Ever wonder how professional athletes get back to work just a few days after spraining an ankle while it takes an injured employee 6 weeks to get back to work? Or why an Olympic athlete who hurts their back is lifting weights the next day while a co-worker who hurts their back lifting a box gets lifting restrictions?

Well, first, these elite athletes are in better physical condition. But a large measure of credit goes to the Sports Medicine Approach (SMA). The SMA is centered on four principles:

1. Prevention
2. Early recognition and intervention
3. Rapid response to injury
4. Functional treatment and rehab

Prevention starts by defining the problem. It may be related to the equipment, the employee or to workstation layout. Poor workstation layout forces employees to work in awkward postures or with excessive force. Employees may even be reluctant to modify their job mechanics/work habits. Once a change is implemented, however, it will need to be evaluated before the improvement process continues.

Early recognition and early intervention (EREI) means employees must be educated on signs and symptoms of injuries, such as pain, swelling, numbness and tingling. Once symptoms are noticed, the employee should modify their job mechanics while treating their injury through rest, ice and compression.

The rapid response to injury is what separates the recovery time of professional athletes from industrial ones.

Functional treatment and rehabilitation matches rehab to the job. Just as a quarterback doesn't have the same rehabilitation program as a defensive lineman, an assembly worker shouldn't have the same rehab program as a forklift operator.

Take Appleton Papers, of Appleton, Wisc., for example. Its SMA team includes an athletic trainer, exercise specialist and health promotion specialist. Employees, spouses and retirees get physical rehab, early recognition/intervention, injury prevention programs, ergonomics and general health/wellness information.

As a result, overall costs for strains/sprains and overuse injuries went down. In this age of industrial athletes, sports medicine can spell relief.