Workplace Injuries and Degenerative Disc Disease
What is a degenerative disc disease?
As humans, our discs degenerate over time, often due to one or more factors. The leading cause is age. Degenerative disc disease can be defined as symptoms of pain and possible numbness. It can cause debilitating pain and make it challenging to fulfill day to day responsibilities. Discomfort from a degenerated disc is most often felt along the back and neck.
As much as age can cause this condition to advance, research has shown that it can also be fueled by injuries. This is especially true when the injury results from activities such as lifting heavy weights or making sudden, unnatural movements. A common solution for this condition is surgery as long as the degenerated disc can be located and isolated.
How to Decrease the Risk of Aggravating a Degenerated Disk
You may want to know how as an employee you can deal with this condition and whether the law provides for people in your situation. If you suffered an injury that leads to the worsening of a prior disc injury in the course of duty, you might be entitled to compensation. Top injuries that happen in the workplace are as a result of:
• A fall when reaching out to an object that is placed high and out of reach
• Twisting while lifting objects that are too heavy
• The jerking motion experienced when one trips, even without landing on the ground
• Being hit by a falling object
The above injuries can cause stress, wear, and tear on a degenerated disk. With time, the injured tissue may lead to additional damage and even further degeneration of the discs.
Are you entitled to compensation?
With degenerative disk disease, it could be easy for the insurance company to claim that the disc degeneration is naturally occurring. Our pooled experiences from several years come in handy in such situations. We will build your case with the aid of medical records. Our goal is to prove that your work injury led to the present condition. The first step is for you to understand that you need the services of an attorney who has extensive experience in this area.
If your job involves heavy lifting and making repeated movements, you may be more at risk for injury. If one occurs, your employer may be held liable for your damages. Regardless of whether you had a prior disc injury, if the degeneration was accelerated in a workplace accident, you should not be punished. Workers compensation covers both new and pre-existing injuries.
A workers’ compensation claim has a statute of limitations, the time frame for which differs by state. The most prudent thing to do is to get in touch with an experienced personal injury lawyer who can start the claims process before the time expiration. We offer free case reviews to workers injured on the job. As a highly rated and respected legal firm with a focus on workers compensation cases, we encourage you to contact us today.
