Musculoskeletal disorders are injuries or disorders that impact the body’s functionality and musculoskeletal system. These types of disorders can impact a variety of structures, including: ligaments, muscles, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels. There are many synonymous terms for musculoskeletal disorders like “repetitive stress injury” or “overuse injury” due to the common cause of these disorders or injuries developing. A few common types of musculoskeletal issues that people experience are: back pain, neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle strain and tendonitis.
Musculoskeletal pain can occur in a variety of different ways and people most often complain about common types of pain with their bones, tendons, ligaments, joints, and muscles. There are a variety of things that can cause you to feel musculoskeletal pain and eventually develop a musculoskeletal disorder, but most often times individuals will start to feel musculoskeletal pain after they’ve suffered some kind of injury or through repetitive daily activities that can add up to overuse over time.
Some of the most common injuries that can cause musculoskeletal pain and disorders arise from sprains, fractures, and overuse. Musculoskeletal pain and musculoskeletal disorders can showcase themselves in a variety of different ways, but patients often complain of feeling fatigued throughout the day, localized pain, muscle stiffness, and an inability to get good sleep.
Did you know that musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are the largest category of workplace injuries and account for about 30 percent of worker’s compensation costs? These types of body injuries are extremely common, affecting 124 million adults in the United States in 2015, and can come with astronomically high medical costs.
In fact, the average direct cost of a musculoskeletal disorder is $15,000 and on top of that, indirect costs, such as work loss, can be as much as five times that amount! With these elevated costs in mind, it’s no wonder why so many Americans are unable to find the cost-effective care they need.
Understanding just how expensive musculoskeletal pain and musculoskeletal disorders can cost in both time away from work and money, it’s important to see just how musculoskeletal disorders can also affect other areas of our lives.
Musculoskeletal Disorders can negatively impact every aspect of life from being productive at work to enjoying daily activities without pain. The National Health Interview Survey found that in 2015, 64 million adults reported having a musculoskeletal disorder so severe that it infringed on their ability to perform normal daily tasks. Individuals in the workforce who experience musculoskeletal disorders on average had to miss ten days of work a year. For some, those lost workdays, as well as medical and prescription costs, could be detrimental.
You shouldn’t have to worry about where your next paycheck is going to come from or the amount of time you’ll have to take off work because of your musculoskeletal pain. There are enough worries in life without having to compound them with your ability to be productive throughout the day, whether you’re doing something on your own time or at work.
With millions of Americans suffering from musculoskeletal pain each year, it’s important to figure out why they’re not getting treated properly or putting off treatment for extended periods of time. There are plenty of ways to treat musculoskeletal disorders and pain, including physical therapy, so why are people putting off treatment when it is so readily available?
Healthcare costs can skyrocket when it comes to musculoskeletal pain and because of this, a lot of individuals are discouraged from seeking the care they need. More research needs to be done on how to lower healthcare costs surrounding MSD and cost-effective treatments. Many Americans are looking for alternate methods to ingesting harsh and potentially addictive painkillers and paying for reoccurring doctor’s visits with little to no relief.
Individuals who suffer from musculoskeletal pain typically have to take more time off work, which means that they either have limited healthcare coverage due to their unique work schedule or they might not have the money to pay off all of the healthcare costs associated with their treatment. Exorbitant costs means that millions of individuals are searching for alternative solutions to remedy their musculoskeletal disorders and alleviate the chronic pain they experience.
Can physical therapy be a possible solution?
Physical therapy can help you alleviate existing pain and help you prevent existing issues from becoming much worse through early intervention. One promising idea when discussing early intervention with musculoskeletal disorders is physical therapy. An individual who directly consults and is treated by a physical therapist can save a significant amount of time and money when undergoing treatment.
In direct access states especially, there are a lot of opportunities to connect initially with a physical therapist near you and avoid doctor’s visits, who will typically refer you on to physical therapy anyway.
By seeing a physical therapist first, you can also avoid unnecessary co-pays, addictive medications, and time spent in a medical waiting room. There are a wide array of benefits that can arise from direct access states but perhaps one of the most important aspects is that you don’t have to continually put off receiving treatment and care for your chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders.
Here at Results Physiotherapy, we have hundreds of clinics across the nation including direct access states. If you live in a direct access state, then you should Book an Appointment Today to come see a physical therapist and begin alleviating some of that musculoskeletal pain or musculoskeletal disorders that you’re dealing with. Our licensed Physical Therapists will work with you to figure out what the key problems are, conduct a functional assessment, and develop a personalized treatment program designed to help you get back to doing the things you love the most.
Most importantly, with early physical therapy intervention, you can get to the root of your MSD issue and receive personalized treatment specified for you and your injuries.
Musculoskeletal disorders are broken down into individual risk factors and work factors. However, each one will cause individuals to experience fatigue in the body without an appropriate allotted recovery time to heal. For example, whether you are working or doing personal activities, if you continually overuse your muscles and do not allow your body to rest, you are at a higher chance of developing an MSD.
An individual’s risk factors for developing an MSD are: poor fitness, poor health habits, and poor work practices. A worker’s risk factors are higher over a period of time if there is too much force, repetition, and improper posture that pushes past the individual’s body capabilities thereby leading to an overstress or overstrain muscle injury.
The best way to combat the risks of developing a musculoskeletal disorder is to implement safety guidelines for employees to follow and educate individuals on safe and healthy practices to lower the chances of an injury occurring. For employees this may look like their manager training the team through an ergonomics process consisting of safe techniques to avoid injury, education on how to complete the tasks safety and early intervention if an issue does arise.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there are a few guidelines that should be put in place for protecting workers when on the job. Here are a few:
As far as individuals developing musculoskeletal disorders, it’s recommended to seek help from a physical therapist if you are suffering from pain. A physical therapist can assess where your pain is coming from and how you can curb your habits to prevent future injuries.
At Results Physiotherapy, our team of physical therapists go above and beyond to educate our patients on how MSD injuries occur and steps to take to ensure the same injury doesn’t happen again.
We combine our specialty hands-on approach, or manual therapy, with education and a personalized exercise treatment plan to create the most positive outcome possible for our patients. Musculoskeletal disorders are not inevitable, and with the proper support of a professional, these musculoskeletal disorders are preventable! Schedule an Appointment Today to work with a licensed Physical Therapist at one of our hundreds of in-person clinics or virtually to begin alleviating the pain you experience from musculoskeletal disorders.
