Difference between Work Hardening and Work Conditioning

You probably know someone who has been harmed on the job and has been unable to fully perform their duties. Work hardening and work conditioning are just two of the many programs that may be useful at times like these, even though recovery may be challenging.

The major goal of these programs is to make the body ready to undertake the stress and responsibilities required for certain occupations again, and this goal varies with the degree of the injury. What exactly sets these two programs apart from one another is important to know in order to prepare employees for their re-initiation to respective job responsibilities.

What is Work Hardening?

Program participants receive individualized attention within a structured, goal-oriented framework to facilitate a speedy recovery and reintegration into their previous positions. Programs that help individuals rehabilitate their mental, physical, and occupational capacities via work hardening are multidisciplinary. This is done to ensure the maximum success of the initiatives.

Safety, worker behavior, and physical capacity/output are only some of the issues they tackle. As these resources work in mostly those kind of occupations where mental strength plays as important a role as physical strength, it’s important that they are work fit before they resume responsibilities to ensure a safe and productive working environment to the persons themselves and their fellow co-workers. Vocational specialists, physical therapists, psychiatrists, and occupational therapists can all be consulted to help toughen up the workplace.

What is Work Conditioning?

The purpose of this rigorous, outcome-based program is to improve bone and nervous system function. Functional attributes such as power, joint mobility, strength, cardiovascular endurance, motor control, and other similar traits are mentioned here. Ultimately, the goal of all these procedures is to get the injured worker back to doing the job duties she was doing before her injury. It also includes psychosomatic pain where people feel dull (or shooting) pain in their muscles based on bad memory triggers of events in past.

Workers whose professions include frequent climbing, pushing, pulling, crawling, or carrying heavy things might also gain from participating in such programs. As a means of helping individuals regain the confidence they need to return to their employment safely, these pursuits may be conducted in a monitored setting.

Differences − Work Hardening and Work Conditioning

Both attempt to fully and safely reinstate a person's previous level of functioning and productivity. The following table highlights how Work Hardening is different from Work Conditioning −

Conclusion

"Work hardening" is a phrase for a tailored, structured, and goal-oriented plan to help an employee regain their previous performance on the job. The focus is on restoring behavioral, physical, and vocational functions through practice or real-world experience.

However, when it comes to restoring musculoskeletal and neuromuscular function, you need a more focused and strenuous training program like work conditioning. Power, joint mobility, strength, cardiovascular endurance, motor control, and other functional abilities are prioritized in rehabilitation.