Work Hardening Program

What is work hardening?

For people with work-related injuries and chronic pain, Bryn Mawr Rehab offers a range of therapies through RehabWorks, a worker rehabilitation program that brings together a multidisciplinary team to support people who have lost functional capacity due to a work-related illness or injury. Through goal-oriented treatment, patients who attend RehabWorks receive care that allows them to heal medically, physically and emotionally. 

From injury prevention to pain management, we take a creative approach to helping patients overcome work-related injuries. Our state-of-the-art RehabWorks facility has cardiovascular and isokinetic equipment, an on-site therapeutic pool and a work-hardening center. In this center, we combine physical therapy and occupational therapy with work simulation activities for the practice, modification and instruction of work tasks.

Patients in worker rehabilitation also have access to:

Occupational health and worker evaluation services

In addition to our intensive therapy options, we identify and address occupational health issues through a comprehensive range of specialized evaluation services. We’ve designed these evaluations to maximize employee health and productivity while containing health care costs. Evaluation services include:

  • Functional capacity evaluation
  • Independent medical evaluation
  • Pre-employment physical demand level screenings
  • Physiatrist evaluation
  • Psychological evaluation

Patients who participate in therapy at RehabWorks are often working-age professionals who have suffered a traumatic injury or serious illness. Many recovering patients need to regain their strength and relearn necessary skills. Our staff helps make the transition to the workplace as smooth as possible.

Related specialties

Pain Management

Our pain management program includes a range of therapeutic techniques, whether you need chronic back pain treatment or relief from pinched nerves. We also draw on integrative medicine approaches to complement traditional pain therapies to give you the safest, most effective results.

Hand Therapy

A hand therapy specialist is well-versed in a variety of methods and works to develop a personalized regimen for the unique needs of every patient. Our patients come from all walks of life—from young athletes to long-term arthritis sufferers to accidental burn victims.

Neurological Rehab

Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital offers an extensive, progressive neurologic outpatient rehabilitation program for patients who may be able to function on their own, but wish to function even better.

Assistive Technology Services

Disability and assistive technology combines technological invention with modern medicine, helping people with physical and cognitive disabilities acquire and use devices that help improve mobility and independence.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy and sensory integration helps patients who’ve experienced a debilitative injury or illness return to activities of daily living (ADL), such as dressing, eating, writing, shopping, toileting and driving.

Brain Injury Rehab

Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital was one of the first facilities in the country to offer traumatic and nontraumatic inpatient brain injury rehab as well as outpatient brain injury rehab and has remained one of the best rehabilitation hospitals for brain injury treatment in the Philadelphia region for more than 30 years.

Concussion Rehab

One of the first acute rehabilitation hospitals in the country to provide treatment for brain injury, we’re recognized as a leader in the field of concussion treatment and recovery.

Horticultural Therapy Center

Getting well doesn’t just happen from a hospital bed or inside a gym. Sometimes, letting patients get back to nature is the key to physical and psychological recovery.