Repetitive Stress Injuries in the Workplace

Repetitive Stress or Motion Injuries on the Job

Contrary to popular belief, not all workplace injuries involve a traumatic accident. Some of the most debilitating, and most common, maladies result from performing the same task over and over and over. These repetitive motions can put unnatural stress on joints, muscles, connective tissue or bones, and can make it painful or impossible to do your job. The New Jersey workers’ compensation laws allow you to seek benefits when you cannot work because of repetitive stress or motion injuries.

The Types of Work that Lead to Repetitive Stress Disorder (RSD)

According to studies, repetitive stress disorder is blamed for more than half of all injuries at work. As the assembly line approach has become more predominant in the workplace, more and more workers find themselves at risk of repetitive or cumulative trauma injuries. The most common occupations involving significant risk of RSD include:

• Factory assembly jobs — Workers who sit or stand in the same position for hours, or for an entire shift, inserting the same component in the same product, often experience RSD, either in lower extremities, lower back, or in hands or shoulders

• Jobs that involve repeated turning or grasping — Grocery checkers, librarians, painters, carpenters, mechanics—anyone who has a job where they pick up, squeeze, turn, twist or lift objects (regardless of how light or heavy) over and over

• Computer or keyboard-related positions — Carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition that affects the nerves in the hands and wrists, is a common condition suffered by people who spend most of their work time with a keyboard and/or mouse.

The pain or discomfort associated with carpal tunnel syndrome results from swelling that exerts pressure on nerves. Other manifestations of RSD include tendonitis, inflammation of muscles and muscle tissue, tears or stress on ligaments or connective tissue, or compression around disks in the neck or spinal cord.

Contact the Workers’ Compensation Attorneys at the Law Office of Harold J. Gerr

We offer a free initial consultation to anyone who has suffered an injury on the job. To set up a meeting, contact us online or call us at 732-537-8570 (toll-free at 1-877-249-4600) for an appointment. We have offices in Freehold, Toms River and Point Pleasant.