We’re accustomed to hearing how exposure to repeated movement in the workplace puts a progressive toll of injury on the worker. Typing at a keyboard, dragging merchandise over a bar-code scanner, or lifting heavy boxes requires workers to perform the same range of motions over and over, day after day.
What is too often overlooked is the hazard of standing still.
So-called static posturing injuries are caused by standing, sitting, leaning, or straining in an uncomfortable position for hours on end as part of a job assignment. The human body is designed for varied movement in the course of a day. Any fixed position, no matter how comfortable at first, will inflict strain on the body that first appears as tiny injuries to tissues and blood vessels. If the body strains in similar ways on a regular basis, these injuries don’t have a chance to heal. Instead, inflammation and accumulating damage can create a repetitive strain injury just as significant as those caused by vibration or extreme motion.
Tell Me Where it Hurts
Any job that requires standing for extended periods, sitting in a fixed position, and regular reaching or straining to move, grasp, or lift objects may expose a worker to risks of a static posturing injury. Our clients have included people from Rutherford, Palmyra, Hummelstown, Harrisburg, and other central Pennsylvania communities who work in the following occupations:
- Bartending
- Sedentary office work
- Teaching
- Nursing and other health care services
- Child care
- Retail sales
- Construction, building repair, maintenance, and demolitions
- Drafting and architecture
- Bookkeeping
- Industrial machine operations
There’s a medical proverb that applies here: Strain equals pain. Any posture or movement injury that develops gradually can trigger disabling levels of pain. It’s essential to know what can be done if the pain rises to a level that interferes with job performance.
In Pennsylvania, the workers’ compensation system provides relief for such injuries. A worker suffering pain from a positional strain acquired on the job can demand appropriate treatment, to be paid by his employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. If the worker must be absent from his job for an extended period because of the injury or its treatment, he can also claim a portion of his lost wages.
Don’t Be Outmatched if You Face Resistance to Your Claim
As with other forms of occupational injuries caused by repetitive stress, workers who claim positional injuries often face resistance over workers’ compensation claims in Pennsylvania. Business owners and insurance companies try to minimize payouts for these claims by saying that the injury is unproven, not severe, untreatable, or not work-related.
Are you dealing with pain from a stress injury at work? It’s important that you don’t give up even if your boss doesn’t believe you. Continue to demand the benefits you deserve under law.
When you need an ally to speak on your behalf, the disability lawyers at Schmidt Kramer stand ready to give you the benefit of their years of experience. Start off by downloading our FREE introductory brochure, Who Pays the Bills When You Are Injured at Work?, from this website. Then call (717) 888-8888 to schedule a FREE consultation where we can talk about your claim and suggest a way to move forward.
Our Harrisburg workplace injury attorneys can help with a claim at any stage—from the initial request for benefits to fighting early termination of your medical care. Best of all, we will never send you a bill for our legal services unless we are able to get you a financial recovery.