Everything You Need to Know About Chiropractic Treatment for Workplace Injuries
Work injury chiropractor. In the North Star State, the number of workplace injuries is “significantly greater than the national rate.” Especially in construction, agriculture, fishing, forestry, transportation, and warehousing. However, anyone can suffer injuries at work, regardless of their profession. Joints and ligaments may be injured after years of repeated use, muscles may get sore and give out when strained, and poor posture may lead to severe declines in spinal health.
If you suffer a work-related injury, workers’ compensation insurance covers the cost of your treatment. And that includes chiropractic care. Before we dive into how work injury chiropractors effectively treat their patients, let’s go over the most common types of trauma in the modern workplace.
What Does A Work Injury Chiropractor In Maple Grove Treat?
Although sitting at a desk or working from home isn’t as dangerous for your spinal health as working in a soybean field, a lot can still go wrong. Regardless of where you spend your nine to five, a work-related injury that can be treated with chiropractic care typically falls into one of four categories:
Repetitive motion injuries
Performing the same movement or physical activity for hours on end, day after day, puts a lot of stress on your body and increases the chances of injury. For example, sitting in front of a computer with your hands resting on a keyboard for eight hours is often a sure way to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
Other common repetitive strain injuries in the workplace include overreaching across an assembly line, lifting heavy objects improperly, and standing in the same position without appropriate support.
Overexertion injuries
Working in construction, agriculture, or mining requires significant amounts of heavy lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying, and holding. When workers perform these movements without training or sufficient preparation, muscles, ligaments, and tendons are prone to overexertion and immediate damage. These injuries may manifest as pinched nerves, strained muscles, sprained ligaments, or herniated discs.
Slip and fall injuries
It doesn’t matter whether you work in a cozy office or an airy warehouse. Anyone can encounter wet or icy surfaces, fall down a flight of stairs, or take a wrong step on uneven or messy floors. Injuries caused by falling include bruising, nerve damage, fractured or broken bones, neck and back pain, and spinal misalignments.
Injuries caused by falling objects
In working environments that rely on heavy equipment and machinery, such as construction sites, there’s an increased chance of workers being struck by falling or rolling objects. These workplace injuries are some of the most dangerous. They can result in sprains, neck pain, severe bruising, and brain damage that leads to persistent headaches.
What Does A Chiropractic Treatment Plan For Workplace Injuries Include?
Before anything else, your chiropractor should take time to get to know the nature of your job, your lifestyle, and your personal and family medical history. Suppose you’re uncertain about what caused your work injury. In that case, your chiropractor will work with you to uncover what’s causing your pain. After the pre-exam questions, your chiropractor will perform a physical examination and may even utilize x-ray imaging and/or motion study analysis, if necessary.
Once your chiropractor has the necessary information, they’ll diagnose your injury or outline the variables that put you at risk for future work-related injuries. With your specific circumstances out in the open, your chiropractor will create a personalized treatment regimen for you. In most cases, it will consist of massage therapy, regular spinal adjustments, exercise, and work or lifestyle modifications.
Massage therapy primarily relieves pain and muscular tension caused by your injury and help reduce inflammation, improve circulation, increase range of motion, and speed up healing.
A misaligned spine causes back pain, reduced range of motion, and weakened muscles. These symptoms compromise your ability to work and make you more prone to work-related injuries. Regular adjustments performed by a doctor of chiropractic realign your vertebrae so that your muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems work optimally and harmoniously with one another.
Although spinal adjustments offer noticeable relief almost immediately, your injury will take some time to heal completely.
How Long Does Chiropractic Therapy For Workplace Injuries Take?
Most injuries take three to twelve months to treat. Of course, each injury is different and is evaluated on a case by case basis. Keep in mind that you will likely feel recovered early in your treatment plan. But there are usually subtle issues lingering under the surface that still need attention. Factors that affect treatment session duration, intensity, and frequency include:
The type of injury or (injuries) you suffered
One workplace accident can lead to several separate issues. For example, slipping on a wet surface might result in a bruised tailbone, and a traumatic head injury after the two parts of your body hit the ground at different times. Each injury must be treated individually, and the more injuries you have, the longer you’ll have to be treated.
How extensive your injuries are
Obviously, someone who’s been hit by a forklift will need more intensive treatment than someone suffering from tech neck. The more damage your body suffers, the longer it takes to recover completely. Therapy is usually most intense and frequent at the beginning, becoming less intense and frequent as you show signs of recovery.
Your overall health and receptiveness to chiropractic care
No two people heal in exactly the same way. You will respond to chiropractic care differently than someone else who was similarly injured on the job. Your chiropractor can make adjustments based on your circumstances but, at the end of the day, some people heal and recover faster than others.
How long you wait before starting treatment
Although workers who suffer traumatic injuries tend to see a chiropractor as soon as possible, those with less obvious medical issues tend to put off treatment. The earlier you seek treatment, the sooner a chiropractor can help get you back to feeling like your usual self.
How chiropractic therapy fits into the rest of your life
Pain relief is the number one priority for most people recovering from a workplace injury. But you may have other goals and priorities as well. Such as healing damaged tissue or treatments that reduce inflammation. Whatever the case, your chiropractor can design a plan to help you avoid focusing on the wrong things.
Keep in mind that your work injury chiropractor may recommend that you follow up acute treatment with maintenance care to retain your recovery gains. Especially if your injury is lifestyle-related — such as a repetitive strain or overexertion injury — as opposed to one caused by an accident.
Also known as “wellness” or “preventative care”, maintenance care ensures that you preserve your mobility improvements and remain pain-free long after your injury has healed. These ongoing adjustments can push you beyond your pre-injury levels and also help you break bad habits that led to your injury in the first place.
Can Maple Grove Chiropractic Care Help Prevent Workplace Injuries?
Absolutely! Why wait for something to go wrong? That would be like driving your car for years without regular tune-ups. Chiropractic care helps improve posture, correct spine misalignments, increase mobility and flexibility, and strengthen your core muscles. All of these help prevent back pain and repetitive strain injuries. What’s more, therapy improves your sense of balance and how you move, making you less likely to suffer from a nasty fall.
If you’ve sustained an injury at work or are hoping to prevent one from happening, turn to our specialists at Total Spine Health & Injury Center. Schedule a consultation with us today!
