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Common Work-Related Wrist Injuries
Wrist injuries are often experienced in the workplace for a variety of reasons, whether resulting from immediate trauma in an accident or developing over time due to repeated stress when performing certain actions from typing to heavy lifting. The wrist, like other joints, consists of multiple tendons, muscles, and joints that can sustain various injuries, particularly when overly used to perform stressful tasks.
Some of the more common sudden or developing wrist injuries can include:
- Fractures
- Broken bones
- Bruises
- Strains from overstretching
- Dislocations
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Wrist sprains
- De Quervain’s disease
- Repetitive motion syndrome
- Wrist bursitis resulting from inflammation of the bursa, which help cushion the joints
- Wrist tendonitis resulting from small tears or irritation in the tendons
- Triangular fibrocartilage complex injury
How Workplace Wrist Injuries Occur
There are many potential causes of work-related wrist injuries. While some injuries may result immediately from an accident involving either faulty equipment or employee/employer negligence, other types of injuries can develop after weeks, months, or years of repeated movement or stress. Certain delayed symptoms may not develop until long after an accident takes place. Vehicular accidents are also common causes of work-related wrist injuries when employees are driving either a personal or company vehicle to perform a task.
Regardless of the extent of the wrist injury, you may be eligible to recover workers’ compensation.
Treating Wrist Injuries
Many victims of wrist injuries on the job will only require a certain level of rest and relaxation to experience a complete recovery, but other injuries will require more extensive treatment. Treatments such as medications and cortisone injections may be enough to heal some wrist injuries, but some more extreme cases may entail surgery or assistance with stabilization along with potentially lengthy periods of recovery and rehabilitation.
When to File a Claim for a Wrist Injury
Many employees who sustain work-related wrist injuries might worry how their lack of information regarding the filing process might negatively impact their claim. However, a reliable attorney can help you navigate the process every step of the way. In Illinois, you can a workers’ comp claim with either your employer or the state.
When seeking compensation from an employer, claimants will need to provide the employer with a written description of the incident within 45 days of occurrence, excluding injuries and symptoms that are delayed and aren’t apparent until after this period. Based on the report, the employer can either accept or deny the claim, but will need to provide you with a detailed explanation for the decision. If the employer accepts the claim, they will need to provide benefits and health care access. On the other hand, if they deny the claim, you can choose to file an appeal to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) to initiate an investigation of the claim and the employer’s decision to deny it.
Workers can also speed up the process by filing a claim directly with the IWCC if they fear that their employer will reject the claim. Keep in mind that you will need to provide an in-depth written description of the accident and injury.
Experienced and Reliable Wrist Injury Workers’ Comp Attorneys
Regardless of the nature of the incident and the subsequent injury, you may have several concerns including:
- When you can return to work
- How you will be able to support yourself and your family without income while out of work
- The amount of compensation you can recover for your injury through a workers’ comp claim
- When you’ll be able to cover medical expenses
Working with the legal team at Vasilatos Injury Law, you can successfully file your workers’ comp claim and our attorneys will be able to provide representation for you in any out-of-court negotiations. If needed, we can also represent you in court. Our lawyers understand how important it is for our clients to be able to restore their lives to the way they were, and will work with you to get the compensation you deserve.
We can help you determine how the wrist injury has impacted your wellbeing including the ability to work and your financial situation, and will help you recover the damages. We’ll help you reach a favorable settlement that helps cover all medical expenses along with any lost wages accumulated from time off of work during your recovery period.
We have worked with many clients who have sustained wrist injuries and many other types of injuries on the job, whether from accidents, negligence, or malicious intent. We understand how devastating these injuries can be to your life, which is why we do our best to help restore our clients’ lives to the way they were prior to the injury.
How Workers’ Comp for Wrist Injuries Can Help
If you endure a wrist injury or any other type of work-related injury or illness, you may be eligible for certain types of compensation to help ensure you get the treatment needed to fully recover. Workers’ comp can cover many costs, such as:
- Doctor visits
- Medication
- Rehabilitation
- Surgery
- Hospital stays
- Medical equipment
- Transportation to and from doctors’ appointments
Average Settlement for a Wrist Injury
The amount of compensation you can receive for a work-related wrist injury will depend on the specifics of your case and the injury.
