Workers’ compensation can be defined as the monetary compensation provided by the employer when the employee is accidentally injured while doing his work or develop an illness because of his job. This compensation money entails all the amount spent on medical costs and lost wages when the treatment requires absence from work. To obtain workers’ compensation, it is often advisable to contact a workers’ compensation lawyer who exclusively specializes in this field and has years of experience because then only he can obtain the maximum benefit for the injuries.

One of the most common forms of injuries in case of workers’ compensation cases is hand and wrist injuries or more specifically Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). This injury is named after the tunnel that houses the median nerve and nine tendons that connect muscles to the wrist bone. When the membrane that surrounds those tendons become inflamed; it leads to pain, swelling and numbness in hand. There are several causes of CTS some of which are pregnancy, repetitive bending of the wrist, repetitive forceful grasping of hands, typing, menopause, thyroid disease, arthritis and wrist fractures. Symptoms of this ailment include numbness and pain in the hand that extends up the arm and at times into the shoulders leading to clumsiness in handling of objects.

To determine whether a person is suffering from this injury doctors prescribe a nerve condition study or EMG. If detected early, a splint can be the only medication prescribed by the doctor to prevent the wrist from bending. Anti-inflammatory medication or cortisone injections to the carpal tunnel are some other common methods of treatment. However, in case of a more grave injury, surgery may be needed, and that is also very common. Again, there are other ailments whose symptoms are quite similar to that of CTS and thus workers often confuse them with carpal tunnel syndrome. Those injuries are radial Tunnel Syndrome, ulnar nerve compression, cubital tunnel syndrome or PeQuervian’s tenosynovitis.

In order to make sure that a person gets the proper workers’ compensation that he deserves, he needs to ascertain a few things.

One should report every injury or illness that is caused due to their job. This reporting should be with the proper authority i.e. HR department, supervisor or risk management department. After reporting, it is essential to visit the right medical provider. In the case of an emergency, one has to go where the ambulance takes him and in case of a non-emergency, the employer may send the injured employee to a particular clinic or doctor. Once in the physician’s chamber, it is absolutely imperative to tell him/her that the injury was caused while doing the job. It is also very important to make sure that the medical records include the history of circumstances of the illness or injury and also contains the name of the body parts involved. Another thing that every employee should make it a point to do is to clearly understand his/her employers’ scheme of workers’ compensation coverage. Otherwise, there is always a chance of the employer shirking his responsibility and saying that the injury was the employee’s fault. In order to avoid any such controversy, it is always advisable to stay sober at work and be fully aware of the clauses mentioned in the workers’ compensation plan of the employer as well as the state.