JENKINTOWN PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS

Repetitive stress injuries or cumulative trauma injuries, as they are sometimes referred to, are caused by an individual’s overuse of a body part. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), repetitive strain injuries are the nation’s most common and costly occupational injuries, affecting hundreds of
thousands of American workers each year.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is the #1 reported work related medical problem, accounting for about 50% of all work-related injuries. More than 250,000 carpal tunnel release operations are performed each year, with about half of the cases considered to be work related. A report by NIOSH revealed that more than 50% of all food cashiers, (jobs predominantly held by women), suffered some degree of carpal tunnel syndrome and other forms of repetitive strain injuries as a result of the physical demands of scanning products at high speed.

Repetitive Stress injuries are usually very painful and can cause nerve related symptoms such as radiating pain often described as burning, numbness or tingling. If left untreated, these injuries can cause permanent nerve damage.

Insurance companies often deny a worker’s claim for a repetitive motion injury (such as tendonitis, carpel tunnel and ulnar nerve neuropathy). They claim the injury is a pre-existing condition, has been misdiagnosed or is not work related. However, under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an injury does not need to be from a specific traumatic event as long as the injury arises while the employee is in the course and scope of his or her employment. Under the Act, a work related disability can be proven to be the result of cumulative recurring traumas to ligaments or tendons due to
a person’s work duties.

In order to be successful in this type of workers’ compensation case, the injured worker must prove a causal connection between their disability and the work activities. This proof must be made by both lay testimony (usually from the injured worker) and expert testimony (usually a medical doctor). It is important to focus the lay testimony on the actual details of the job, the number of times per day a particular job activity is performed and how performing these duties places stress (separate micro-traumas) on a specific body part. The lawyers at Mednick, Mezyk & Kredo represent workers with repetitive stress injuries and provide a free, no obligation case analysis to all workers who think they may have a claim.

The following is a list published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2002 of some of the occupations with the highest number of repetitive injuries: Assemblers, Cashiers, Secretaries, General office clerks, Bookkeepers, Data-entry employees, Machine operators, Bank tellers. Those with jobs that require a lot of typing are at a particularly high risk.