Employees who experience chronic musculoskeletal pain fall into a never-ending cycle of lost productivity, missed workdays, reliance on opioids, and even failed surgeries or other unsuccessful treatments.
Musculoskeletal injuries and disorders affect a person’s ability to move normally. These injuries cause persistent pain, stiffness, or inflammation in such areas as the back, neck, shoulders, hip, and knees. Musculoskeletal problems can be caused on the job or exacerbated by working.
Here’s the kicker: Chronic pain costs between $297 billion and $336 billion in lost productivity every year, and employers see annual costs of $96.5 billion in lost work hours and $12.7 billion in missed workdays1—yet this topic rarely is addressed in the workplace.
In a recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey report, “The Future of Digital Care: Tackling the Cost of Physical and Emotional Pain in the Workplace,” 90 percent of surveyed employees said people who experience chronic physical pain are more likely to be anxious and depressed. Eighty-one percent said their employers could do more to help them with chronic pain, and one in three felt the topic is taboo to talk about at work.
NEED TO KNOW:
The Harvard Business Review finds chronic joint and back pain to be the main reasons employees call in sick. Such pain affects employees in every work environment—from sitting at a desk, to lifting heavy objects.
Opioid Misuse and Addiction Have Been Labeled a Public Health Emergency
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that the total economic burden of prescription opioid abuse costs the United States a whopping $78.5 billion per year. This heavy burden falls on employers in the form of lost productivity, depression, addiction treatment, workers’ compensation claims, and more.
How Regenexx® Supports Pain Management
Adding Regenexx to your company’s benefit package offers your employees valuable healthcare options. In turn, your company can see a reduction in healthcare expenses by averting unnecessary surgeries. In addition, far fewer employees are exposed to the risk of opioid addiction, overdose, and potential related deaths.
Did you know:
- Many Regenexx procedures require little to no opioid prescriptions.
- We publish the improvement in pain for all patients enrolled in our registry.
- Regenexx recovery is “activity-as-tolerated” which means employees typically return to work only a couple of days post-procedure.
Corporate Spotlight
Jason Hellickson to Speak at HI2 Healthcare Innovation and Investment Conference
Jason Hellickson, founder of Regenexx Corporate, will speak on the topic, Regenerative Medicine: Orthopedics, at 11 a.m. on Tuesday Sept. 28 at the HI2 Healthcare Innovation + Investment Conference in Chicago. The conference attracts the best and brightest leaders across the healthcare spectrum—those who are envisioning the future and driving change to get there. Interested representatives of growing healthcare companies and private equity services can learn more about the program and other various speakers here.
News & Research
- Opioids may be no better than Tylenol at Relieving Pain
- Opioids taken before knee replacement have also been shown to cause more pain after surgery
- Opioid use can actually amplify chronic pain and disrupt pain signals
- There’s a 20 percent chance of addiction to opioids after just one 10-day opioid prescription
- Regenexx’s telemedicine program provides the same high quality of an in-person visit
- Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine Market Detailed Analysis, Growth Factors, Trends, Developments and Forecast by 2027
1 NorthEast Business Group on Health