Boosting retention with better pain management
An Australian pain expert says workers with chronic pain need to play an active role in their rehabilitation management.
A national pain expert says workers struggling with chronic pain need to be assisted to regain control over their lives.
The President of Chronic Pain Australia, Coralie Wales said employees should play an active role in their own injury and pain management.
“That means bringing them into the process and not excluding them from the planning in rehabilitation,” Ms Wales says.
“We can produce a circle around injured workers which makes them the leader, rather than the follower…and when we do that it really works, reducing a lot of the game playing that goes on in rehabilitation.”
It is estimated that a fifth of Australians suffer from chronic pain and one in ten people report that pain is interfering with their daily lives or ability to work.
Other research indicates that Australia loses five billion dollars every year in reduced productivity due to chronic pain in workers.
But when employers manage pain effectively, they can boost retention rates significantly, Ms Wales said.
She said employers should reduce stress in the workplace and help build a level of trust with their workers to assist workers suffering from pain.
It is also important to understand the physiology of pain as even a minor soft tissue injury can lead to chronic pain.
Ms Wales will be speaking at the Annual National Workers Compensation Conference next February in Melbourne.
