Brain Injuries

A workers' compensation lawyer may be able to help you today

Job accidents can cause injuries to the head and brain of varying physical and psychological significance. This type of injury can involve a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, extreme physical pain or trauma, or the impairment or loss of mental faculty. Such suffering can have long-term or even permanent consequences for the injured person. While only one family member may have sustained a brain injury, the entire family can suffer from its effects.

After brain injury, things that once were easy and familiar become strange and difficult. Intensive mental effort is usually required to do things that required little or no effort before the brain injury. Work, school, personal and family life often suffer. Rehabilitation from a serious head or brain injury can take months or even years and involve long-term physical therapy, courses of medication, permanent prescription drug therapy, in-home medical care, and much more. The medical expenses alone can cripple anyone's financial future.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Job accidents are among the leading causes of traumatic brain injury. A brain injury can disrupt some or all of the normal activities of a person's body. Depending on the severity of the injury, the effects can be devastating. Severe surface wounds and fractures often accompany traumatic brain injuries.

The brain is vulnerable to traumatic damage through direct or indirect trauma. Direct trauma can occur when a victim's skull strikes a hard object, sending shock waves through the skull that can cause fractures. Indirect trauma may also occur after the initial impact, because of swelling and hemorrhaging in the brain, called a contusion. In severe cases, a traumatic brain injury can cause paralysis, impaired motor function, and loss of hearing or vision.

A person who suffers a blunt impact to the head may suffer seizures or other severe and sometimes permanent neurological problems, or may die. Neurological problems resulting from head trauma resemble those seen in stroke patients, and may include paralysis, difficulty speaking, seeing, hearing, walking, or understanding. In moderate to severe instances of brain injuries, the swelling may cause pressure on a lower part of the brain called the brainstem, which controls consciousness or wakefulness. Many individuals who suffer these types of injuries are in an unconscious state called a coma. A person in a coma may be completely unresponsive to any type of stimulation such as loud noises, pain, or smells. Others may move, make noise, or respond to pain but be unaware of their surroundings.

If someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury due to a car accident, it may be in your best interest to hire a lawyer to protect your rights in your dealings with the insurance company.

Brain Damage

Brain damage results in functional impairments that can substantially interfere with a person's ability to return to a normal lifestyle. A persistent vegetative state may follow the most severe form of head injury and can last for many years. Few patients recover when a persistent vegetative state lasts for three months or more after a job accident. The injured persons family can then face an avalanche of medical bills along with the grief and pain of their loss.

Work Injuries: Musculoskeletal Disorders

Musculoskeletal disorders can affect the body’s muscles, tendons, joints, ligaments, nerves and other support structures such as intervertebral discs. A very common musculoskeletal disorder is carpal tunnel syndrome, but many such injuries can affect people in job accidents. Musculoskeletal disorders affect an average of 7 percent of the population each year.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders can severely impair your ability to perform job tasks. The pain and numbness that could come with a work-related musculoskeletal disorder can lead to reduced worker productivity, lost time from work, and temporary or permanent disability.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders can be caused by overexertion of the hands, frequent and/or heavy lifting, and prolonged awkward postures. Combining risk factors and the length of how long a worker is exposed to harmful working conditions increases the risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Source: “Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders”, CDC.gov, August 26, 2007

Cervical Disc Degenerative Disease in Workers’ Comp Injuries

Degenerative disc disease is an inevitable process to a certain degree. The older we become, the more our intervertebral discs weakens as they lose their flexibility, elasticity and shock absorbing abilities. Encompassing the discs are ligaments that become brittle and tear easier and the soft center of the disc dries out and shrinks. While everyone experiences degenerative disc disease, some people will not develop symptoms as a result.

Such is not the case with people who may have injured their head or neck on the job. Common symptoms of degenerative disc disease may include neck pain, pain that radiates across the back and shoulder blades and arms, numbness and tingling, and difficulties with hand dexterity and walking.

In the advanced stages of degenerative disc disease, injured workers may suffer from increasing muscle weakness that makes it impossible to perform a wide variety of tasks ranging from heavy package lifting to typing on a keyboard. Severe cases of degenerative disc disease may show evidence of spinal cord compression. Employees with workers' compensation claims may have symptoms of sciatica (irritation of the five branches of the sciatic nerve) and back pain, along with lower extremity weakness.

Source: “Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)”, Neck Surgery, August 26, 2007