Employers the nation over have made a stronger commitment toward the noble cause of employee wellness over the past decade. Indeed, it is good to see an increased emphasis on the value of companies encouraging a healthy, happy existence from their employees. But while health dangers such as smoking and obesity are easy to pinpoint and target through various wellness programs, there is another problem that is rapidly growing among the workforce that can be quite easy for wellness programs to gloss over: The issue of chronic pain.
According to a 2006 survey conducted by the National Pain Institute, the number of employees that deal with chronic pain has gone from 15 million to 22 million in the past decade. While it is not estimated how many of those cases are derived from work-related activities, almost half of those surveyed have lamented that the pain has adversely effected their job performance. As one could guess, this upshot in suffering has in turn had a massively negative consequence on employers. It is estimated that issues relating to chronic pain have cost businesses about $100 billion a year in medical expenses and lost work.
The reasons for the increase in chronic pain instances are wide in their scope. Some of the blame is said to be due to the increased influx of aging boomers in the workforce. Others say that the totals are supplemented by increased workloads over the years. Those are obvious reasons, but another frequently mentioned cause that may not be as crystal to the average employee is the blame that is doled out to sedentary lifestyles. It is generally agreed by those in the know that an existence that focuses on inactivity does little in terms of preservation, and in fact goes a long way in aiding and abetting the wear and tear of the body. Certainly, this mindset seems to make sense, considering the body is often referred to as a machine. Like any apparatus that may rust, erode, or fall into a state of squalor from lack of use, it stands to reason that the body is privy to those very same pitfalls if left to a consistent state of lax.
While aging cannot be prevented, and it may be hard at times to lessen one’s amount of work, the issue of idleness is something that can absolutely be combated by the workforce in terms of preventing chronic pain from creeping into one’s life. Typically, one of the goals of wellness programs is to encourage people to become and remain active. The possibility of staving off a daily world of pain should be an angle that is played up to its hilt while trying to encourage people to get up and go. There are several ways to go about this; from grand schemes involving exercise to subtle ways such as ergonomics, the goal of a healthier, happier employee can ultimately be achievable. No matter how one decides to go about it, if the end result is fewer instances of chronic pain, it will be a plan that employees and employers alike will embrace more often than not.
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