Back injuries serve as one of the most common reasons that a worker will take time away from their job. It is also one of the biggest reasons workers will leave an industry.
What about back injuries make them so hard to deal with? Why do they impact a worker’s ability to return to the job?
The immediate impact
Mayo Clinic discusses the impact of back injury and pain on a worker. A person uses their back in everything they do, whether it is sitting, standing, lying down or anything in between.
Thus, pain from a back injury has an immediate and pervasive effect on a victim. In many cases, the pain alone will keep an individual from working.
A lengthy healing process
Of course, on top of that, the healing process lasts a long time. Before returning to work, a back injury victim should get through the swelling stage of their injury first. However, this stage can last anywhere from weeks to months depending on the injury severity.
If a worker returns to work before this time, they risk worsening the injury or even re-injuring a recently healed wound.
Ongoing physical difficulties
On top of that, even after healing, many workers do not retain the full physical abilities that they had before. Many find themselves plagued with chronic pain which makes moving, lifting, bending and other physical tasks quite difficult.
Due to these combined factors, some victims of back injuries find it difficult or even impossible to continue working as before.