena, most of the joint and muscle pain is caused by skeletal misalignment caused by a lack of strength and flexibility. People are suffering from personally-generated dysfunctions. They are 'tipped over the edge' by incidents that people in good musculo-skeletal health take in their stride. |
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the treatment of personally-generated dysfunctions needs to be different from the treatment for traumatic injuries. |
Most workers compensation rehab programs lack strength and flexibility programs of sufficient frequency, duration and intensity to dramatically speed up the rehab process. They focus on passive treatments, when the lack of passive treatments is not the underlying cause of the dysfunction.
The point of difference with the Pro-Active Rehab program is that its principal focus is on people, themselves spending long periods of time each day for at least a week doing the flexibility and strength exercises designed to get their bodies back into better alignment and strong enough to be supported in good alignment.
The Pro-Active Rehab program is an intensive rehab program that caters for
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individuals who already have back pain (and other musculo-skeletal pain) and enrol in the program themselves |
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people from corporate organisations who are at grave risk of a serious musculo-skeletal breakdown |
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people from corporate organisations who have had a musculo-skeletal breakdown and are on workers compensation. |
The program involves one-on-one-assessments and a minimum of a week of daily strength and flexibility sessions in a group class.
The underlying principal is that rehabilitation is the full time job of a person on workers compensation.
The program is badged as the Pro-Active Rehab program to make the distinction that it is
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active, not passive treatment. Most workers compensation rehab programs have as their core treatment, hands on, passive, one-on-one therapies |
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is a graduated workout program ranging from 10 minutes a day at work through to a 7 hour a day, week-long program for people who are already on a workers compensation rehab program – or people you want to keep out of the workers compensation system |
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an injury management program in which participants become their own therapists, doing the strength and flexibility exercises that only they can do to get themselves back into good musculo-skeletal health |
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a program directed at the cause of the problem (the muscles that have taken the pelvis and the bones above it out of alignment), not the symptoms (the ligaments, tendons and muscles of the lower back that have been stretched beyond their pain threshold and herniated discs that are pressing against the spinal column.) |
Current workers compensation rehab methodology involves one-on-one passive treatments. There are a number of drawbacks.
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A lack of passive treatment is not the underlying cause of most joint and muscle problems. |
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It’s usually the case that the therapeutic attention is directed at the spot where the pain is, not the underlying cause of the problem, which is tight muscles attached to the pelvis and the bones above it. Attacking the spot where it hurts tends to be symptom relieving in nature, provide temporary relief that leads to more therapy after the effect of the last treatment has worn off. |
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People aren’t encouraged to spend 8 hours a day doing their specific and general strength and flexibility exercises – and general fitness activities. |
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For most people on workers compensation for lower back (and other personally-generated joint and muscle) pain, the frequency, intensity and duration of their strength and flexibility rehab program is so low the chances of a speedy recovery are greatly compromised. Attending a physiotherapy session three times a week is not the quickest route to a speedy recovery. |
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At $80 for 20 minutes on the plinth, physiotherapy is very expensive treatment. Chiropractic at $40 for 3 minutes is even more expensive. |
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The problem for so many people on workers compensation programs is that the rehab strategy employed by elite level sporting clubs is not on the radar. |
Pro-Active Rehab Workouts
There are five Pro-Active Workouts, all designed to loosen off the muscles that have taken the pelvis and the bones above it out of alignment – and strengthen the major muscles of the body.
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10 minute work-place workout – with strength and flexibility exercises being rotated during the week. | ||||||||||||||||||
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20 minute workout - our recommended back pain maintenance program comprising a suite of flexibility and strength exercises. Recommended for both work and home. | ||||||||||||||||||
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1 hour workout - with more exercises and some being done for longer periods. Recommended for people who are at grave risk of back pain and those who already have it. The workout can take place at work or at home – or both. | ||||||||||||||||||
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2 hour workout - an extension of the one hour workout with some exercises being done for longer periods of time. Our recommended workout for people in pain -at both work and home. | ||||||||||||||||||
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4 hour workout - an extension of the two-hour program with an extra rotation of the deep, relaxing flexibility exercises and a strength training session. | ||||||||||||||||||
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7 hour workout - an intensive (though not strenuous) program of hours a day over 5 or more days, designed to kick-start the rehab process by getting the body back into better alignment. Involves three rotations of the exercises in the 2-hour program, plus strength and aerobic fitness workouts and inner mental training.
Participants receive information on a range of general health topics, including fitness, diet and stress management.
To be able to spend 7 hours a day in supervised classes, promises to have a dramatic impact on speeding up the rehab process.
In short it’s a full week, devoted to becoming stronger, more flexible, back in better alignment and becoming focused on being in good musculo-skeletal health.
That’s the quickest and cheapest route to restoring poor musculo-skeletal health to good.
In the #6. Pro-Active Rehab Workout program, people under ‘workers compensation orders’ spend 7 hours a day, the focus of which is
This is the rehab practice that takes the lead from sports injury rehabilitation. To be able to spend 7 hours a day in supervised classes, promises to have a dramatic impact on speeding up the rehab process.
In short it’s a full week, devoted to becoming stronger, more flexible, back in better alignment and becoming focused on being in good musculo-skeletal health. That’s the quickest and cheapest route to restoring poor musculo-skeletal health to good. |
The Pro-Active Rehab program is an affordable option.
Depending on how large your staff is, paying a modest amount to either keep your staff out of the workers compensation arena, or speeding up their recovery could save you hundreds, thousands or millions of dollars in workers compensation premiums.
MANAGING THE RISK OF MUSCULO-SKELETAL DYSFUNCTION
The Pro-Active Rehab program is also recommended for organisations that want to avoid musculo-skeletal complaints being tipped into the workers compensation black hole.
When between 40% and 50% of people in workforce groups give themselves 5/10 or less for the current condition of their musculo-skeletal health, nipping the problem in the bud makes eminent sense.
Lau Tzu said, ‘A large problem could have been solved easily when it was small problem.’ When it comes to workers compensation, he might well have said, ‘A large expense could have been a small expense it the problem had been treated early enough.’
How many people would take up an offer from an employer who said, ‘If you take a week’s holiday leave, I’ll pay for your attendance at the Pro-Active rehab program.’
Sound like a good deal? It is for someone who’s fair dinkum about relieving their back pain.
We believe the Pro-Active Rehab format will appeal to both employers and workers compensation insurers alike. In some cases it will pay an employer to send people to Pro-Active Rehab program – outside of the workers compensation system.
When workers compensation insurers start rating their premiums against risk, keeping people in good musculo-skeletal health is going to save money, heaps of it.
In a nutshell the aim of the Pro-Active Rehab program is to provide members of the community, together with people on workers compensation (and those at grave risk to an organisation’s workers compensation arrangements) with an intensive, supervised musculo-skeletal rehab program designed to loosen tight muscles and strengthen weak muscles, so they quickly get back into better alignment and pain free in the shortest possible time.
If passive therapies are to be included in the rehab mix, they may speed up the rehab process.