A visit to a PT clinic: A lift injury

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Y 2 months ago for his first PT visit following a back injury sustained during an attempt to lift a 30 pound box from floor to center to be placed on his desk. Mr. Y is a 56 year old male police officer with 30 year of service track with the metropolitan police department. He reported pain to his lower left quarter of his back shooting down his leg which he rated as a 8 on a 0-10 pain scale with complaint of burning and numbness along the posterior L thigh. He is concerned that the pain has worsen since the onset, one week before his evaluation and he continued to work on light duty, sitting at a desk which is not his preference but was grateful for the opportunity to be around his job.

A thorough and comprehensive evaluation was completed with a targeted plan of care to address Mr. Y's pain, functional deficits and employment demands and abilities. Mr. Y's pain was typical of discogenic pain with a sciatic radicular component. Following the evaluation, Mr Y was given complete information of his injury, and the expected management and prognosis with instruction on appropriate exercises to reverse his injury. Mr. Y was seen at 3x/week x 4weeks with specific instructions on progressive exercises, McKenzie derangement training focus, to restore spinal lordosis and centralize symptoms; then graded stabilization exercises to develop the core spinal and abdominal muscles while introducing function and abilities necessary to return to full time police work ensued in a systematic progression.

Mr. Y met his goals and happily returned to his normal work within five weeks without waste, abuse, loss time and indemnity cost to the police department and the tax payers of his city.

In my opinion, the success of Mr. Y's case is that the system worked because the key players did the necessary steps to supervise and direct the process with accountability and communications at all levels. Employers have the choice to play fairly and be accountable by developing and implementing a process that works. When a process is in place, employers will realize great savings and positive response from injured workers with significant return to work percentage. Employers must also make it a priority to invest in programs to prevent work injuries and realize ultimate savings from work-comp direct and indirect costs.

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Ibrahima