Articles

Author - Daniel Willoughby

Early intervention and management when it comes to soft tissue injury can help prevent the onset of long-term disability.

If a worker sustains a soft tissue injury, early intervention and management during the first 12 weeks after the injury is sustained can help prevent the onset of long-term disability, according to WorkCover NSW.

There is a comprehensive range of workplace health services to meet the requirements of OH&S responsibilities. Work Related Activity, or WRA, is an exercise and cognitive based activity program designed to increase an injured employee’s ability to achieve and sustain the goal of returning to work.

“These activities are modelled on evidence-based research and the WorkCover Guidelines for the Management of Soft Tissue Injuries,” Actevate’s General Manager, Daniel Willoughby said.

The services provide cost and time effective health promotion, injury management and prevention tools, according to Mr Willoughby.

“A WRA program can provide ongoing benefits following the completion of any acute injury treatment”. The activities support and bolster in-house rehabilitation programs. Health professionals can work closely with the Nominated Treating Doctor to give the doctor the confidence to upgrade the worker by having accurately measured the injured worker’s physical capabilities.

Return to work coordinators often require supporting evidence that an injured worker is fit to return to their normal duties, according to Mr Willoughby. Health professionals work closely with return to work coordinators who run their own in-house programs rather than utilise rehab providers for every claim. Return to work coordinators find enormous value in having health professionals in the workplace and negotiating with doctors on their behalf, especially when they know the injured worker’s physical capacities so intimately.

WRA programs are supported by research that proves early return to normal activity is the best treatment for soft tissue injuries; early intervention encourages ‘focus’ on injuries from all parties; and emphasis on using active coping strategies for injury, for example: pause stretches and task rotation reduces the risk of withdrawal and fear avoidance behaviour.