Posted By Sarah J Shaw Has anyone got research or experience of using physiotherapy (or similar) service for work related injury (such as manual handling) to aid rehabilitation. I would be particularly interested in cost benefit analysis.

Posted By James Beresford We use a local chiropractor who we access and get appointments within 24 hours. We pay for the initial assessment and 5 "treatments" where necessary. Total cost max £155. We tend to get people back to work within a couple of days...and therefore vastly cheaper than having them off for several weeks, which is what happens when the GP's get their claws in sign them off with bed rest for weeks on end. But we also have in-house rehab programmes to slowly get men back into the work ethic.

Posted By James Beresford I am the Occupational Health Adviser for a company employing around 600 people in a manufacturing environment. When I arrived in November 99, it was evident that large numbers of staff were having manual handling accidents and also spending significant periods off sick with back and other types of pain. On the basis of guidelines from the Royal College of General practitioners, then later (March 2000)from the Faculty of Occupational Health Physicians and previos experience with Rover, I sourced a Doctor ofd Chiropractic. She sees people within 24 hours of injury. We pay for the first consultation and 5 further treatments. We get regular reports about each case and recommendations about light duty activities. She attends our weekly suckness review meetings to give advice to managers about rehab programmes. She gets us rapid access to MRI scans where necessary and at a quarter of the cost of normal routes. More importantly we get people back to work much quicker and fitter. How well is it used. Well very well actually. We do however have an agreement that only certain injuries get referred...must be a works related accident for instance. I am away on holiday after today....so you can mail me at home at gassac@hotmail.com James

Posted By Mark Preston Try these: and long links - you may have to cut and paste