At Saffren and Weinberg, Marc Alan Weinberg, Attorney and Kenneth Scott Saffren, Attorney are partners. The firm’s tagline is “The People’s Voice In Court.” They make themselves available via phone at (215) 576-0100 or by email on the Saffren and Weinberg website. Saffren and Weinberg provides a no-charge, complimentary case review and answers questions for prospective clients.
What To Do If You Have Suffered A Hand Or Neck Injury On The Job
Is waking up in the morning becoming something you dread because of your back pain? Do you experience pain in your wrist often? Have you noticed a decrease in strength in your arms?
If you have answered ‘yes’ to any or all these questions, then you may be suffering from computer posture problems.
Before you brush it off aside as a trivial issue, you should know that ignoring back pain, hand and wrist pain for long can lead to permanent injury. It is high time that you pay attention to the signs that your body is giving you and seek treatment as soon as possible.
You need not fret about medical costs because the health woes arising from desk jobs, also known as white collar injuries, are acknowledged as workplace injuries or personal injury which deserves compensation.
Being Aware of the Source of Injury
Back and hands are the most affected when you spend hours typing on your keyboard or clicking your mouse. Back injuries may be taken seriously when one experiences severe pain, but hand injuries are most often neglected. Whether it’s your back or your hand, you shouldn’t take a nagging pain lightly.
Workplace injuries are not very uncommon. As desk jobs have grown at an alarming rate with the introduction of computers, workplace injuries have taken a different form. Repetitive stress and sedentary work environment create injuries that slowly progress to critical levels.
Here we have listed a few common types of back and hand injuries:
Repetitive Strain Injury: The injuries that arise from repetitive actions are referred to as Repetitive Strain Injury. They are also categorized as musculoskeletal disorders or MSD.
Computer users who type and write for long durations daily are at risk. Staring at the computer and sitting in one position, also put stress on your neck, leading to neck injuries.
It can often lead to spine problems in the future. If neglected for long, the pain can aggravate, and you will soon be having difficulty in carrying out menial tasks such as opening the door, picking up a bag, etc. Carpal tunnel syndrome is also an RSI injury, so is tennis elbow.
Hand sprain: When you repeatedly move your hand and fingers on your mouse in the course of work, the muscles in that area are under stress. It can lead to severe pain and soreness in your hand and wrist.
The pain, though, could increase gradually and spread to the forearm, elbow, and shoulders. If not attended to, hand injuries can even lead to the formation of ganglion cysts in joints. If you feel a tingling sensation around your fingers, especially, the thumb and the index finger, then you should consult a doctor.
Thus, you should always take preemptive care so that you can prevent these injuries. Apart from ergonomically designed chairs, things that can help are a good posture, short breaks while working, and hand and body stretching exercises that you can do while sitting.
Refrain from sitting in one position for a long duration. Take a walk every hour. Remember, self-care is the best care.
It is not common that people seek claims for computer-related injuries as not many are aware that they can file a claim. Most of such injuries arise due to the absence of ergonomic workplaces and that it is your employer’s duty to provide.
The first thing that you need to do is report any such injury to your employer. You need not worry about losing your job or inviting displeasure from your employers.
You should know that under workers’ compensation laws, employers cannot enforce any action on you for filing a claim for a workplace injury. If you’re not sure, you could talk to a personal injury lawyer and get an idea about the process.
Get the Help You Need Now
A workers’ compensation attorney can help you get more done in case your employer isn’t cooperating. The expert team at Saffren & Weinberg can help you with filling out all the paperwork to support your claim, helping you put forth the case and also to protect you from the employer in case they take any retaliatory measures against you.
If you’ve been injured in your hand or have a back injury due to repetitive work, call us at (215) 576-0100 to find out your options to file a work injury case.
