Of all the injuries that our clients can suffer on the job, carpal tunnel injuries are the injuries that sneak up on people the most. They aren’t the most painful, nor are they the injuries that negatively affect someone’s life the most. But, they can be extremely difficult for working people. After all, these injuries often come about as a result of working so much. When you suffer one of these, it can make it impossible to do your job for a period of time. That’s where workers compensation comes in. At the ODG Law Group, we have helped many to get the compensation for carpal tunnel injuries in Glendale that they deserve.
What Carpal Tunnel Injuries Are
Many consider these to be the most common repetitive motivation injury that anyone suffers on the job. There might be someone in your office right now who suffers from it. If you type all day, use a mouse, and spend copious hours at a keyboard, you could be in danger of getting carpal tunnel syndrome. These aren’t the kinds of injuries you see on the outside of your hand. Indeed, you might not know that someone has these injuries from just looking at their hands. However, they can be extremely painful.
These injuries occur when the median nerve swells and is irritated in your wrist. This nerve runs from your forearm to the palm of your hand, and this swelling can have a series of negative side effects. For example, it can lead to plenty of pain in your wrist and hand, sure. However, it can also lead to you feeling weak and even numb in your hand and wrist, too. Many of our clients have reported feeling an itching, a tingling sensation, or even like their index finger; thumb and middle fingers are burning. If this happens once or twice, it might not be a big deal, over time, it could be a sign that you have carpal tunnel.
Ways to Potentially Ward Off Carpal Tunnel
Obviously, you can’t quit your job just because you may be at risk of having carpal tunnel syndrome. One way that people can deal with it is by trying a “talk to type” technology. Instead of typing out everything all day every day, you might consider speaking out what you’re writing. This isn’t to say that this is foolproof, but it is one more way that you can lessen the toll that your day to day life is taking on your fingers and your wrists.
Speaking of, take note of how you type as well. Sure, we’ve all been excited or mad to write something, which can make us smack into keys with great force. You don’t want to do that often, as doing that whenever you type can put you at greater risk of carpal tunnel. If you’re a fast touch typer, it can feel like you’re slowing down to not type so hard, but really, you can do so without reducing your speed.
If your workplace is particularly cold, that could put you at increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome as well. Luckily, we live in southern California, where the temperatures are mostly warm, as cold environments can make your wrists and fingers tighter and stiffer. However, that also means that you might work in a location with extremely low air conditioning as well. Should that happen, you may want to ask if you the AC can be turned up a bit, or even work with fingerless gloves on.
We know how hard you work, and how seriously you take your job. Unfortunately, those could be reasons that you might be more at risk of having carpal tunnel syndrome. Always be sure to take frequent breaks, particularly if you’ve been working for a long time. When you take a break, you might not want to just stop everything and do nothing. Instead, you might want to consider bending your hands and wrists during these breaks or even rotating them. If you can do it, it’s never a bad idea to stretch during a break, too.
That’s not to say that each of these will keep you from ever getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Indeed, no plan can stop it from coming with 100% certainty. However, by doing the things mentioned in this section, you can lower the risk you might have of getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Should you ever get carpal tunnel, reach out to us. We’ll make sure that you get the compensation that you deserve.
Who Gets Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
One misconception is that only people who spend all day typing or on a computer get carpal tunnel, but that’s just not the case. In fact, many of our clients who get it never sit down at a computer for work. Instead, they work manufacturing jobs or spend all day on an assembly line. While they never use a keyboard, they do use their hands and wrists, over and over again. Truck drivers are susceptible to it as well. Do you use power tools in the course of your job? That vibration can certainly cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
Both men and women get carpal tunnel syndrome, but women are more likely to get it than men. This is due to the fact that for the most part, women have a narrower carpal tunnel in their bodies. Thus, it has a greater chance to be compressed. That being said, we’ve helped men and women over the years to deal with carpal tunnel and get all of the compensation they deserve for their injuries.
Carpal Tunnel Injuries in Glendale and More
The good news about carpal tunnel syndrome is that it’s not chronic. It won’t be with you forever. Indeed, you can get the treatment you need for it in three months. Everyone’s carpal tunnel syndrome is different. Your carpal tunnel may be different than someone else’s. However, many of the treatments have a few similarities in common: you’ll probably be given some prescription medication, you’ll be told to avoid the activities which may exacerbate your symptoms, and you could be given a splint as well as some pain relievers. The latter are usually of the “over the counter” variety.
Sometimes, carpal tunnel is so bad that it needs surgery. That could lead to physical therapy visits which could take over a month to complete. It’s important to note that while all of this is difficult, and can keep you from working; this isn’t a condition that you’ll have forever. We do have a treatment for it. It may be annoying, it may be hard to deal with, but there’s a way to fully overcome them and go back to doing your job.
You might have read the last section and thought: “I can’t go without working for three months” or “how can I afford that surgery?” This is where the ODG Law Group comes in. We know how carpal tunnel injuries work in regards to workers compensation in Los Angeles. We have a proven track record of getting people the workers compensation that they deserve for these injuries.
So, if you believe that you have carpal tunnel syndrome, you want to let your supervisor know and file a worker’s compensation claim. Then, reach out to us. You can schedule a free consultation with the ODG Law Group by giving us a call at (818) 975-3080. We’ll set up a time, and then we’ll just talk through your case, seeing how we can help. Remember, you don’t just need to have gone through carpal tunnel syndrome to have a case. Any injury that you suffer on the job should get you workers compensation. You work hard, you deserve to be compensated for your injuries that occur as you work.
