by Evan Boswell
One of the most common sources of workplace injury are musculoskeletal disorders. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 272,780 cases of musculoskeletal disorders caused people to miss work in the private sector in 2018. These injuries range from the back, shoulder, knee, and more, and can be incredibly painful and debilitating. On top of the injury, they come saddled with ever increasing treatment costs as well as the missing work, which can be ruinous to someone's livelihood. If left untreated, they can cause even greater future problems, only making the entire situation worse.
Shoulder injuries can be one of the more expensive to treat. Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery, a treatment designed to repair torn tissue, averages $25,950, but can range as far as $6,900 to $31,650. Shoulder repair surgery, primarily used to treat torn rotator cuffs, torn labrum and tendinitis, can be as low as $6,500 or climb as high as $41,300. Rotator cuff surgery averages $21,800 with a range of $8,400 to $56,200. Back injuries can be similarly destructive, with treatments costing as high as $35,000. These costs, combined with the added loss of being likely unable to work as a result, can be devastating.
Incorporating certain habits and practices into your daily life can prevent these injuries from happening in the first place, however. For one, stopping and resting when you feel you are at your limit is always beneficial. Additionally, strengthening not only the shoulder but other areas of the body, such as the back, can help take some of the load off of the shoulder. To help the back, changing your lifting motion to lift with your legs is highly advised, as well as pushing heavy objects as opposed to pulling them. Taking breaks from sitting at a desk as well as exercising regularly are also both effective and easy. Lastly, simply adjusting your sleeping position to take pressure off an injured area can do wonders.
Work Right is here to provide this sort of information and more. They provide resources to teach you to prevent and remedy injury in order to avoid exorbitant healthcare costs. Additionally, they work with employers to encourage workplace wellness and emphasize safety. By using a preventative approach, Work Right is able to not only save their clients money by avoiding treatment, but also prevent the pain that comes with injury. On top of it all, Work Right provides much of their information through easy to use graphics and aids, making it highly accessible.
Ultimately, the best way to lower the costs of treatment is to avoid treatment entirely, and that means preventing injury in the first place. Additionally, more importantly than avoiding expensive costs, incorporating safer practices can reduce pain and fatigue, making them worthwhile even outside of avoiding extreme injury. Lifting with your legs rather than with your back causes less pain, whether or not you would have gotten seriously injured otherwise. Incorporating simple, safer, daily habits can save you an incredible amount of time, money, and pain.
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