Can You Get Workers’ Comp for Carpal Tunnel?

As a type of repetitive motion injury, carpal tunnel syndrome develops when the median nerve and the tendons that allow you to flex your fingers compress as they travel through the carpal tunnel section of your wrist. The extremely narrow carpal tunnel swells at just the slightest pressure applied to it by repetitive motions. Compressed tendons and median nerves eventually cause swelling, which produces pain, weakness, and/or numbness throughout the hand and wrist.

The seriousness of carpal tunnel syndrome depends on several factors, including age, weight, gender, and the extent of the trauma. Overuse and/or repetitive use of the hands and wrists exacerbate the other factors to produce carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms. Common repetitive workplace activities that can trigger carpal tunnel symptoms include typing and operating a cash register, as well as pressing, pushing, or slicing objects without taking long enough breaks to ease the pressure applied on the hands and wrists.

The first step in the diagnostic process for carpal tunnel syndrome involves your healthcare provider asking a few questions. Your healthcare provider wants to know the pattern in which the symptoms have developed. For example, the symptom of numbness might indicate another medical condition that has negatively impacted the median nerve.

You can expect to undergo a physical examination to determine how much pain you feel and to discover how strong the muscles are in your hands and wrists.  Lightly bending the wrist can provide your physician with an idea about the seriousness of your symptom. After completing the physical examination, your healthcare provider might decide to conduct one or more diagnostic tests.

A series of x-rays can detect arthritis or a fracture, which rules out carpal tunnel syndrome as the primary source of your pain. An ultrasound delivers images of your wrist to analyze the condition of the median nerve and the bones that surround it. More advanced diagnostic tests, such as electromyography or a nerve conduction study, dig much deeper into the causes of your symptoms.

Each state has established a process for filing a workers’ compensation claim. The differences between the states when filing a claim concern deadlines and how to submit a claim for financial assistance. Working with the attorney assigned to your case by Morgan and Morgan helps you gain an understanding of the process you must follow according to state law.

However, the workers’ compensation process for each of the 49 states that mandate coverage includes the following steps.

Receive Medical Attention

Since carpal tunnel patients frequently experience delayed development of symptoms, you might not experience pain, weakness, and/or numbness right away. The delayed symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome can make it difficult to prove workplace activities caused the medical condition. When you start feeling the symptoms of carpal tunnel, seek medical attention to create a paper trail that proves you underwent diagnostic tests, as well as completed treatment programs and physical therapy sessions.

Contact Morgan and Morgan for a Free Case Evaluation

Before you inform your employer, submit a claim, or interact with your employer’s insurance company, you should schedule a free case evaluation with one of the accomplished workers’ compensation lawyers at Morgan and Morgan. The attorney you meet with will answer the question, “Can you get workers’ comp for carpal tunnel,” as well as devise a legal strategy to submit the most persuasive claim. Because of how difficult it can be to prove that work-related activities caused you to develop carpal tunnel symptoms, filing a claim without the legal support of an experienced attorney can lead to the denial of your claim.

Let Your Employer Know

One common step required by every one of the 49 states that require employers to purchase workers’ compensation insurance is for employees to inform their employers about a workplace accident that produced injuries. Most states give workers up to 30 days to inform employers, but you should act with a sense of urgency to speed up the claim process. Your lawyer will explain whether you also have to file a copy of your claim with the state workers’ compensation board.

Your employer completes an accident report, as well as describes your rights according to your state’s workers’ compensation statutes. You also should receive the documents you need to file a claim for financial assistance.

Complete and Submit the Claim Form

One of the most important roles of a workers’ compensation attorney is to ensure you file a complete and accurate claim. Just one mistake or one empty section will prompt your employer’s insurance company to deny your claim. For example, if you forget to sign the claim, your employer’s insurance company will deny your claim for financial assistance.

After you complete the claim, your employer is required by law to file the claim for you to initiate the review stage of the workers’ compensation process.

Insurer Issues a Decision

Because carpal tunnel claims involve several complex medical issues, your claim might take longer to move through the insurance company’s review process. The insurance company examining your claim will want to know if any outside-of-work activities contributed to the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. For example, if you spend considerable time playing computer games, the insurance adjuster reviewing your case might dispute the origins of your carpal tunnel symptoms.

Working with one of the highly-skilled litigators at Morgan and Morgan helps strengthen your workers’ comp claim for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Get Back to Work

The workers’ compensation program is not a long-term solution to financial distress issues like paying off costly medical bills. If your carpal tunnel symptoms force you out of work permanently, then you should file a claim for disability benefits with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Most carpal tunnel cases related to workplace activities eventually end with the employee returning to work in some capacity.

The job that you work in after healing from carpal tunnel symptoms should not involve any repetitive motion activities.

The goal of the attorney assigned to your case by Morgan and Morgan is to answer the question, “Can you get workers’ comp for carpal tunnel.” This involves conducting an exhaustive investigation into your case to discover any issues that might raise a red flag for your employer’s insurance company. You must present a clear link between the development of your carpal tunnel symptoms and the workplace activities that caused your repetitive motion injury.

Gather and Organize Evidence

Your attorney turns to two major sources of physical evidence. First, your lawyer receives copies of medical records that explain the results of diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. The medical evidence includes a statement made by your healthcare provider that describes the likelihood of you making a full or partial recovery. Your lawyer also organizes your medical bills to send copies of each bill to your employer’s insurance company. A sworn statement made by a vocational therapist that confirms your inability to return to work is an important piece of evidence as well.

Interview Witnesses

Witness statements alone do not present compelling enough evidence for your employer’s insurance company to approve your workers' compensation claim. Instead, witness statements provide legal support for the physical evidence collected and organized by your attorney. Receiving a description of your work duties from your employer represents the first type of witness account of your workplace activities. Interviews with managers and professional peers also can boost the strength of your workers’ compensation claim.

Negotiate With the Insurance Adjuster

Although it is not a personal injury case, your attorney can still request that the insurance adjuster participates in negotiations to determine if both parties reach a settlement. Your workers’ compensation attorney submits an offer that the insurance adjuster can deny, approve, or send back with a counteroffer. The back and forth of counteroffers can go on for a few negotiation sessions until both parties agree to a settlement or one party pulls out of the process.

Knowing the answer to the question “Can you get workers’ comp for carpal tunnel?” requires the expertise and experience of a state-licensed workers’ compensation attorney. At Morgan and Morgan, our team of workers’ compensation lawyers has handled every type of workplace accident claim that includes carpal tunnel cases.

Erase any doubt that you have about your carpal tunnel claim by scheduling a free case evaluation today with one of the workers’ compensation attorneys at Morgan and Morgan.