If you were injured at work and came to our chiropractic office, afterward, the first thing we will have you do is fill out what is called an F.R.O.I. form which stands for First Report of Injury.
The F.R.O.I. form is your application to file a claim with the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation. It puts everyone on notice that you are the injured claimant, how your work injury occurred, what body parts your hurt and what your initial diagnoses are.
Sprains, Strains and Herniated Discs
As chiropractors, we routinely see injured workers hurt themselves either by lifting something too heavy, slipping and falling on the ground, or perhaps getting hit by another car while driving a city vehicle.
As a result, the most common regions of the body we see get injured are the lower back, neck and shoulder and the most common diagnoses we find in these areas are muscle strains, ligament sprains and herniated discs.
There are others regions in the body that get injured as well such as the hips, knees ankles, elbows and wrist and similar diagnoses of sprains and strains may be made as well as meniscus and labral tears.
All of this information (injury mechanism, hurt body parts, diagnoses, etc.) gets reported on your F.R.O.I. form and once the claim is established we can begin to work on making you feel better.
Chiropractic Treatment
Once the injured worker has been properly diagnosed and all the paperwork has been filed with the Ohio BWC, the injured worker’s employer and/or attorney, corrective care can begin.
Chiropractic treatments would include spinal manipulation if the injury was to the neck, middle back or lower back and extra-spinal manipulation if the injury was to the arms or legs.
These chiropractic adjustments are designed to restore proper joint positioning that was lost during the work injury…they are also designed to restore proper motion to the injured region. By restoring both position and motion to the injured area, the worker’s range of motion can begin to normalize.
Therapeutic Modalities
Therapeutic modalities that are used in our chiropractic office include ice treatments to reduce any swelling, heat treatments to improve circulation, electric muscle stimulation to help calm muscle tension and traction to improve joint motion.
Other more advanced modalities requiring attendance by the chiropractor could include ultraviolet laser light therapy, therapeutic ultrasound and myofascial release.
Length of Care
Chiropractic care following a work injury could last anywhere from three weeks to three months depending on the seriousness of your injuries. Under extreme circumstances, care can last up to a year or more.
During this time, treatment requests will be made on your behalf to the Ohio BWC and managed care organization…doctor’s notes will be submitted to them as well. Your workers compensation attorney will also be included in any and all correspondence.
Patient Goals
The number one goal we have as chiropractors for our patients is to get them healthy and feeling back to normal again as quickly as possible.
As a chiropractor for the past 20+ years, I am happy to say that we have been very successful in achieving this goal for our patients.
If you were injured at work and would like to begin chiropractic treatment with our office, we will be happy to accept you as a patient in our clinic. Call our office today at 614-428-9310 to schedule an appointment.