Repetitive Trauma
Some work activities or accidents result in a clear and sudden injury, such as a slip-and-fall resulting in a broken ankle, a motor vehicle accident resulting in neck pain, or a lifting incident in which the worker feels immediate symptoms or pain in the low back.
However, many injuries are not immediately obvious. Many workers are required to perform repetitive physical tasks several times per day or over a long period of time resulting in disabilities such as carpel tunnel syndrome from data entry or use of a jackhammer, torn rotator cuffs from repetitive machine use, back pain and illness from prolonged heavy lifting, and arthritic conditions and aggravations from excessive joint stress.
Similarly, illness can occur from repetitive exposure to certain conditions, chemicals or mold resulting in conditions such as hearing loss, lung disease, heart and hypertension, infectious disease, asbestos and cancer.
These cases must be reported timely and can be more difficult to prove a causal connection between the activity and the resulting injury. As such, as soon as you suspect you may be suffering from a work-related repetitive injury, you must consult with an experienced Workers’ Compensation attorney and seek medical attention.
Call now at 860-219-0779 to speak with one of our experienced workers’ compensation attorneys. We can help.