Treatment and assessment

Learn what primary treatment is, the importance of returning workers to work and what to do if a worker’s recovery doesn’t go as expected.

Treatment philosophy

The WCB supports a functional restoration approach that promotes a return to normal activity, including work, in a safe manner. Passive care is discouraged. The goals are to:

• Maximize the worker’s functional abilities to the pre-injury condition, if possible.
• Enable an early return to work, with the pre-injury employer, if possible.

The functional rehabilitation model of care is encouraged because it:

• Uses the restoration of function as the first measure of treatment success.
• Encourages care providers and clients to recognize that successful long-term recovery is associated with return to function, even in the presence of increasing symptoms where there are no objective signs of harm.
• Is supported by significant evidence-based literature.