When an individual has sustained a work-related injury and needs rehabilitation for that injury, work hardening programs have been designed to specifically transition from the physical therapy into a regimented program associated with the specific work tasks. The focus of these work hardening programs is to replicate the unique environmental and physical tasks that will be required of the worker for him or her to return to work safely and productively.
The interventions include performing all of the functional tasks of the job while ensuring that the appropriate strength, endurance, and coordination is achieved so that the injury does not reoccur and that a new repetitive motion type injury does not manifest.
The specific work hardening items can be used to:
- Test for the current status of strength, endurance, and coordination of involved muscles and tissues. This is referred to as Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) on their material handling abilities.
- Condition the individual by gradually and increasingly subject the tissues to stresses and strains so that they can properly handle the work environment prior to return-to-work functionality.
- Evaluate the individual’s progress in response to the conditioning interventions and to determine when that person can safely and effectively return to performing the required tasks of their specific job description.
Work hardening FCE products include:
- Lifting boxes for strengthening and ergonomic instruction
- Weight and configuration adjustable sleds for strengthening
- Work devices to replicate specific tasks
- Specific devices needed to fine tune the required functional skills of the specific work tasks
Let ProHealthcareProducts.com help you help your workers return to function and contribution to the organization.