Not sure whether to post this here or in legal or in chronic pain. But anyway:
Due to lower back pain my work referred me many months ago to Occupational Health. There wasn’t sickness absence at this point as the flare had happened just before the Christmas break. On return I flagged that I was struggling with pain after the incident, which had happened during work hours. Desk job, lots of sitting, long hours. Workload issues long acknowledged. (In retrospect, all my Christmas annual leave I spent unable to walk and I guess I could have claimed it back. But it wasn’t suggested by work and it’s not the bit I’m bothered about.)
Work referred me to Occupational Health.
Occ Health referred me to their physio (paid for by work). Was given three weeks off work, sanctioned by work, not via GP.
I went to three of the physio sessions but was unimpressed in terms of no real history taken by the physio - I explained an existing back weakness but there just wasn’t any interest. The physio didn’t look at my back (it has structural problems that you can literally see if you look). I was just told to do, say 10 reps of such and such exercises on a mat in front of him. He’d ask me to sit in a chair and I’d say the pain was such that it was really difficult for me to sit. No progress or lessening of pain occurred. I called it a day after the third session when I found myself considerably worse afterwards, like not able to walk within 40 minutes of leaving the appointment . I told HR that I didn’t think it was a good fit and it was making me worse and they were wasting that budget.
Did follow that physio’s phased return to work timetable. This went tits up as the pain just wasn’t going away and was in fact often worse. The phased return was also really hard to manage as it was essentially an hour on, an hour off, most of which was was impossible because of workload and meetings. Very stressed as I got more and more behind with work and the pain continued, particularly sitting or standing.
Was mostly WFH but then started to have days in the office and I had a complete pain and mental health break down during one of them. Talked to HR and i have been signed off by GP for the past weeks. Mental health also a bit shot as worrying about job security as well as the chronic pain just not resolving, months in.
I have now seen an orthopaedic consultant. Went private as waiting lists incredibly long, as you would expect. My MRI confirms three separate tears and herniations in my discs - (that will have been from the incident in December) X- Ray shows the underlying spinal condition is severe. Like might need a major operation. In meantime booked in for steroid epidural next week for pain relief.
I am so relieved, weirdly, that this isn’t all in my head.
Am I reasonable to feel cross with the Work/Occupational Heath/ Physio-paid -for/by work pathway at the beginning of all this? The exercises their physio had me do were absolutely wrong for what was actually wrong with me. Why didn’t the Occ Health GP tell me to get straight onto an orthopaedic referral, given the underlying condition? Why did the physio seem less than interested?
My quality of life, recovery prognosis and timing and work record has been seriously affected. Future impact unknown.
I am cross with myself, too. But did trust, initially, those experts.
Would you flag to your work’s HR in those circumstances? If you’re HR, would you want to know? I don’t think I’m after anything but do think it’s something they might want to be more careful about in future.
Apols this turned out long. And probably has typos.