OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND ERGONOMIC SYSTEM

• US 20080133297A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Theresa M. Schmotzer
• Original Assignee: Theresa M. Schmotzer
• Inventors: Schmotzer, Theresa M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/003 Repetitive work cycles; Sequence of movements
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising

Abstract

A system for preventing on the job injuries comprising identifying a company which will benefit from the system and approaching the same with a business proposal. Once hired, a therapist evaluates the company'"'"'s workplace environment and an initial physical state of a group of employees employed by the company; assesses data gathered during the evaluation; develops a corrective therapeutic program to address areas of concern identified during the assessment; implements the corrective therapeutic through instruction of the employees; and conducts periodic follow-up evaluations, adjusting the corrective therapeutic program as required until the outcomes of the system are achieved.

Claims

1. A system for preventing on the job injuries comprising:

identifying a company which will benefit from the system and approaching the same with a business proposal;

evaluating the company'"'"'s workplace environment and an initial physical state of a group of employees employed by the company;

assessing data gathered during the evaluation;

developing a corrective therapeutic program to address areas of concern identified during the assessment;

implementing the corrective therapeutic through instruction of the employees;

conducting periodic follow-up evaluations and adjusting the corrective therapeutic program as required.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of conducting periodic follow-up evaluations is performed until a desired predetermined outcome of the system is reached.

3. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein a fourth desired outcome of the program is healing of physical deterioration in employees identified during the evaluation.

4. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the evaluation step includes:

identifying a plurality of jobs at the company that involve potentially injuries activities.

5. The system as defined in claim 4, wherein the evaluation step further includes the steps of:

conducting an ergonomic evaluation of a first group of employees who perform an identified first job that involves potentially injurious activities; and

conducting an occupational therapy evaluation of the first group of employees.

6. The system as defined in claim 5, wherein the step of conducting an ergonomic evaluation of the first group of employees includes:

observing each of a plurality of individuals in the first group perform the first job,

recording the observations for each individual onto a set of pre-printed evaluation forms;

interviewing each of the individuals in the first group; and

recording any areas of concern identified by each individuals onto the set of evaluation forms for that individual.

7. The system as defined in claim 5, wherein the step of conducting an occupational therapy evaluation of the first group of employees includes:

conducting a plurality of occupational therapy tests on each of a plurality of individuals in the first group to determine a baseline range of motion for each of a plurality of areas of the individuals'"'"' bodies that are utilized in the performing of the first job; and

recording the results of the plurality of occupational therapy tests onto the set of evaluation forms for each of the individuals.

8. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of assessing the results of the ergonomic and occupational therapy evaluations includes:

compiling the results of each of a plurality of questions on the evaluation forms;

performing statistical operations on the compiled results for the physical tests to obtain a combined baseline level of pain in each tested body area and a combined baseline range of motion in each tested body area for all of the individuals in the first group; and

entering the results of the statistical operations onto a pre-printed baseline form for use in developing therapies to address a plurality of body areas of concern for the first group.

9. The system as defined in claim 8, wherein the step of assessing the results of the ergonomic and occupational therapy evaluations further includes the step of:

compiling the recorded ergonomic observations from the evaluation forms for each of the individuals in the first group;

performing statistical operations on the compiled ergonomic results to obtain a combined ergonomic baseline; and

entering the results of the statistical operations for the ergonomic results onto the baseline form.

10. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the step of developing therapies includes the steps of:

reviewing the baseline form to note one or more of a plurality of body areas of concern identified during the occupational therapy evaluation;

reviewing a database of stretches;

selecting a first group of stretches from the database to treat the one or more of the plurality of body areas of concern;

selecting a second group of stretches from the database to treat the one or more of the plurality of body areas of concern, wherein the second group of stretches are more physically challenging than the first group thereof,

printing the first group of stretches onto a first sheet of paper;

printing the second group of stretches onto a second sheet of paper.

11. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the step of developing therapies further includes the steps of:

reviewing the baseline form to note one or more of a plurality of identified ergonomic areas of concern;

reviewing a database of corrective ergonomic therapies;

selecting a group of the corrective ergonomic therapies to address the one or more of the plurality of identified ergonomic areas of concern;

recording the group of corrective ergonomic therapies on a pre-printed instruction sheet.

12. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the step of developing therapies further includes the step of:

compiling the first and second printed sheets of stretches with the instruction sheet to form an instruction program.

13. The system as defined in claim 12, wherein the step of implementing the corrective program includes:

gathering the first group of employees together;

discussing the instruction program;

demonstrating the selected group of corrective ergonomic therapies printed on the instruction sheet;

demonstrating the first group of stretches printed on the first sheet of paper.

14. The system as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of implementing the corrective program further includes:

watching the individuals in the first group of employees perform their job utilizing the demonstrated corrective ergonomic therapies;

watching the individuals in the first group of employees perform the first group of stretches;

correcting any of the performed ergonomic therapies and first group of stretches.

15. The system as defined in claim 14, wherein the step of following up includes:

allowing a predetermined period of time to pass;

conducting a second evaluation and second assessment to determine a combined follow-up physical status for the first group of employees;

demonstrating the second group of stretches printed on the second sheet of paper;

watching the individuals of the first group of employees perform the second group of stretches; and

correcting any of the performed second group of stretches.

16. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the step of following up further comprising the steps of:

selecting a third group of stretches from the database of stretches;

wherein the third group of stretches are more physically challenging than the second group thereof;

printing the third group of stretches onto a third sheet of paper;

demonstrating the third group of stretches to the first group of employees;

watching the individuals of the first group perform the third group of stretches; and

correcting any of the performed third group of stretches.

17. The system as defined in claim 13;

wherein the step of implementation of the therapeutic program further includes the steps of;

selecting a volunteer coach from among the individuals of the first group of employees; and

training the volunteer coach to do the first group of stretches.

18. The system as defined in claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

conducting an ergonomic evaluation of a second group of employees who perform an identified second job that involves potentially injurious activities;

conducting an occupational therapy evaluation of the second group of employees; and

implementing a second corrective therapeutic program to address a plurality of issues identified during the ergonomic and occupational therapy evaluations of the second group of employees.

19. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein a first desired outcome of the program is reaching a desired threshold of improvement in the physical state of the group of employees.

20. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein a second desired outcome of the program is minimizing injurious activities identified during the evaluation to reduce the possibility of the employees becoming injured during their normal work-related activities;

21. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein a third desired outcome of the program is relief of task-generated pain identified by the group of employees during the evaluation.