It’s hard to overstate exactly how many of your bodily functions your spinal cord is a part of. It’s one of the most used and in a way, fragile parts of your body. Back injuries are, unfortunately, a fact of life. For people who injure their back at work, through the course of doing their jobs, workers compensation can be a solution. However, workers compensation can be difficult to navigate properly. With the ODG Law Group by your side, we can help you to get the compensation you deserve after your back and spine injuries. That compensation could take the form of money for medical bills; it could be rehabilitation and training to start a new job or many other forms.
Common Causes of At-Work Spine Injuries
There are so many rules and regulations for what a person can and can’t do at work. Some may seem onerous, but they’re all there for a reason. Many are surprised when they learn that there are no real federal regulations that cover the requirements for workplace lifting. Sure, a company may have an internal policy, but there isn’t one federal law that a person could point to. It’s up to the company, the supervisor, and the worker.
You might think: “OK, isn’t this a question of common sense? If you can’t lift too much, don’t.” Perhaps, but in the modern, fast-paced workday, few workers have the kind of clout necessary to get away with that. As every job wants their employees to work faster and faster, doing more and more, what seemed like too much to lift yesterday becomes “part of the job” today, and ultimately “not enough” tomorrow. Safety is always critically important, and the CDC has some recommendations about lifting.
Unfortunately, people injure their backs and spines every day on the job from lifting things. Sometimes, they lift something and they can feel a “snap.” Others, it’s something that builds up over time. Years and years of doing too much, of lifting too much, ultimately causes the worker’s back to finally give out. When this happens, through the course of doing your job, our workers’ compensation attorneys can be there for you.
Back Injury Types
Back injuries manifest themselves in a multitude of ways. For many, perhaps the most common type of back injury is lower back strain. Whenever there’s a back injury, that’s typically the “best-case scenario” option. Nothing is broken, nothing is “herniated” or anything like that – rather, the lower back is just strained. Unfortunately, we also see plenty of back injuries like discs that have become slipped, herniated or bulged. Vertebrae can fracture and your nerves can be pinched. Some of the “worst-case scenarios” include damage to the spinal cord.
As with so many other injuries, when a person suffers a spine injury, there can be a feeling of: “how did this happen to me?” Well, these are some of the most common injuries that occur on the job. More than half a million people suffered back injuries at work last year. Also like other injuries, these can become more common as a person ages. As these injuries can be so devastating and painful, it’s crucially important to get help as quickly as possible.
There are multiple kinds of pain in your back, as well. This may sound a bit odd, but when someone is experiencing awful back pain, we hope that it’s “acute.” That means that’s very painful, but also temporary. It will be gone in six weeks to a bit less than a month. The other kind of back injury pain is “chronic.” Now, in this context, “Chronic” doesn’t automatically mean “lasts forever.” Instead, it means “the pain lasts for more than six weeks.”
A Workers Compensation Firm with a Back Injury Focus
These injuries can’t be treated like other kinds of injuries. They can make essentially any action, whether taken at work or elsewhere, extremely difficult. We can help you to get all of the compensation that you deserve for these injuries. Simply give us a call at (818) 975-3080.
