Work Injury in Great Neck and Floral Park

Work conditioning and work hardening are two types of high-level therapeutic interventions that help patients regain sufficient function to return to work. These therapies are great for patients who have completed traditional physical therapy but are still unable to perform specific job duties. Work conditioning and work toughening use simulated or real work tasks to prepare patients for a safe return to work.

What Can You Expect? 

Work conditioning and work hardening are 4- to 8-week programs that meet the job requirements of each patient. Sessions for work conditioning last 1-3 hours and are held 2-3 days per week. Sessions for work hardening are 2 to 4 hours and last for 3-5 days each week. Each program is tailored to the individual patient and depends on the prescriptions of the treating physician. Patients can often adjust the length and time of sessions to fit their work schedule.

A therapist will assess the injury and discuss the patient’s needs with regard to their job at the first visit. The therapist will need to determine the patient’s functional baseline.

1. Assess the patient’s current level of physical activity (sedentary/light, medium, or heavy).
2. Assess the patient’s aerobic ability (poor, fair or average), and determine if they are good or bad.
3. Find out the patient’s grip strength.
4. Assess the patient’s core, mobility and joint strengths in relation to their injury.

Once the functional baseline has been established, an individual program will be developed to improve the patient’s physical abilities. The patient will receive a program that combines cardiovascular and strengthening exercises with stretching and mobility conditioning, all of which are moderate to high-intensity and tailored to their specific job tasks. Regular progress updates will be provided to the referring physician and other authorized parties. These will include documentation of patient attendance, participation, progression, and more. When the patient regains full functionality or reaches a plateau, discharge orders will be issued.

For Injured Workers

Being injured at work can cause significant stress, pain, and aggravation affecting your ability to effectively work and provide adequate income for your needs. Our number one priority is to ensure your pain is relieved fast and you can safely return to work as soon as possible. We emphasize the following when it comes to your recovery after a work-related injury:

• Relieve pain quickly
• Restore the normal range of motion
• Restore strength, flexibility, and stamina
• Ensure a complete recovery after necessary surgical procedures
• Education on how to manage your injury and prevent future occurrences
• Talk to your employer or case manager today to discover how we can help you recover quickly from your injury and get back to work safely!

For Case Managers and Employers

We offer a variety of comprehensive programs for injured workers to help them recover quickly and safely. Once a worker has been injured, it is our goal to restore him/her to optimal function for safe and efficient job performance in a timely manner. We provide effective case management, detailed and timely reports, and positive communication between health care providers, workers, and case managers for the worker’s compensation case.

We assess the worker’s current functional abilities and gather information regarding his/ her job requirements. Treatment is both evaluative and restorative. Therapy will utilize a combination of manual therapy techniques, therapeutic exercises, body mechanics training, modalities, and patient education/ home programming.

Preventative Care Benefits to Employers:

• Decreased turnover
• Increased worker productivity
• Safer work environment
• Reductions in lost time
• Diminished incidence of fraud and abuse

Work Hardening in Great Neck & Floral Park

Work Hardening is a specialized program with a different focus from post-injury therapy. The focus is to get the worker in work shape to successfully return to their pre-injury job. The primary job functions are simulated in the clinic with indirect supervision from a physical therapist. This can be done in a group setting in which each patient is working on their job-specific tasks required to get them back to work. Work Hardening is an ideal way to get a recovered patient back to work while minimizing the potential of re-injury.

Work Conditioning in Great Neck & Floral Park

This is similar to work hardening but usually comes before. Work Conditioning is performed within the course of post-injury therapy and contains a certain work task being performed as a part of the routine therapy treatment. An example would be a carpenter who has a shoulder injury and spends 10 minutes of his therapy treatment hammering over his head.

Contact us today at Great Neck, NY center to learn more about our work hardening and conditioning programs!