Can Repetitive Motion Cause Injury?

As one of the most common types of injuries in the United States, a repetitive motion injury involves developing painful symptoms that are triggered by performing the same physical activity throughout the day and for numerous days in a row. Although we are concerned about answering the question, “Can repetitive motion cause an injury at work,” you should know that you can sustain a repetitive motion injury while exercising and participating in a sporting activity.

Repetitive motion injuries fall under three broad categories.

What Is Tendonitis?

Tendons represent one of the most important body parts, as they connect bones and muscles to encourage the movement of the joints in the body. Tendonitis is the inflammation of a tendon or tendons, which often happens in the biceps, elbows, and shoulders. The inflammation typically develops at the point where a tendon inserts into a bone. The intense pain caused by tendonitis can make it difficult, if not impossible to lift the shoulders, as well as flex the biceps and bend the elbows.

What Is Bursitis?

A bursa sac covers an area where friction might develop between a bone and tendon. We have more than 150 bursae in the human body, which means you have more than 150 potential areas where bursitis can develop into a repetitive motion injury. The most common areas of the body where bursitis develops include the hips, knees, and elbow. Traumatic bursitis is the type of bursitis that is associated with repetitive motions.

Treating both bursitis and tendonitis requires plenty of rest and the application of an ice pad to minimize swelling.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

The carpal tunnel is a narrow section of small bones on the sides and undersides of each wrist. CTS develops due to repetitive motions of the wrist, such as typing and lifting heavy objects. The resulting immense pain can force a worker off the job for a significant period. Although rest and the application of ice pads can diminish the symptoms, for the most serious cases, surgery might be required to strengthen the small carpal bones.

In addition to excruciating pain in the wrist, you also might experience burning, numbness, and/or tingling in the fingers.

If you sustained a repetitive motion injury caused by a workplace incident, you should act with a sense of urgency by contacting one of the highly-rated workers’ compensation lawyers at Morgan and Morgan. Hiring an attorney helps you navigate the workers’ compensation process.

Receive Medical Care

The first step in the workers’ comp process involves getting the proper medical care. Without any evidence that you received medical care, you can expect your workers’ compensation claim to come back denied by your employer’s insurance company. A healthcare provider submits records such as the result of diagnostic tests, as well as detailed descriptions of treatment programs and physical therapy sessions. You also should receive a prognosis of your full and partial recovery chances with a repetitive motion injury.

Inform Your Employer

Most states give workers up to 30 days to report work-related accidents. Because repetitive motion injuries do not suddenly develop symptoms, knowing the correct date to start the clock ticking on the 30-day deadline is difficult to determine. One of the experienced workers’ compensation lawyers at Morgan and Morgan will determine when you should inform your employer about a work-related repetitive motion injury.

Complete and Submit the Workers’ Compensation Claim Form

One of the reasons why every workers’ compensation state requires an injured worker to inform an employer about a workplace accident is that the employer has a legal responsibility to explain the worker’s rights. The employer also must provide the injured workers with the documents required to file a workers’ compensation claim. With the help of your lawyer, complete and submit the workers’ comp claim form, and then submit the form to your employer for processing. Some states require injured workers to submit claim forms to the state workers’ compensation board.

Wait for a Decision

The insurance company providing workers’ compensation coverage for your employer conducts an investigation to determine the merit of your claim. The investigation into workers’ compensation claims usually is a straightforward process that does not take a considerable amount of time. However, investigating a claim for a repetitive motion claim can take longer than average, as the insurance investigators cannot interview witnesses to verify your version of events.

Working with a workers’ compensation attorney can speed up the process, especially if your lawyer has a positive working relationship with the adjuster in charge of the investigation.

Return to Work

The goal of receiving treatments and participating in rehabilitation sessions for a repetitive motion injury is to return to your former job. Workers’ compensation insurance pays for medical expenses and lost wages, but it does not cover any long-term expenses that are associated with a significant decline in income. Disability benefits are available if your repetitive motion injury prevents you from working for an indefinite period.

Because a repetitive motion injury can be a difficult workplace injury to prove, you should work with a law firm that has compiled an impressive record of getting claims approved for injuries such as tendonitis, bursitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Morgan and Morgan has established a proven record over the course of three decades for helping clients gain approval for workers’ compensation claims.

Here are several other reasons why Morgan and Morgan is the best law firm for handling your workers’ compensation case for a repetitive motion injury.

Specializes in Handling Workers’ Compensation Cases

With offices located across the United States, Morgan and Morgan offers a wide variety of legal services. One of our specialties is practicing workers’ compensation law. When you hire a workers’ comp lawyer from Morgan and Morgan, you can expect the legal counselor to specialize in handling workers’ compensation cases. We also assign a workers’ comp attorney who has considerable experience helping clients with repetitive motion injury claims.

We Represent Workers

The last thing you want to do is hire a workers’ compensation lawyer who splits loyalties between workers and employers. At Morgan and Morgan, our team of workers’ compensation attorneys represents workers, not employers. This means we never are confronted with conflict of interest issues that can compromise your claim.

Unwavering Commitment From Start to Finish

Morgan and Morgan not only provides superior legal support by assigning clients the most accomplished litigators, but we also provide our lawyers with a strong support staff that provides services such as investigations and processing the proper legal documents. We also assign you a lawyer who works with you from the day of the free case evaluation to the day when you resolve your workers’ compensation claim. Some law firms assign attorneys to meet with clients for a free case evaluation, only to have the attorney disappear for the rest of the legal process.

Responsive Communication

Filing a workers comp claim can trigger stress and anxiety at the prospect of getting your claim denied by your employer’s insurance company. Compounding the stress and anxiety is working with an attorney who does not promptly return phone calls and text messages. The lawyers at Morgan and Morgan are renowned for their responsive communication. You should never have to wait more than 24 hours to hear back from one of our litigators.

Read Our Client Reviews

Morgan and Morgan encourages every prospective client to read the positive reviews left by our clients on sites such as Yelp and Google. You should discover many common types of praise, such as how we operate with integrity and transparency. Over the course of 35-plus years, we have received thousands of positive reviews in both print and digital form.

Can repetitive motion cause an injury? It can, and if you sustained a repetitive motion injury that was caused by a workplace activity, you should immediately get in touch with one of the experienced workers’ compensation attorneys at Morgan and Morgan.

We offer a free case evaluation that allows one of our lawyers to review your case, and then determine the best course of action.