Have you suffered an injury sustained from a work-related activity or unexpected accident? Returning to work after an injury can be stressful, especially if there’s a risk of re-injury. Here are some tips on how to balance your work life so you don’t get hurt again.
The Road To Complete Recovery and Limiting Re-Injury
Whether you’ve sprained an ankle, strained a muscle, or broken a bone, your body is going to need a few basic things to ensure that you don’t re-aggravate your injury:
- Resting and taking necessary breaks
- Managing your time appropriately
- Stretching sore muscles and joints
- Identifying work hazards
Although you might have a lot of catching up to do, It’s important not to rush back to your busy schedule. Setting out a plan with your doctor, communicating with your employer, and taking the time to stop and reevaluate how you feel are important for your recovery and your long-term health.
The Balance Between Rehab and Performance
Treating systemically and re-grooving movement patterns is the new norm to break through that rehab cycle. Everyone has performance goals, and eventually wants to get back to that previous level of health and mobility that they were at before injury.
Returning from injury isn’t and shouldn’t be a quick process. It’s far better to be smarter so you can continue to get your body back in shape. Progressing from rehab to strength starts with taking necessary precautions, and then building on it daily. It may involve regressing, substituting, or even just slowing down movements until you get stronger.
Supporting Employees When They’re Back To Work
If you have an employee that has suffered a work injury and is returning to work, it’s important to support them and make sure they understand the importance of avoiding re-injury. In order to help them with their transition back to work, there are still things you can do as an employer or colleague:
- Empower employees to speak up – encourage open communication with injured employees about comfort levels when returning to regular duty, to ensure they feel comfortable on the job
- Ask for input on how to prevent similar incidents in the future by reviewing the cause of the injury, and ways to remove any workplace hazards
- Point out the new sensations and limitations employees might not be aware of
- Check in with the employee regularly and make sure they’re not in any danger of doing the same job tasks that may aggravate the injury or cause another one
- Promote job readiness – work readiness is important for all workers, not just those who have been re-injured
As an employer, your goal is to help your employee stay safe, gain confidence in their ability, and help them return to health. As an employee, your priority is your well-being, and you shouldn’t feel pressured to do a job that has a cycle of injuries leading to constant pain and rehab.
