Work Conditioning / Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCEs).
Injured workers benefit from occupational and physical therapy services from the onset of injury through their return to work. Early therapy intervention consists of treatment for acute musculoskeletal problems and other injuries. Many patients who receive appropriate early care return to their job without additional rehabilitation services.
For those who are not able to return to work because of unresolved physical problems following acute care, treatment focus changes to restoration of function. Defined as WORK CONDITIONING, Heritage Valley Health System offers this program to address the physical issues of flexibility, strength, endurance, coordination, and work-related function for the goal of return to work.
In addition to work hardening and work conditioning, Heritage Valley Health System offers Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE’s). An FCE is a systematic process of measuring and developing an individual’s ability to perform meaningful tasks on a safe and dependable basis. By performing an FCE we can:
- Determine whether a person is physically able to do a certain type of work
- Determine if any safety precautions need to be taken at work to prevent reinjury
- Determine if there are there are any physical conditions that will make longevity in a particular occupation hazardous