Occupational Medical Services at Home and at Work

by Art Gibb, freelance writer on behalf of California Occupational Medical Professionals ( 10-Dec-2012 )

Occupational medical services are a wonderful resource. They are there to help with functional issues. If a lady were sitting at home with a broken hip, an occupational medical therapist can come in and do an in-home evaluation to make sure the environment is safe for her. This evaluation is to see what risks and hazards are in the home and to see how they can be eliminated to ensure the protection of the patient. They also evaluate the ergonomic situation in the workplace. They check to be sure that desks, chairs and keyboards are all in line in order to prevent back and neck problems for people who work at a computer. Occupational medical therapists help to prevent and alleviate physical injury and problems in the patients’ environment.

What They Do

Imagine you are a dental hygienist. Day in and day out, you are leaning over cleaning people’s teeth. As a consequence, you eventually develop upper back and neck pain. With time and without alleviation, this can lead to serious tension migraines. To prevent this from worsening, an occupational medical services professional would come in and observe your work environment. Based on this evaluation, the therapist would make suggestions to help alleviate the cause of your headaches. This is a lasting solution rather than a Band-Aid prescription to mask the pain. They help to get to the root of the problem and nip it in the bud before it has a chance to cause serious and prolonged problems.

Reasons to Call

In addition to work place comfort and safety, occupational medical services can also come do in-home evaluations to increase the safety within the walls of your own home. A common use of this service is in the homes of the elderly. Elderly people falling or tripping over carpets can have serious consequences. Falls for the elderly can lead to hip fractures, contusions and other serious injuries or even death. Anything and everything that can be done to prevent falls in the elderly is extremely important. Statistically speaking, after an old person breaks a hip, which is a common injury in the elderly, there is a high mortality rate in the next 6 months following the injury. Prevention of these and other injuries minimizes the pain and the aches that naturally come with age. The reviews speak for themselves; check them out to see if this is a right fit for you and your company or family. If this is a service you are considering, those affected will thank you.

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