Return-to-work guide
Returning to work after a musculoskeletal injury
Musculoskeletal injury is a broad category — backs, shoulders, knees, sprains and strains — but the return-to-work coordination behind them has the same shape. Nexus Rehab measures what the role demands, works to what your treating doctor has certified, and builds a plan that closes the gap safely. The medical care stays with your treating doctor; we coordinate the work side.
Matching capacity to job demands
Most musculoskeletal claims turn on what the person can safely do, measured against what the job actually requires. A functional capacity evaluation puts objective measures against that — strength, endurance and task tolerance assessed against real duties — so decisions rest on evidence rather than assumption. The evaluation informs the return-to-work plan; it does not replace your treating doctor's certificate of capacity. Nexus Rehab runs the assessment, documents it clearly, and gives the insurer and healthcare team a defensible baseline to work from.
Suitable duties, staged over time
A safe return is rarely a single step back into full duties. A return-to-work plan sets suitable duties, timeframes and milestones, agreed by you, your employer, the insurer and your doctor. For a musculoskeletal injury that often means reducing the physical demands that aggravate the injury, rotating tasks, or changing how a job is done so it can still be done safely. Worksite adjustments and reviewed manual-handling practices are written into the plan and checked once you are back, so the return holds instead of stalling.
When the pre-injury role cannot be accommodated
Sometimes the pre-injury employer cannot offer duties that fit the certified capacity. When that happens, the plan shifts toward suitable employment elsewhere: a vocational assessment looks at transferable skills, the local labour market and any retraining, and structured job-seeking support follows. This is coordination work, and any clinical judgement stays with the treating doctor. Across every path, services are approved by the insurer before they are delivered, and approved rehabilitation services are funded under the scheme rather than paid by the injured worker.
This is general information about returning to work, not medical advice. Your treating doctor directs your medical care — Nexus Rehab coordinates the return-to-work side and works to their certificate of capacity.