When you chose a career, you may have purposefully avoided high-risk fields like construction or working on an oil rig. While workplace accidents are much more common in specific industries, seemingly tamer jobs can also cause life-changing injuries.
Carpal tunnel syndrome affects the hands or wrists. It can happen to workers who repeat the same movements, grip tools, hold vibrating equipment or place their hands in awkward positions. These are some of the workers who could be affected:
- Cashiers – due to the movement required to pass items over the scanner.
- Bakers – from constantly kneading dough.
- Hairdressers – continually opening and closing pairs of scissors.
- Road workers – pneumatic drills transmit severe vibration through the wrist.
- Musicians – constantly plucking at strings or moving a bow.
- Spray painters – gripping the triggers on the spray guns every day.
- Butchers – boning carcasses requires a lot of wrist work.
- Tennis players – holding rackets places great strain on the wrist.
- Typists – repetitive keyboard strokes.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can leave you unable to hold your tools, and therefore, unable to work. It can also prevent you from doing alternative jobs due to the pain in your wrist or hand. The effects go far beyond the workplace. Things essential to everyday life, such as picking up a mug, holding a steering wheel, cooking for your family or playing a sport, may all become impossible.
If you are suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, seek help from an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. Otherwise, your employer or their insurance company may try to dismiss your claim, as it is not as dramatic or visible to others as some injuries.