Work Conditioning / Work Hardening
The Work Conditioning program is a rehabilitation program designed to assist individuals who have sustained musculoskeletal injuries in achieving a safe and sustainable return to work. The conditioning program is an individualized program that is involves education, injury-specific strengthening, cardiovascular and flexibility training, as well as, functional and work-simulated activities. The program is progressed gradually and focus is placed on improving overall functional ability in order to prepare individuals for returning to work and leisure activities
At Main Street Health Recovery our approach to Work Hardening is an outcome-focused and individual tailored program, which addresses the medical, psychological, behavioral, physical, functional and vocational components of employability and return to work.
Work Hardening bridges the gap between initial acute injury management and return to work.
This comprehensive program has three major components:
- Job Simulation - activities used to recreate the physical demands of your tasks at work.
- Fitness/Conditioning - combination of a fitness/aerobic equipment routine and individual exercises to improve your overall conditioning and endurance for work.
- Education - to help you understand your injury, the risk factors that contributed to your injury and ways to avoid a re-injury.
"Work Hardening is a highly structured goal-oriented, individualized treatment program designed to return a person to work. Work Hardening programs, which are interdisciplinary in nature, use real or simulated work activities designed to restore physical, behavioral, and vocational functions. Work hardening addresses the issues of productivity, safety, physical tolerances, and worker behaviors." American Physical Therapy Association, "Guidelines for Programs for Injured Workers" 1995.
