If you get injured at work, you may wonder what type of treatment you’ll need, including whether you need work injury physical therapy. In most cases, the answer will be yes, as physical therapy can provide a long list of benefits, especially following an accident at work. The good news is that workers’ compensation will pay for the therapy.
How Physical Therapy Helps After a Work-Related Injury
Workers’ comp physical therapy involves the therapist guiding you through a range of gentle exercises to help improve your mobility, flexibility, and strength. It can also include related treatment methods, such as electrical stimulation or hot and cold therapy.
By working to restore your range of motion and improve your strength and flexibility, physical therapy provides the following benefits after an injury, whether at work or somewhere else:
- Pain relief
- Restoring mobility
- Restoring the ability to complete daily tasks
- Speeding up healing
- Promoting long-term health
- Preventing reinjury
- Correcting imbalances or injuries that can interfere with work
Physical Therapy Can Help You Return to Work Faster
After a work injury, physical therapy can help you return to work more quickly, thanks to improvement in your healing speed. One study found that 94% of employees who got physical therapy the same day as their work injury returned to work the next day.
This is good news for you, as you can continue to work and make money. You also will not have to worry about work piling up in your absence or missing important developments or opportunities. It is also good for your employer as the company will not have to worry about training a replacement or you being out of the office for an extended time.
Physical Therapy Is Customized to Your Needs
To maximize the benefits you experience from workers’ comp physical therapy, your PT will tailor your treatment plan based on your needs. They will evaluate your injuries and ask for your medical history, as well as how the injury occurred and what actions are painful or hard to complete. Your therapist will also ask you about your goals and what you want to do after physical therapy.
Based on that information, your physical therapist will create a custom plan that includes treatments that will best help you meet your goals and follows a realistic timeline for your injuries.
Physical Therapy Can Help With Workers’ Compensation
If you are injured at work in New York, therapy is covered by workers’ compensation insurance. Besides all of the health benefits of having physical therapy, seeing an experienced PT will have you document your injuries. This creates a paper trail that makes it easier to file your workers’ compensation claim successfully. Documenting your injuries is important if you are one of the 2.8 million employees injured at work each year.
Workers’ Compensation Pays for It
You also do not have to worry about any out-of-pocket costs for work injury physical therapy since workers’ compensation will pay for it. As long as your physical therapist can document and show that your physical therapy was necessary for your recovery, it will be covered. This is not hard to do, especially if you see a physical therapist who accepts workers’ compensation insurance and familiar with the documentation requirements.
