Shoulder Injuries

How shoulder injuries affect the duty of transition?
Recently, Dr. Dave has been asked to provide information on shoulder injuries, a workplace injury fairly common, and how these injuries can affect the duty of transition.
Dave wrote: The shoulder has a greater range of motion than any other joint in the body and as such is highly susceptible to instability and injury. (There are even wall paintings in Egyptian tombs show accurate drawings of how to reduce a dislocated shoulder.) One of the most common injuries of the shoulder we see more in the workplace is rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles attached to the scapula and the humerus above. The tears in the tendons are called rotator cuff tears.
The key is the first point there is a typical sequence of injuries which led to a tear. Tendonitis is the mildest form. This can progress to bursitis, which can ultimately lead to a rupture, which often requires surgery. This occurs more easily with age and degenerative arthritis, often by bone spurs rubbing on the tendons.
The second key point is to recognize the rehabilitation of a shoulder after surgery takes much longer than most people realize. Rehabilitation can often take up to six months and sometimes longer before normal operation is restored. Because that's the case, do not be too impatient for EMI, every four or five weeks or take a worker is not trying hard enough to get better because normal operation does not return as fast as any the world wants.
So, finding a transitional assignments to accommodate the injured employee during the recovery takes place and remember, the more likely it will be a little longer than expected.
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David Dubin, MD. Is an emergency physician, who is a medical advisor for several companies. Former President of Aon Medical Consultants, he has helped employers and insurance companies to develop innovative programs to control costs and reduce the costs of workers comp for over 20 years. He can be contacted at: MD@WorkersCompKit.com or 860-553-6604