According to AJMC (American Journal of Managed Care, 3/22/21) the costs of musculoskeletal care doubled in the previous decade. Moreover, “representing 1/6th of all spending in the US health care market the annual cost of musculoskeletal (MSK) care is greater than that of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.”
The ubiquitous back, shoulder, neck and other sprain/strain injuries not only cost companies and health plans billions of dollars per year, they are also extremely painful. These injuries dramatically affect the quality of people’s lives. Thankfully the cause of most of these injuries has been determined and a solution has effectively reduced the frequency and severity of these injuries.
SIMPLE IS BETTER!
Treatment has improved greatly over the years thanks to innovative medical technology. However, the best “treatment” is always to prevent these life changing injuries before they happen. In 1992 Future Industrial Technologies (FIT) was founded with this sole purpose. Considering back injuries have been prevalent since time immemorial, one would say we had lofty goals!
If we were going to be successful at preventing these injuries, the first order of business was to determine the cause. If one discovers the correct cause of a problem then the exact solution can be formulated. We surveyed healthcare personnel, insurance personnel, risk management personnel: people that dealt with these injuries from treatment to managing the claims. We got a host of potential causes but none that, by itself, if addressed would solve why 80% of the US population suffered from a back injury event in their lifetime. Except for one from a brilliant doctor and ergonomist who had set out years before to prevent these injuries. The cause of most back and other sprain/strains was so simple society overlooked it and as a result, treatment instead of prevention became the primary solution.
The test of whether this “simple” cause was the answer required the development of 2 main parts:
· A training program that could re-educate people/employees on how to avoid certain physical behaviors while working and at home
· A training methodology that could accomplish what no other sprain/strain injury prevention programs had ever done—achieve a high level of employee buy-in and broad acceptance to willingly apply the new principles in their lives
The discoveries on the road to developing a consistent solution to these painful and costly injuries were many. The key was to create a practical curriculum that created personal realizations (“Oh my goodness, no wonder…this makes total sense”) that would be the foundation for employees to make behavioral changes.
In 1997 the Backsafe® Injury Prevention Training protocol was put to the test. 20,000 flight attendants were trained in 2-hour workshops, 15 at a time. (Please note, flight attendants work “remotely”, without the help of eyes-on reinforcement of the principles by management).
In 1998 this large legacy airline won the top safety award in their industry for preventing 63% of back and neck injuries. And humbly, FIT won the top vendor award which was an honor and confirmation that we discovered the cause and created a successful solution for these expensive and life altering injuries. This training protocol that led to broad employee acceptance has since been applied to countless industries with similar success.
If your organization spends would-be profit on sprain/strain injuries, you can do something about it. The $40,000 otherwise spent on a back claim, would be better spent on preventing dozens of them! The most common comment our Injury Prevention Specialists (our trainers) hear is “I want to thank my company for caring about us.”
2023 is right around the corner. Let us help you to lower workers’ comp, help your employees to prevent pain medication, and show them they are important on and off the job. Now’s the time to lock in 2022 pricing. Contact me today.
Prevent tomorrow’s injuries today!™
Dennis Downing, CEO
Future Industrial Technologies, Inc.
dennis@backsafe.com
(800) 775-2225
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