FROM INJURY TO DYSFUNCTION
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FROM INJURY TO DYSFUNCTION |
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THE EFFECTS OF MOTION STARVATION The road from - injury to dysfunction - rehab to prehab - over-use to under-use is paved with misguided intention. Let's start with the 80:20 rule. I think that what I'm about to say is probably true 80% of the time. Like most things that go wrong with the body, one cannot be absolutely certain, all of the time, about the cause of the dysfunction.
Syndrome! There appears to be an epidemic of musculo-skeletal dysfunction, the most prevalent manifestations being crook backs, stiff necks, frozen shoulders and sore wrists. Because the medical and OH&S professions doesn’t know the cause of it, it’s been given the dreadful name of OOS, standing for ‘occupational overuse syndrome.’ (Invariably when the medical profession doesn't know the cause of something they call it a 'syndrome' e.g. attention deficit syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, polycystic ovarian symptom ... And inevitably when you don't know the cause of something you can't prescribe an effective treatment to fix it.)
However, occupational overuse syndrome is not a syndrome, it’s symptom of a dysfunction. It has a cause and it can be both prevented and treated. Whilst it may appear to be due to over-use, appearances can be deceptive.
It is usually caused by under-use: - ie lack of a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program that involves people doing the strength and flexibility exercises that keep them strong and flexible enough to do their jobs.
In people who become dysfunctional, there is a high likelihood that they stopped doing their exercises (laziness and stupidity) – or worse still they never knew they had to do them (ignorance).
It’s a very big ask expecting to avoid musculo-skeletal dysfunction by having someone do something to you. This is because musculo-skeletal dysfunction is not caused by a lack of massage, anti-inflammatory medicine or electric shock therapy!
Of course it you can't pin point the cause then it's very difficult to get rid of the dysfunction and build the person back to normal good health.
(To complicate matters, when it comes to any body system dysfunction, it is likely that some of the reason for the dysfunction is related to something going on inside the mind. That being the case, treatment for any workplace dysfunction needs to have an element of mental rehabilitation - personal development, career development etc etc.)
KEEP FIT AND HEALTHY Whenever I see someone in the workplace with one of the non-life-threatening body system dysfunctions I immediately have the thought that maybe they're not all that fit and healthy. Of course, it's a big ask expecting to keep healthy in our culture if you're not keeping yourself fit - that is especially if you're in a sit down profession. If you're a brick-layer, gardener or farmer it's much easier to keep fitter and healthier because you're being physically active for the 2000 minutes a week the average office worker spends sitting down.
On the other hand, in any occupation where people don’t have a regular strength and flexibility program, musculo-skeletal dysfunction will soon rear its ugly head.
From what I've seen, many organisations that employ people in the sit-down professions have staff who are in poor physical condition - they're disasters waiting to happen, physically and mentally.
In particular they are not strong and flexible enough to do what appears to be a very cushy job, one that appears not to require them to be strong or flexible. That, in my opinion is why many organisations have a large musculo-skeletal problem.
People are just not aware that they need to keep themselves strong and flexible to do what appears to be a cushy job.
I have in front of me a stack of Mind and Body profile scores. Keep in mind that a normal fit and healthy person has a score of less than 20. Many staff have scores over 100. The back ground noise is deafening. Click here to see some Mind and Body profile results.
People have all manner of body system dysfunctions, most of which organisations are not aware. You would be absolutely amazed at the number of people who have crook backs, stiff necks, sore shoulders and sore arms who have not bothered to submit a workers compensation report and/or seek organisation-sponsored treatment.
Poor health also shows in the average number of days off each staff member has a year. 3 days off a year would be a reasonable result. So, if the average number of days of a year for unplanned absences (sickness sickies, workers comp …) is more than 3, then subtract 3 from the average number of days, multiply that number by the number of staff you have, and then multiply it again by the $200 a day it costs to employ them.
For most organisations it’s a lot of money, dead, unproductive money just being eaten up by the effects of poor health, low levels of fitness, indifferent management and people being in the wrong job.
MANAGEMENT On the question of management, there are very few organisations who sheet home the cost of absenteeism and workers compensation claims to particular managers. This is just one of a number of issues that managers are reluctant to manage – or maybe they’ve never been taught how to manage it. The OH&S staff just pick up the pieces after the event and life goes on. Money is drained out of the organisation.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND FITNESS AUDIT So, I recommend is a series of health audits, the Mind and Body (M&B) profile, the musculo-skeletal risk factor profile, stress risk profile and career satisfaction profile being the first ones.
