What To Do When You Have A Work-Related Repeated Stress Injury

A repeated stress injury in the workplace can be a frustrating and painful experience. Approaching your employer and getting the care you need adds to the stress of this injury. Here are some steps for dealing with a developing repeated stress injury. 

Acknowledge Your Injury

The first step is to diagnose your repeated stress injury. These are common for typists and they can come with hand, finger, wrist, or arm pain that is severe. If you experience this type of pain, you'll want to stop doing any tasks that aggravate the injury and procedure to treatment. Continuing to work on a repeated stress injury can only make things worse. 

Approach Your Employer

You may be interested in trying to rest the injury and see if it is a temporary issue. You could speak with your employer about taking a few days off or getting assigned to less computer heavy tasks to see if you can return to work more quickly. In that time, you could be resting the area, doing stretches and icing the area to prevent inflammation. 

Get a Doctor's Evaluation

For more severe or lasting pain, a doctor's visit is ideal. They will help you form a treatment plan and determine whether or not it's safe to continue working on the repeated stress injury. A doctor's note is crucial if you decide to file a worker's compensation claim. 

Decide Whether You Can Work

Your doctor may flat out tell you it's not safe to work in your current role. But your employer might be able to find other work for you that would not aggravate your injury. Keep in contact with your doctor to see if any of the alternate assignments are appropriate for your injury. 

Decide Whether to File a Worker's Compensation Claim

If you have a severe repeated stress injury and will not be able to work, then a worker's compensation claim is in order. This process is put in place to compensate you for work-related injuries and also protect your rights as an employee. For instance, your employer must comply with state laws about paying you a portion of your regular salary while you're out of the office and not penalizing you for any missed work due to your injury. It's often a good idea to hire a workers compensation attorney, such as Paul F Guthrie, to make sure that this process goes smoothly and that there is little fallout from your experience.