Workplace Health
Occupational Health (OH) refers to the relationship between work and health. Workplace injuries and insidious onset conditions in work can cause a lot of strain on both employees and employers. Our Chartered Physiotherapists are involved in the management of occupational related ‘injuries’, assessment of return to work, functional rehabilitation programmes and health promotion activities in local workplaces.
‘Early intervention’ is something we are passionate about. We believe early access to physiotherapy prevents work related ‘niggles’ becoming bigger problems. We believe that providing workers with the knowledge to move safely and comfortably at work will improve job satisfaction and productivity, as well as preventing workplace discomfort.
Occupational injuries cover a broad spectrum ranging from traumatic injuries at one end of the scale to repetitive strain injuries for repeated use. When injuries at work occur as a result of trauma they are acutely managed in the same way as any other traumatic cases – on the basis of the tissue damaged and the functional limitations that have occurred. Repetitive strain injuries (RSI) or occupational overuse syndromes (OOS) are disorders that affect any part of the musculoskeletal system. These types of musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace are associated with ergonomic risk factors such as excessive force, awkward posture, static work or repetition. Symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders can include aches and pains, swelling, numbness and weakness. In both instances (traumatic and overuse) our Chartered Physiotherapists aim to identify and treat the painful structure as the first priority and then address the causative factors. The causative factors may be combinations of intrinsic mechanisms (the mechanics of the body, overall health and lifestyle factors) or extrinsic factors (work station, tools, position, time, breaks etc).
Physiotherapy has been found to be clinically and cost effective in getting people back to work. Our physiotherapists advise employees, enabling conversations with their line managers/ boss on their work and advice on transitional work arrangements where appropriate. Our Chartered Physiotherapists can provide you with guidance around planning the return to work after an injury, monitoring your progress and support every step of the way.