I usually get people to fill in the M&B profile when I run a course, but some time ago another organisation asked me whether I could get people to fill it in online - with anonymity. You can now do that by clicking over to the online version of the Mind and Body Profile.
Miller Health will be able to provide your staff with objective and automatic online feedback, or a phone-line counseling service. For instance, what sort of service do you supply to someone who gets a score of 180 on the Mind and Body Profile? This is a person who is experiencing great difficulty with their health and their mental condition. They are the people that need to be referred immediately to the organisations EAP.
What Miller Health does is present a series of two hour seminars, which include completing the Mind and Body profile, followed up by a quick 20 minute personal consultation. A bit of coaching is all it needs for a lot of people to become inspired and motivated to keep themselves fitter and healthier.
MUSCULO-SKELETAL DYSFUNCTION – cop it sweet Only about 10% of the people I see have a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program.
The rest are getting weaker and tighter by the minute. Click here to look at some Musculo-Skeletal Risk Factor scores.
They get crook backs, sore shoulders, stiff necks and RSI and then blame the employer who, unless they've put in train a regular and systematic musculo-skeletal awareness and training program has to take it on the chin.
However any organisation that wants to avoid the cost of claims for musculo-skeletal dysfunction needs to do a number of things.
BILL OF RESPONSIBILITIES The expectation of all staff to the right of access to workers compensation is attended by the responsibility to keep themselves in the reasonable level of physical condition needed to perform duties in their occupation – whether it be a stand up and move around occupation or a sit down occupation.
I think that with an appropriate education program organisations can quickly get to that position. It requires an Occupational Health and Fitness Manifesto and some training for all managers.
Responsibility of individual managers Managers need to understand that when the costs of absenteeism and workers compensation are tallied up, they will be sheeted home to their budget. The responsibility for health needs to be added to their responsibility for the safety.
This means absenteeism and workers compensation costs need to be apportioned by department and not through the organisation as a whole; otherwise no one is responsible. You can’t run an organisation that way.
No manager I know would want staff to become dysfunctional. Managers have a duty of care to do their level best to see that people don't become dysfunctional on their watch.
I am of course presuming that people don't want to be dysfunctional, and if they are, that they want to get better quickly.
Of course, the responsibility for health rests with the individual. Ignorance is not an excuse when it comes to looking after yourself. However, we know that the workplace is hazardous to health – sitting down, cooped up in a cage for 30 years, without encouragement to do the things needed to stave of dysfunction impacts on both the individual and the organisation. It behooves the organisation to get on the front foot – measure risk, do something about high risk, reward good health and fitness behaviour and generally speaking be proactive in developing a healthy workplace.
Most organisations never bother to measure exactly how fit and healthy their staff are, and there’s the rub. If they don’t measure it, they won’t know if something’s going wrong and they won’t be able to do anything about it.
It’s bad management of the business.
I would go so far as to say that people at risk of musculo-skeletal dysfunction do not have an option to opt out of a program that is recommended by management under the auspices of an occupational health and fitness umbrella.
At the present time, few organisations are looking any further than issues relating to safety. They are, in my opinion abrogating their responsibility in the area of health, and as such are wearing the financial consequences.
MILLER HEALTH So what can we do for you.
In a nutshell and on the musculo-skeletal front: -
THE AIM The aim is to cut your workers' compensation bill by 20% and to cut your absenteeism by 2 days per person per year. On the presenteeism front, you're going to have a measurably happier staff based on results of the Mind and Body profile and the Stress and Career Satisfaction profiles.
THE INVESTMENT If you're going to make a dent in your absenteeism, presenteeism and and workers' compensation costs you're going to have to spend some money.
How much? For starters - 10% of the money you're currently spending on workers' compensation insurance and the cost of one day's absenteeism across the organisation.
HOW TO FIX UP A CROOK BACK Another thing we can do is to supply each of your staff with a copy of the ebook, How to Fix Up a Crook Back.
Supplying it electronically makes it dirt cheap. It includes the exercises people need to do to keep themselves in good shape.
You can take a look at the book by clicking through to www.millerhealth.com.au/crookback.exe
Before you open it, please let your IT staff know it is coming down the tube and to let it though your gateway. Because it is enveloped in an exe file, your gateway may presume it to have a virus attached to it and block it out. To the best of my knowledge it doesn't contain a virus and is safe to open.
John Miller (02) 6288 7703 |