The fracture may have healed. The employee may still not be ready to return to work.

Recovery after a workplace injury is not always one-dimensional. Physical symptoms may improve while psychological barriers continue—or emerge later—affecting an employee’s ability to resume their previous duties and sustain a successful return to work.

When a Physical Injury Has a Psychological Impact

WCB-Alberta defines secondary psychological injuries as psychological conditions that develop following a physical injury. In its 2025 Annual Report, WCB noted that these conditions

“can become a significant barrier to overall recovery.”

That barrier may not look the same as a physical restriction.

Depending on the individual and their condition, psychological symptoms may affect concentration, cognitive demands, tolerance for stress, confidence returning to particular tasks, or overall work functioning. This means physical recovery alone may not provide a complete picture of return-to-work readiness.

Recent research from the Institute for Work & Health reinforces that distinction. Its May 2026 review found that work-related psychological injury claims are associated with longer durations, higher costs and more complex return-to-work processes than physical injury claims.

Looking Beyond Physical Job Demands

Return-to-work planning often considers physical requirements such as lifting, standing, mobility or endurance. Psychological and cognitive demands can matter too.

WCB-Alberta expanded its cognitive psychosocial job demands analysis to workers with accepted secondary psychological injuries in 2025. The tool is designed to help employers and workers develop a clearer understanding of a job’s psychological demands and align them with the worker’s capabilities.

The result was notable: by year-end, WCB reported that 27% more workers with an accepted secondary psychological injury returned to work.

It is an important reminder that understanding the demands of the job—and the employee’s ability to meet them—can extend beyond physical capacity.

What If Physical Recovery and RTW Readiness Don’t Align?

A return to work that appears straightforward based on physical findings may become more complicated when psychological symptoms remain.

For employers, insurers and disability managers, the question becomes what is preventing recovery from progressing as expected. Existing medical information may provide the answer. In other cases, there may be unanswered questions about psychological functioning, prognosis, treatment or how symptoms are affecting the individual’s capacity for work.

When those questions are relevant to a complex claim, an independent psychological or psychiatric assessment may help provide greater clarity. The purpose is not to assume a psychological condition exists because recovery is delayed, but to better understand the barriers when there is a legitimate reason to investigate them.

Recovery Needs the Full Picture

Physical and psychological recovery can be connected without following identical timelines.

Recognizing that distinction can help organizations avoid viewing physical improvement as the only measure of recovery. Sustainable return-to-work planning depends on understanding the employee’s current capabilities in relation to the demands they will actually face at work.

Sometimes, the clearest path forward begins by asking whether the physical injury is still the only part of the recovery that needs attention.