We provide rehabilitation from the Southern Gold Coast through to Ballina, including mobile services across the Northern Rivers. Depending on your needs, rehabilitation can take place in the clinic, at home or in the community.
Return to Work
An injury or illness can affect your ability to work in many different ways, from pain and reduced strength to fatigue, cognitive difficulties or loss of confidence. Our return-to-work rehabilitation is designed to help you rebuild your abilities and work towards a safe, confident and sustainable return.
return to work rehabilitation
Helping you recover, rebuild confidence and return to work safely
An injury or illness can affect much more than your ability to perform individual work tasks. Pain, fatigue, reduced physical capacity, cognitive difficulties and loss of confidence can all make returning to work challenging.
At Coast & Rivers Rehab, we provide personalised, evidence-based rehabilitation to help people recover from work-related injuries and safely return to meaningful and sustainable employment.
Our approach looks beyond the diagnosis. We consider your symptoms and functional abilities alongside the physical, cognitive and psychological demands of your job. From there, we develop a rehabilitation and return-to-work plan tailored to you.
conditions we treat
Injuries and conditions we can help with
We can assist with rehabilitation following a wide range of workplace injuries and health conditions, including:
- Traumatic brain injury and concussion
- Persistent post-concussion symptoms
- Back and neck injuries
- Musculoskeletal injuries
- Injuries following falls or workplace accidents
- Orthopaedic injuries and recovery following surgery
- Neurological conditions
- Persistent pain and physical deconditioning
- Recovery following serious illness or prolonged absence from work
rehabilitation
Concussion & traumatic brain injury
Returning to work after a concussion or traumatic brain injury can be particularly challenging. Symptoms may persist even when someone appears physically well and can include headaches, dizziness, visual disturbance, poor concentration, memory difficulties, cognitive fatigue, sleep disturbance and reduced tolerance of busy or stimulating environments.
Our physiotherapists assess how these symptoms affect your ability to function at work and develop an individualised rehabilitation program. This may include graded physical and cognitive rehabilitation, symptom management, pacing strategies and a graduated return to work.
Where required, we can coordinate physiotherapy and other allied health input and provide recommendations regarding work hours, duties, breaks, screen exposure and cognitive workload.
The aim is not simply to get you back to work, but to achieve a safe and sustainable return without repeatedly aggravating symptoms.
conditions we treat
Back & musculoskeletal injuries
Back pain is one of the most common reasons for difficulty remaining at or returning to work. Recovery is often best supported by remaining active and progressively rebuilding the strength, movement and confidence required for work.
Through physiotherapy we’ll focus on improving mobility, strength and physical capacity while addressing barriers that may be delaying recovery.
Treatment may include individualised physiotherapy, graded exercise, functional strengthening, pain management strategies and progressive exposure to work-related activities.
For people with physically demanding occupations, rehabilitation can be specifically targeted towards the lifting, carrying, bending, pushing, pulling or sustained postures required for their role.
How we help
Return to work rehabilitation options
Successful return to work often involves more than treating the injury itself. We tailor rehabilitation to your injury, current abilities and work demands, and can coordinate with your GP, specialists, employer, insurer and other health professionals where needed. Rehabilitation can take place in the clinic, at home or in the community depending on your needs.
Comprehensive rehabilitation assessment
Assessing your symptoms, physical and cognitive abilities, work requirements and any barriers that may be affecting your recovery or return to work.
Physiotherapy and exercise rehabilitation
Individualised physiotherapy, graded exercise and functional strengthening to improve mobility, strength, physical capacity and confidence.
Physical and cognitive work capacity assessment
Assessing what you can currently manage against the demands of your role to identify areas that may need further rehabilitation or support.
Graduated return-to-work planning
Developing a progressive return to suitable hours and duties, with recommendations for modified duties, breaks or workload where appropriate.
Work-specific rehabilitation
Preparing for the physical and cognitive demands of your role, from lifting, carrying and prolonged postures to concentration, screen time and cognitive workload.
Coordinated rehabilitation
Working with your treating doctors and other health professionals to keep rehabilitation moving towards a clear goal. For more complex injuries, this may also include rehabilitation physician assessment or workplace-based rehabilitation.
our goal
Helping you get back to work
Our goal is to help you recover as fully as possible and return to work safely, confidently and sustainably. That means looking beyond the injury itself and understanding what getting back to work actually requires for you.
We focus on what you can do now, what you need to be able to do for your role, and the practical steps required to bridge the gap between the two.
As your strength, function and confidence improve, your rehabilitation can progress with you. This may mean gradually increasing your work hours, rebuilding your capacity for specific tasks or adjusting your rehabilitation as the demands of your role change.
More information
Frequently asked questions
Where do you provide return-to-work rehabilitation?
Do I need to be fully recovered before I return to work?
Not necessarily. A gradual return with modified duties, reduced hours or other adjustments may be appropriate while you continue your rehabilitation and rebuild your capacity.
Can you work with my employer, GP or insurer?
Yes. We can work with your GP, specialists, employer, insurer and other health professionals to help coordinate your rehabilitation and develop a clear return-to-work plan.
What injuries can return-to-work rehabilitation help with?
We support people recovering from back and neck injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, concussion and traumatic brain injury, neurological conditions, persistent pain, surgery and other conditions that may affect their ability to work.
Visit our clinic
Book an appointment at our John Flynn clinic
Return to Work
An injury or illness can affect your ability to work in many different ways, from pain and reduced strength to fatigue, cognitive difficulties or loss of confidence. Our return-to-work rehabilitation is designed to help you rebuild your abilities and work towards a safe, confident and sustainable return.