Workers Comp: How Agents Can Help Close the Gap in Soft-Tissue Claims

• November 9, 2026

By Ahmed Zarrugh

Overexertion is caused by the lifting, pushing, pulling and carrying that can fill a working day. It has been the first or second costliest cause of serious workplace injury in every edition of the “Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.” For employers, this means lost working days and higher workers compensation premiums that last for years after a claim.

A common pattern is that a worker reports a soft tissue injury, yet the scan shows nothing unusual or shows degenerative findings that could have been there for years before the worker started the job and may have nothing to do with the pain. The worker still reports ongoing pain, yet there’s no record of how that worker’s body worked before the incident, so nobody can say what changed.

The claim takes far longer to resolve than anyone expected. It’s a real headache for employers who need to deal with these types of issues quickly, fairly and effectively. Whilst there is no shortage of tools in this space, from wearable devices to imaging post-injury, without a reference point or benchmark, common practice is to play it safe. This means more testing, more referrals and longer claims. Longer claims can also make renewal costs harder to predict.

A key challenge with wearable devices is that they only really function properly when what’s “normal” has already been established for that specific individual. The starting point is to identify the baseline before anything goes wrong.

The baseline can be taken before any incident is reported. It’s a 30-minute assessment that records muscle function, range of motion and functional capacity simultaneously. If an injury is reported at a later date, a second assessment is taken and the two are compared. The comparison shows by how much that worker’s function may or may not have changed. It also eliminates the need to constantly monitor workers, which is neither practical nor popular.

If a clear, objective picture of what has changed is available, agentscan advise before a claim is opened.

It’s also an opportunity for an agent to add value by making recommendations that will lead to fewer drawn-out claims and steadier costs at renewal for the client.

Clients will always remember timely advice. These conversations can also help to build trust and position the agent as a strategic advisor, which deepens the scope and future potential of the relationship.

Does identifying a baseline raise privacy or discrimination concerns? It’s a fair question. No medical questions are asked during the baseline, and it isn’t used to screen anyone out, score workers or flag them. It stays sealed, has no impact on employment and is only opened if that worker reports an injury.

As technology advances and the volume of data increases, the value of a strong reference point will rise incrementally. Ideally, the next time a worker reports an injury, the question for agents is straightforward: Is there a “before” to compare it with, and who will act on what it shows?

Ahmed Zarrugh is CEO of Precision Motion Health.