Return to Work Services at Cleveland Clinic Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy was established more than 20 years ago to help injured workers return to work quickly and safely and arm them with skills to avoid re-injury and to work safely, productively and positively for the remainder of their career.
Who is return to work services for?
Return to Work Services is appropriate for patients recovering from a work related injury such as back injury, repetitive motion disorders, and upper and lower extremity problems. The program is designed to promote safe return to work through incremental increases in duration and intensity of physical activity, work simulation and educational sessions.
What does return to work service involve?
Work Conditioning:
Three-five days per week, up to eight weeks
- Work-focused therapeutic intervention and functional retraining.
- Individualized work simulation.
- Body mechanics training, including injury prevention strategies.
- Recommendation for job accommodation and/or ergonomic changes.
- Total body approach to strengthening and conditioning.
- Patient education: ergonomics and injury prevention strategies.
Personalized Occupational and Physical Therapy:
One-five days per week
- Injury-specific therapeutic exercise, manual therapy and/or aquatics.
- Individualized work simulation.
- Patient education: ergonomics and injury prevention strategies.
Additional Services:
- Driver rehabilitation with occupational therapists.
- Cognitive rehabilitation or speech therapy.
Customized Assessments:
Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE)
- Assessment of functional abilities, including material handling capacities, consistency of effort and reliability.
- Establishes client's return-to-work status.
Job-Site Analysis
- Evaluation of job-site, including assessment of physical and environmental factors.
- Used to formulate an individualized return-to-work plan.
Ergonomic Study
- Assessment of fit between worker and job requirements.
- Identifies aspects of work environment that increase risk of injury, helping to resolve ergonomic challenges.
Our Return to Work Services team is made up of certified and licensed rehabilitation professionals including:
- Physical therapists.
- Occupational therapists.
- Ergonomic specialists.
How long will return to work service take?
Studies show that the likelihood of returning to work decreases the longer the employee is off work for an injury. Early referral for evaluation and treatment leads to better outcomes and a faster return to work. On average program length is four-eight weeks.
