While the acute pain that accompanies workers compensation injuries eventually fades away, some trauma can have a significant impact on your life. One common type of chronic pain associated with workers compensation injuries is reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), currently known as type 1 complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS 1). Those who suffer from this debilitating medical condition may experience severe pain and discomfort that makes it extremely difficult to work. In this case, consulting with a highly experienced workers compensation attorney can help disabled workers suffering from RSD cover their current and future medical bills, as well as living expenses.
RSD Condition
RSD causes intense and continuous pain that worsens over time. In addition to this, affected individuals can also experience swelling, skin discoloration, extreme skin sensitivity, increased sweating, burning pain, loss of limb sensation, and temperature changes in different body parts, but usually one of the arms, legs, hands or feet are involved. The chronic pain from RSD may occur because of repetitive trauma on the nerves associated with work duties, accidents, and high impact collisions. Researchers believe that such trauma causes irritation or unusual excitation of the nervous tissue, which ultimately leads to chronic pain and other debilitating symptoms.
Currently, there is no cure for RSD, but the symptoms can be treated with prescription drugs like pain relievers and anti-depressants, physical therapy, and nerve block procedures (involves injection of a local anesthetic into the affected body part). Aside from alleviation of symptoms, the main goal of RSD treatment is to help sufferers remain independent as much as possible so that they can be productive with their day-to-day activities.
Diagnosing RSD
There is no specific diagnostic test for RSD. Usually, in case of workers compensation injuries, your workers compensation attorney will coordinate with a highly trained medical professional to prove the existence of RSD so that proper treatment as well as personal injury claim can be established. To obtain an accurate diagnosis, your physician will conduct a series of tests (e.g. CT scan, MRI, X-rays, electromyography, or nerve conduction studies) to check the presence of a nerve injury.
Yet it is very difficult to confirm this diagnosis. First and foremost, the effects of the nerve injury can develop several days, weeks, or even months later after the workplace accident. In such cases, your workers compensation attorney will advise you to request more specific diagnostic tests from your attending physician to confirm the presence of a nerve injury that can potentially lead to RSD.
Secondly, employers and insurance companies contest personal injury claims. One reason is that they want to avoid or minimize their responsibilities when a worker suffers an injury. Another is that they want to avoid the resulting long-term and expensive medical needs of the patient. Because of these factors, it is strongly recommended to consult with a workers compensation attorney to know your legal rights after sustaining workers compensation injuries.
Role of Workers’ Compensation
Patients with RSD will have to suffer from chronic pain and functional deficits which may have very significant lifetime effects. Add to that the fact that access to effective treatments and state-of-the-art medical facilities are very costly. So, when applying for workers’ compensation, your workers compensation attorney will advise you to document all of your medical tests, treatments and histories to increase your chances of recovering money for medical expenses, lost wages, reduced earning potential, and even pain and suffering associated with your workplace injuries.
It is typical for employers and insurance companies to initially deny claims dealing with chronic pain, but as long as the signs and symptoms began after a workers compensation injury, or were pre-existing but worsened after the work accident, an employee with RSD may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits or disability awards. In this way, RSD patients remain at their pre-injury earning capacities while they focus on healing and rehabilitation. With the help of your workers compensation attorney, there are options for benefits that you can choose to help with current and future medical expenses, and lost wages under workers’ compensation.
Finding the Right Workers Compensation Attorney
Being diagnosed with RSD after a workers compensation injury doesn’t automatically guarantee you disability rewards. In order to strengthen your personal injury claim, you must be able to prove that your existing injuries are caused by your work duties and that the chronic pain prevents you from doing your job. For this reason, finding the right workers compensation attorney is the key.
We hope that you will consider contacting one of the Workers’ Compensation attorneys at Eason & Tambornini, ALC for your RSD issues.
