In our concern with injuries in the workplace, we pay close attention to the worker. The injury brings together all the medical skills for the crisis event. It is from the point of view of treatment in the hospital that the opportunity for research, prevention, and education presents itself. Not only the rain of injury but the soil of the worker that it falls upon is the focus of the solution to the problems of injury in the workplace. At the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute we have founded the Occupational and Industrial Orthopaedic Center to act as a research and consulting resource to industry in order to explore these problems. In a review and analysis of injuries, our group developed a complete test battery, including psychological, physiological and mechanical evaluation of the worker's capacity and the workplace requirement. This multidisciplinary team approach is necessary to understand the complexity of work, the worker, and to prevent chronicity. For example, the involvement of the psychologist in correlating emotional stress to physical injury and dysfunction provides insight for prevention opportunities. The rheumatologist's understanding of arthritis and its relation to back pain and reduced muscle functioning coordinates with that of the orthopaedist. It is the medical dialogue taking place within the hospital that gives guidance to the industrial engineer and the ergonomist. Together with the educator we can develop preventative training programmes for the worker and supervisor. Further, we can provide assistance to government in legislative and regulatory support of providing a safe and effective work environment for the productive worker.
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