On any given day millions of employees work through their aches and pains, some job-related, some not. Sore backs, aching necks, and stiff knees plague workers of all ages. The impact of these ailments ranges from bothersome to debilitating.

How much time and productivity are you losing to workplace aches and pains? What are they costing your business? And what can be done about them? Answers to those questions are the subject of this Compliance Report. You’ll read about pain-busting antidotes like massage, yoga, stretching, and simply asking employees to rate how they feel.

Whether you’ve got an aging workforce with arthritic hands or Generation Y employees achy from weekend softball, we’ve got information you need.

The Painful Truth

According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), “The prevalence of pain has a tremendous impact on business.” The academy points to a study by the Institute of Medicine that puts the annual cost of pain-related lost productivity at around $300 billion. That’s based on missed workdays, lost work hours, and reduced wages.

AAPM also notes that:

• More than half of Americans live with chronic or recurrent pain.
• Leading types of pain are headache, backache, and neck pain.
• About 4 in 10 Americans say pain interferes with their mood, activities, sleep, and ability to work or enjoy life.

Early Warning Signs

Winnie Ip is director of consulting for Humantech, a leading ergonomics consulting firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Humantech serves primarily Fortune 500 companies in the automotive, healthcare, service delivery, and telecommunications industries.

Ip believes pain is a bigger problem than people realize. “What I see in both the office and the manufacturing environment is that people think aches and pains are just part of the job.” Many companies wait until an injury has occurred to identify and mitigate the risk.

“We stress that the earlier you can get employees to report aches and pains, the better.” That’s because once pain turn into injury, lost productivity and absenteeism soon follow. Ip also notes that people in pain are more prone to injury.

Humantech consultants advise clients that full-blown ergonomic problems do not appear overnight. Neither can they be quickly fixed. “You don’t just wake up with an ergonomic injury like carpal tunnel syndrome. It develops over time and usually starts with aches and pains that are your body’s way of telling you something isn’t right.” Sometimes a simple worksite adjustment of computer equipment or a production cell can reduce the pain. Sometimes the fix is more complex, adds Ip.

Not all pain is a sign that something is wrong in the work setup. Some is age-related wear and tear, a particular problem in businesses with an aging workforce.

Successful Countermeasures

Ip says employers need to train their workers to become attuned to the root cause of pain and to know where to go for assistance. Some companies require workers to take a simple daily or weekly survey at the start of their shift.

The survey might ask, “How are you feeling today?” The employee indicates pain level on a graphic scale, or by checking a happy, sad, or neutral face. Other employers have a daily ”standup” meeting. This is a quick gathering during which supervisors ask workers about the level of discomfort they are experiencing that day.

“It’s all about early reporting and finding unique ways to get that information early,” says Ip. Humantech emphasizes educating employees and empowering them to take control of their own workstations and to self-report concerns.

But encouraging reporting isn’t enough, says Ip. She urges employers to create a solid structure with methods to track and measure program effectiveness, cost, and related absenteeism. Assess leading indicators like the number of early reports of pain and the number of workplace assessments being conducted.

Start small in your effort to understand and correct workplace problems that contribute to pain, Ip suggests. Set up a pilot program within a team and get some quick wins before expanding the campaign. Designate members of the safety or ergonomics committee to receive complaints or concerns from other employees.

Best Buy Shares Best Ideas

The electronics retailer Best Buy is going after workplace aches and pains on several levels. Jennifer Menk is program manager of the company’s Wellness Zone, operated by worksite health promotion provider HealthFitness.

About a third of the 5,000 employees at corporate headquarters in Ridgefield, Minnesota, are members of the program. A $25 monthly membership buys access to a full-service gym, their choice of 50 classes per week, plus other services.

Menk says employees often suffer from aches and pains related to improper and excessive sitting. For others, the problem is work-related travel, which means hours in airplane seats, less opportunity to exercise, and sleeping in strange beds.

“Our most popular ache and pain resource is massage therapy,” says Menk. Employees can schedule a massage at the wellness facility for $1 per minute. Sometimes department heads provide free chair massages for their employees. These are delivered on-site by Wellness Zone massage therapists.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Another popular pain-busting strategy is Bowen therapy. This hands-on method teaches the body’s muscles to heal themselves. A specialized practitioner applies the gentle maneuvers to specific trouble areas. She also helps employees analyze their posture and habits to uncover sources of pain.

Yoga is a popular offering at the Best Buy Wellness Zone. Menk teaches several classes a week to employees seeking relief from neck and back pain and who seek other benefits. Noontime classes are popular. Menk also leads 10- to 15-minute yoga breaks within departments. These are especially welcome during the run-up to the holidays.

Pilates reformer classes offer another antidote to aches and pains. The wellness center offers eight classes a week as well as private sessions. The price is about half the going rate for Pilates instruction. Employees love the classes, which help strengthen core muscles and improve stability, strength, and flexibility.

