Overuse Injuries

Do you experience discomfort, aches, limited mobility, or other discomfort from overexerting a specific part of your body in the workplace?

Overuse injuries result when a motion or body position in the workplace causes stress or strain on a certain part of the body. As this stress or strain builds up, it can have lengthy and serious impacts on a particular muscle, tendon, ligament, or other body part. While many employees associate overuse injuries with professions that require intense twisting, lifting, or movement while at work, the most common overuse injuries result from sitting.

Where You Feel Overuse Injuries

Whether you are constantly moving inventory in a warehouse or typing away on your computer, you are likely to notice overuse injuries in the same areas of the body. While the cause could be drastically different, overuse injuries are likely to develop in these ways:

• Aches and pain in the hips
• Tightness in shoulders
• Aches in wrists, hands, or fingers
• Limited mobility in elbows or knees
• Stiffness in ankles, feet, or toes
• Nerve damage to the lower back
• Pain in upper back
• Neck pain and stiffness, or
• Headaches

Often, these aches and pains will develop after just a few days seated in an uncomfortable position or spending a large amount of time doing a single motion, such as sorting on an assembly line. At this onset, employees do not realize the significance or future consequences of allowing these aches and pains to intensify. 

Overuse Injuries at the Office

Remaining in a seated position can have harsh effects on our spines, hips, and backs. Today, nearly 45% of Americans work from home. What a number of these remote employees have in common with their office-bound counterparts is sitting in a sedentary position for a long period of time. Often, seated at a desk and in front of a computer, office and at-home employees have a work state that is not ergonomically correct or promotes bad posture.

For a single day or even a week, this work environment is not harmful, even if it causes stiffness or discomfort. But over a period of months and years, this seated position leads to overuse injuries with serious consequences. Some of the serious and painful side effects of working at a computer day in and day out are:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Back strains
• Herniated discs
• Nerve damage
• Tendonitis
• Blood clots and deep vein thrombosis
• Varicose veins, and
• Arthritis in the knee and knee joint deformation.

Discuss an Overuse Injury with a Lawyer

It can be difficult to convince an employer or workers’ compensation provider that your overuse injury occurred while at work. Often, these parties are incentivized to argue that your joint or muscular pain is the result of activities and habits outside the workplace or even try and convince an employee that overuse injuries are not covered by workers’ compensation. To overcome these pressures from employers and insurance, it might be necessary to contact a lawyer.

Remember, you are entitled to workers’ compensation for an occupational overuse injury. To discuss your situation or a potential claim with a new Jersey lawyer, contact Albert J. Talone, Esq. at (856) 234-4023.