Fact 1: Staying active HELPS rather than hinders healing.

For many common health problems, rest is the WORST medicine. Too much rest can prolong injury and illness and lead to a worsening of symptoms. In fact, the longer you’re off work, the less chance you have of ever returning. One of the reasons for this is that remaining active while at home can be a challenge, especially when the TV remote is within easy reaching distance or you’ve got a mollycoddler in the house!
Early return to work ensures that a basic level of activity is undertaken on a daily basis, such as getting to and from work and moving around the workplace. This is vital for maintaining general fitness, as well as for promoting recovery.

Fact 2: Well designed modified duties promote rehabilitation and reduce risk.

Early return to work isn’t about being gung-ho and launching yourself back into regular duties without regard for your own wellbeing and safety. In fact, durable return to work is usually a case of slow and steady wins the race. Well designed modified duties allow you to return to work safely, and remain active while meeting the challenge of a gradual return to regular duties. In fact, modified duties are a rehab goldmine! Work with your supervisor / manager and doctor to decide on modified duties that are safe and strengthening. The long term benefits can be enormous.

Fact 3: Pain does not equal injury.

Many kinds of illness and injury make certain movements painful, however it is important to remember that pain does not always equal injury. Because everyone’s situation is different you’ll need to check this one with your doctor, but it is often better to work through pain than to let it keep you holed up at home. Experiencing some degree of pain doesn’t have to prevent you from returning to work, and in fact work can both distract you from pain and actually help to reduce it.

Fact 4: Return to work is good for motivation, and motivation is good for recovery.

Motivation is all about having a goal, and believing that you have the skills and support necessary to achieve it. If you return to work on modified duties and / or reduced hours, you’ve got a concrete goal to work towards: a return to full time, regular duties. You’re also surrounded by coworkers, supervisors and managers, who all want to see you make a full recovery. Keeping your spirits up when you’re home alone all week can be tough. An early return to work, on the other hand, can keep you motivated and on track for safe and speedy rehab.  

Fact 5: Staying off work can lead to depression.

The last thing you need right now is to exacerbate an existing injury or illness with a dose of stay-at-home depression. Unfortunately, the combination of too much time on your hands, too little activity, boredom, anxiety about recovery and worries about job security can lead to symptoms of depression, which in turn impede recovery. Even if there are situations at work you’d rather avoid it’s usually better to confront these things head on. If depression is a problem, or if you’re upset about workplace conflict, get in touch with the Employee Assistance Program, your supervisor, or a union rep. Don’t just sit at home worrying: in most cases, staying off work will only make things worse in the long run.