Menk and other trainers also hold lunch-and-learn sessions on wellness topics, including staying healthy on the road. They teach participants to use stretchy bands to get a good workout even in a hotel room. Employees can take advantage of Best Buy store discounts to purchase fitness equipment like weights and heart rate monitors.

Competitive programs encourage involvement. For example, in January, hundreds of employees will participate in Drop It Like It’s Hot, the site’s seventh annual postholiday weight-loss challenge.

Benefits Run Deep

Employee satisfaction surveys yield consistently high ratings for yoga, massage, and the center’s other offerings. Menk believes a strong wellness program helps attract and retain employees and contributes to their overall well-being.

“Just taking a break for movement helps people start the day off right or have a more productive afternoon,” she says. More vigorous options like circuit classes, interval training, spinning, and boot camp are scheduled before and after work.

“We have a lot of takers—about a third of the people who walk through our doors take a class,” says Menk.

Many Best Buy departments operate on the “ROWE principle,” which stands for results-oriented work environment. Employees are evaluated more on performance than on logging a precise number of hours.

“If they can get their work done, they can come down to the Wellness Zone,” says Menk. That’s why she sees a steady stream of employees at the facility throughout the day.

Reducing Corporate Pain

Masters-trained massage therapist Sheila Scheick is the owner of Zen Muscular Therapy (www.zentherapy.com) in Woburn, Massachusetts. Zen Muscular delivers yoga, massage, Pilates, and other services to workplaces from small doctors’ offices to large corporations.

Connie Festo Lafond is on staff as a certified Pilates instructor. Many employee aches and pains she treats are the result of repetitive motion, including the effects of using computers. “Another problem is the fact that people are sitting and not moving, which creates a lot of tension in the neck and shoulders,” adds Lafond. The economic slowdown means many employees are doing the work of two people. As a result, they’re not getting the breaks they need and/or they’re working longer hours.

Employees put themselves at risk for discomfort by maintaining a forward head posture while working on computers and other digital devices. Says Scheick, “Leaning forward with the head down creates an imbalance. The shoulders turn forward, the muscles in the neck shorten, and the back muscles have to overcompensate and get overused as a result.”

Sitting is another cause of pain. Workers are often unaware of the impact of excessive sitting and need to be reminded to periodically get up and move. Tight hamstrings are a common result of too many hours in a chair.

Tightening the core with Pilates and other practices can help relieve sitting-related pain. Lafond recently completed an 8-week Pilates program at a company with a desk-bound workforce. She led them through focused stretches and abdominal exercises and gave them exercises to do at home.

Lafond says a simple way to improve posture and resulting pain is to post a photo of you sitting up tall where it can be easily seen. Seeing the photo encourages individuals to model that posture as they work.

Stress Can Hurt

Scheick sees a direct link between stress and pain. “Most people don’t realize that stress can lead to pain,” she says. “When people are stressed-out often, they tense their muscles.”

Over time that can lead to shortened muscles, trigger points, and adhesions, especially in the neck and upper back. Other ill effects include headache, neck strain, and limited range of motion. “With massage, our goal is to treat the body as a whole, to open things up, release adhesions and knots, and lengthen the muscles,” says Scheick.

She’s encouraged by the number of workplaces now offering on-site wellness programs and believes firmly in their potential to help the bottom line. “It may cost up front, but in the long run it saves money.” Scheick advises safety and health professionals to push for the inclusion of stress and pain-relieving services like yoga and massage.

It’s a Stretch

Workplace stretching programs are fairly common, but they range considerably in quality and effectiveness. Some lack focus and structure, which reduces employee benefit. Scott Ege is trying to change that. He’s a physical therapist and ergonomist and founder of Ege WorkSmart Solutions, PC (www.egesolutions.com).

He developed a workplace stretching program called Stretch It Out! It includes a combination of movements and stretches that address all major muscle groups typically used in a workday.

According to Ege, stretching helps promote blood flow, which provides significant preventive health benefits. “It’s similar to changing the oil in your car; you change the oil faithfully to avoid problems later with your vehicle. In short, basic stretching increases our energy levels, reduces discomfort, and makes us feel better at the end of the day.”

Stretch It Out! is overseen by a worksite “champion.” The daily 6- to 8-minute sessions are led by stretch coaches, specially trained front-line workers who share their knowledge with co-workers and train them to lead. Ege says the best results come from small groups of 4 to 10 people. This allows ownership to be created and sustained over the long term.

“The best musculoskeletal disorder injury to treat is the one that never happened,” says Ege. To that end, specialists interviewed for this report advocate proactive good health practices and regular physical activity.

When employees do become sidelined by aches and pains, stretching, massage, yoga, Pilates, and overall strengthening can help reduce discomfort and increase performance.