General Injury Articles

Injured workers may need to consult with different types of therapists. It can be confusing to understand which therapist does what. Generally, physical therapists provide exercises and treatments to help your body recover from your injuries. Occupational therapists help injury victims learn to do everyday tasks and to work with assistive devices. Vocational therapists are supposed to work to help an injured worker return to work.

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Many workers who have physical injuries such as broken bones, back pain, an amputation, disc damage, or muscle pain spend a number of sessions with a physical therapist. Workplace victims often treat with a specialist such as an orthopedist or other surgeon before treating with a physical therapist. The victims may have surgery though many people in North Carolina and Virginia who treat with a physical therapist have not had surgery.

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Finger and hand injuries are all too common in the workplace. According to Occupational Health and Safety and data from the US Bureau of Labor – “Of the 286,810 non-fatal occupational injuries to upper extremities in 2018 involving days away from work in private industry, 123,990 involved hands, which is more than 43 percent.”  Human hands have 27 bones and 30 muscles – so there’s a lot that can go wrong. 

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One of the most common types of injuries for workers is back pain. Back pain can occur in almost every profession. Any worker who does physical labor such as construction work, agricultural work, or industrial work is relying on their back almost constantly. Workers who stand most of the days such as waitresses, nurses, and other workers often develop back pain. Even if you sit all day using the computer or doing clerical work, you’re likely to develop back pain.

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There are very few jobs a worker can do if his/her arm is injured. Your arm is also known as your “upper extremity” in workers’ compensation terms. Workers need their arms to serve food, treat patients, drive, operate machinery, do construction work, or type at a computer. Arm injuries-which often  include shoulder injuries – are due to either an acute or chronic injury. Acute injuries are normally injuries due to a specific event such as a workplace accident. Chronic injuries are typically wear and tear injuries where the deterioration just becomes too difficult to work with. Unfortunately, under most circumstances, “wear and tear” injuries are not compensable unless they are made symptomatic by a specific, identifiable, traumatic event such as a slip, trip or fall. In Virginia, a sudden, severe pain, accompanied by a “pop” or some other clear indication of a single event—even without a slip, trip or fall— may be sufficient, so long as it was caused by a risk associated with your employment. 

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