Work hardening for sub-acute back injured workers: a new approach

ACTIDOS (ATD) is a program which takes an innovative approach to work hardening based on the needs of acutely back-injured workers. The success lies in the coordinated efforts of the interdisciplinary treatment team. ATD integrates the return to work process as an aspect of treatment and focuses on functional capacity rather than the elimination of pain. The program demonstrates encouraging outcome information: 85% of the workers in a specific group returned to work within the expected time.