Workers’ Compensation
CACC Physical Therapy takes a comprehensive approach to preventing and treating work-related injuries. We believe it is important to partner with employers and payers to understand their processes and needs. We can customize solutions to fit your employee population. CACC takes the time to train our clinicians on best practices for managing work-related injuries. We provide our clinicians with expert support to mitigate a myriad of challenges when caring for individuals with work-related injuries. This includes:
Functional Capacity Evaluations
Our Physical and Occupational Therapists are trained to perform functional capacity evaluations (FCEs) to assist employers, physicians, or insurance companies in determining an individual’s functional abilities and limitations in the context of a safe environment while focusing on productive work tasks.
The service we provide is a valuable tool in assessing an employee’s safe working abilities and/or establishing baseline abilities for disability evaluations. Our FCE correlates an employee’s functional abilities to the essential physical demands of their job to determine whether they meet these physical demands.
Consistency of effort and reliability of pain ratings are important elements of our evaluation, which is why over 70 separate criteria throughout the FCE help determine if an employee is putting forth consistent effort and whether their subjective pain ratings are reliable.
Additionally, the Functional Capacity Evaluation testing method we use has consistently stood up in a court of law with reliability and validity research to support the testing method.
An FCE consists of a detailed physical exam that includes a variety of functional capacity tests for employee recoveries, such as strength, range or motion, and sensory-motor testing, review of pertinent medical history, evaluation of endurance to specific work tasks, and more.
FCE for workers’ comp are common and the FCE exam results are communicated to both the physician and employer for consideration of the employee’s work responsibilities and to determine the best prognosis with recommendations of additional service if needed.
A functional capacity evaluation is also beneficial to attorneys, case managers, and vocation consultants by offering information for rulings of claims in short/long term disability and other disputes.
Work Hardening & Conditioning
Employees who experience lost-time, limited duty, or symptoms in response to job tasks may benefit from work hardening physical therapy services. Rendered in various phases of the injury healing process, physical therapy helps the injured employee return to safe and productive work.
The purpose of Work Conditioning and Work Hardening, as well as a combination of the two, is to help progress an injured employee’s tolerance of job or occupation-specific physical stresses. Treatment should emphasize restoration of work-related function and reconditioning.
Work Conditioning Program
An intensive work-related, goal-oriented conditioning program designed to enable the employee to return to work. The program may include:
- Multi-hour sessions up to 4 hours/day; 5 days/week; for 8 weeks
- Systemic neuromuscular functions (joint integrity and mobility)
- Muscle performance (strength, power, endurance)
- Motor function (motor control and motor learning)
- Range of motion (including muscle length)
- Cardiovascular/pulmonary functions (aerobic capacity/endurance, circulation, and ventilation, and respiration/gas exchange)
Work Hardening Program
A highly structured, goal-oriented, individualized intervention program to restore physical, behavioral, and vocational functions to return the injured employee back to work. Program includes:
- Multi-hour sessions up to 8 hours/day; 5 days/week; for 8 weeks
- Multi-disciplinary approach
- Uses real or simulated work activities
Work Rehabilitation
A combination of work conditioning and work hardening, work rehabilitation addresses physical, functional, behavioral, vocational needs within a multi-disciplinary model that includes medical and workplace stakeholders.
- Utilizes various therapeutic interventions with functional emphasis
- Emphasizes the role of the employee/work activities
- Treatment time is determined by situational analysis, may extend from hour/multi-hour sessions depending on evaluation and the plan of care
- Enables the employee to return to work at a pre-injury work level, in a safe and timely fashion.
What Makes CACC Different?
For over 40 years, CACC Physical Therapy has provided the Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado area with premier outpatient physical therapy services. We are a recognized leader in orthopedic rehabilitation, work and auto injury rehabilitation, and sports medicine. Our expert therapists offer compassionate, individualized care based on each patient’s goals. They use state-of-the-art technology that is not available at other clinics, and are trained in unique specialties like pelvic floor therapy, pool therapy, and trigger point dry needling. Additionally, there is no waiting for appointments. We guarantee you will be seen for an initial evaluation appointment within 24 hours.
