It may start as a small pain in your wrist which is overcome with painkillers, but for workers who are required to perform repetitive motions throughout the day, this is just the start of a problem known as carpal tunnel syndrome. Often associated with modern employment including office work and manufacturing roles, staying in one position and performing the same movements again and again with your hands can cause severe trauma to your joints and tendons, and carpal tunnel syndrome is just one of the many varieties of repetitive strain injury suffered by workers in LA. If you believe that you have suffered one of these injuries as a result of your employment, you need to talk to a worker’s comp attorney to see if you can claim compensation to cover your treatment.
What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
This syndrome appears when people suffer an injury to the median nerve, which travels through the wrist. The nerve and the tendons which surround it travel through a small area within the wrist joint known as the carpal tunnel, and when they become injured, they become inflamed. This often means that these tissues are too large for the space in the tunnel, and so there is pressure each time the hand moves, as the injured tissues are forced in and out of the smaller space. You may experience a number of symptoms, including pain in the wrist, weakness in the hand, numbness of the fingers, and pain in the arm. This builds up gradually from a minor pain which occurs sometimes within the wrist, and becomes worse and worse over time until you are no longer able to move your hand into certain positions without severe pain.
Treating Carpal Tunnel
There are a number of ways in which problems with the carpal tunnel can be treated, and it is likely that you will progress from the gentlest treatments towards the more invasive therapies as the carpal tunnel syndrome becomes worse. For example, you may start with a splint around your arm, which holds the wrist in place and prevents the hand from moving too much. This allows the tissues in the wrist to heal, reducing inflammation and reducing the pain. You may receive painkillers and anti-inflammatories at the same time. If that is not successful, then you are likely to receive steroid injections and physical therapy as the next stage. Finally, if nothing else can be done, an operation to release the tissues in the carpal tunnel will be performed.
Seeking Compensation For Your Injuries
If you need these treatments, you will need to find a way to fund medical intervention. Even steroid injections can be costly, and you will have to factor in the cost of pills, doctor visits and therapy appointments. Claiming compensation can be the only way to recover these costs, and if you need help, then ODG Law and our worker’s comp attorney team are here to help you. To get assistance with claims, call us at (818) 975-3080 today.Â
