top of page
DSC00416.JPG
JUNE 2009 ALL PIX 564.jpg
DSC00407_edited.jpg
job%20fair%20pix%202008%20189.jpg

Police & Fire

As a police officer or firefighter your job puts high demands and stress on your body. At any given moment while working you have to be prepared to react quickly in unknown situations. Not only may your body need to go quickly from sitting to running, but you may also be faced with unsafe terrain. All of these situations increases your risk of injury and chance for pain. From working with our police and fire patients, it seems that injuries can happen even in routine situations like training. Our highly skilled physical therapists are trained to work through function based on your needs to get you back to work and life.

 

Don't settle for average therapy when your job demands more!



How Can Physical Therapy Help?

  1. Prevention- Our physical therapists will perform a functional evaluation to assess any weaknesses or asymmetries that could cause pain or potential injury. This information is then used to create a customized exercise program to address these asymmetries in relation to what you need to accomplish at work. 

         Example= A police officer has shoulder and core weakness and he needs 
    to be able  hold his rifle for a sustained amount of time. His exercises would include long duration or high rep strengthening of his core and shoulders to prepare his body and prevent
    possible pain. 

     

  2. Rehabilitation- After an injury either at home or at work, our therapists will address your current limitations to work with you. Therapy will focus on fixing biomechanical issues, muscle retraining, and functional strengthening. Throughout treatment, your therapist will drive the exercises toward what you need to do at home and work. 

          Example= A firefighter injured his knee playing a pick up game off duty.
    He needs to be able to play with his children and return to full duty. His therapist would determine the cause of the pain or injury during the game then work with you to fix that cause to actually solve the issue. His treatment would prepare him to return to crawling, lifting, and carrying weight for home and work. 

     

  3. Work Conditioning- Once you have recovered from an injury, sometimes it is appropriate to perform work conditioning therapy where patients perform exercises for multiple hours a day a 3-5 days per week. This helps prepare the patient's cardiovascular and muscle endurance to return to work. Our expert therapists create an individualized program to build on your strengthening and simulate job tasks for maximum preparedness. 

           Example= A police officer hurts her back after falling on ice while answering a call. After completing physical therapy to address her limitations she is now ready to start work conditioning to return to full duty. Her therapist would devise a plan to practice prolonged walking, running sprints with gear, explosive movements like sitting to running, and physical combat.  

 

 

Return to work safely and efficiently.
Work Conditioning



Work Conditioning sessions can last between one to four hours based on need for three to five days a week. Therapists design programs to develop strengthening, flexibility, pacing, endurance, and correct body mechanics specifically for your physical limitations and job requirements. Programs progress into job simulation activities to ensure proper job skills training. An on-site job analysis may be performed if needed to ensure accurate job simulation. The goal of our Work Conditioning program is to safely and effectively assist an injured worker in a rapid return to work.

Onsite Injury Prevention Lectures

The best way to prevent a work related injury is through education. Our skilled physical therapists are equipped to provide targeted lectures for your department's job requirements. These lectures are focused on the most common issues or injuries that your department experiences. Education will include background of the cause of an injury and actionable steps and exercises on how to prevent it. Lecture format and time are all customized to the department's availability. Call today for more information or to set up a lecture at your job. 

 



Job Site Analysis



Our professionals are able to evaluate your work environment when needed to identify specific considerations that will help an injured worker’s return to work and support safety initiatives for injury prevention. The on-site evaluation includes measurements and observations of work positions, postures and physical demands including but not limited to work levels for lifting weights, work stations, repetitive movements, tools used and sustained/dynamic postures required to complete the work.  After evaluating the job requirements on site, therapists can more specifically develop a return to work program and/or provide recommendations for job modifications based on ergonomic principles to maximize safety and support injury prevention.



bottom of page