Workers' Compensation

Ergonomics/Job Analysis

Work Conditioning

Physical Abilities/Fit-for-Duty

Functional Capacity Evaluation

Work Conditioning

Work Conditioning is possibly the most valuable
return to work tool, but most underused

Sixty percent (60%) of Job Ready Services’ work conditioning participants result in recommendations to return to some type of work (even those who previously had an “invalid” FCE result)

Work Conditioning is:

• A structured, DAILY program consisting of

  • Physical Conditioning
  • Ergonomics Training
  • Safe work practice education
  • Self-treatment instruction on how to handle inevitable flare-ups at work and prevent re-injury
• An integral step in the physical recovery of the injured worker
• Individualized training based on the worker’s specific job

Work Conditioning is NOT:

• Continuation of Physical or Occupational Therapy
• A two – three day per week program
• Work Hardening (there is a difference!)

The best time to refer someone for work conditioning is when the individual has met their goals in treatment or in P.T., but they are not quite ready to return to work yet.  The more delayed the return to work is, the less likely that person will ever return to work.

Previous studies have indicated that someone who has been out of work for 6 months has only a 50% probability of returning to work.  However, current studies are showing that the time out of work is only 6 weeks when the probability of return to work is reduced by 50%!

Other benefits of work conditioning include:

• An earlier, safer return to work
• Expansion of an invalid FCE – more information is needed regarding the individual's capabilities and effort.
• After a Fit For Duty exam has indicated a deficit which prevents the employee from returning to work safely
  After an employee has returned from extended leave (e.g., FMLA, STD, etc)
• A daily program that gets the injured worker “out of the house” and more focused on a daily program of work
• Self-imposed competitiveness among the participants, which motivates them to reach beyond their goals
• Increased socialization and less focus on pain and disability
• Increased confidence in returning to a job they once feared as a possible source of re-injury