The pain in your shoulder or hand may increase in intensity, necessitating a trip to the doctor. If you get diagnosed with a repetitive use injury, your job may bear the blame.
A labor-intensive job may require repeated movements that damage your soft tissue in ways you did not imagine. A repetitive use injury may qualify for workers’ compensation.
What is repetitive use?
Repetitive use has to do with continuing similar movement patterns over and over. For instance, when your job requires using your hands on a keyboard, assembling parts or operating machinery, you may inflict damage on your hands. This constant and intricate movement of your hands in the same fashion may lead to the development of carpal tunnel syndrome, a common repetitive motion injury.
What is carpal tunnel syndrome?
The nerves that help work your hands run down your arm and into your wrist. When tissue in the forearms becomes aggravated by overuse, it swells and puts stress on the median nerve. This, in turn, makes it difficult to move your hand without pain. Over time, you may start to have issues with numbness, tingling and less flexible fingers.
What other injuries qualify?
Carpal tunnel is not the only overuse injury. The type of damage done to your body depends on the movement you perform every day for your job. You may develop AC or rotator cuff issues if you have a job that works your shoulders. Your knees may get a lot more pressure if your job requires climbing up and down a ladder or squatting down and up.
Do not dismiss lingering pain in an overused body party. If left untreated, you may eventually need surgery to find relief.