People often don’t treat carpal tunnel syndrome with the respect it warrants. They act like it is a minor inconvenience and not a potentially debilitating medical condition.
As a repetitive motion injury, carpal tunnel syndrome develops because of repetitive use of the hands, often at work. Workers dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome may require workers’ compensation benefits to cover medical care ranging from physical therapy to surgery. They may also need a leave of absence if they cannot do their job at all because of the impact carpal tunnel syndrome has on their strength or range of motion.
Certain workers are at higher risk than others for carpal tunnel syndrome because of their job responsibilities.
Office workers
If there is one demographic of employees commonly associated with carpal tunnel syndrome, it must certainly be office workers. Spending all day gripping the phone or typing can cause lasting damage to the hands, wrists and forearms.
Restaurant workers
Many of the staff members in a restaurant could be at elevated risk for carpal tunnel syndrome if they stay in the industry for an extended time. Dishwashers who manually clean items or grip a spray nozzle could develop carpal tunnel as a result. So could a chef whisking around the frying pan on an open range or prep cooks chopping vegetables for hours every day. Even servers constantly gripping and listing items could eventually develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
Professional drivers
The people with commercial licenses, ranging from semi-truck drivers to bus drivers, may spend almost their entire day gripping a steering wheel. Eventually, the work they require from their hands may affect their ability to continue doing their job safely as they may lose grip strength or experience pain on the job.
Realizing that repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel qualify for workers’ compensation benefits can help those affected by long-term work-related injuries.