What to Do When You Get Injured at Work

Everybody’s trying to work to keep bills afloat, and when an accident happens that leads to injury, it can cause problems at work and at home. When you can’t work, you can’t make money, and approximately 2.6 million people found themselves struggling with issues like this as recently as 2023, and millions more struggle with this annually.

Workplace injuries are bad enough, but if you don’t know how to deal with them as they happen, life is going to be much harder on you and your family. So, let’s try to help you navigate these issues by examining the common reasons they happen, the types with which you’ll often struggle, and what your next course of action should be.

If you live in the Beaverton or Lake Oswego, Oregon area and you’re struggling with an injury from work, Drs. Dr. Steven Madey, Amer Mirza, Britton Fromme, Corey Zandschulp, and their experienced team at Go To Ortho are here to help.

Common reasons for injuries

Many work environments operate safely, but when things go wrong, these are often the reasons they happen:

Overexertion

This often takes the form of repetitive motion injuries from lifting, pushing, throwing, carrying, and holding objects in using the same movements and putting stress on specific parts of your body.

Contact with objects and equipment

Injuries from contact with machines, materials, and structures from work can lead to several hazards, including part of the body being pinched, squeezed or compressed, damage from friction or vibration, bumping into or being struck by dangerous objects.

Slips, trips, and falls

This can include slipping on uneven or slick surfaces, tripping over hazards, falling off of something on the same level or a higher elevation, and even jumping to lower levels.

Overexertion and slip and falls make up about 43% of injuries leading to time away from work between 2021-2022, and contact with objects made up nearly 17% of that sort of damage in 2020.

Types of injuries

These incidents cause musculoskeletal and other forms of damage, leading to physical problems like:

• Sprains: stretching or tearing the ligaments in joints

• Strains: stretching or tearing of tendons in joints

• Lacerations: cuts of varying depth into the skin and deeper tissue

• Punctures: piercing the skin into the body

• Pain: short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) issues with pain after you’ve been injured

• Fractures: cracks that can lead to breaks in bones and joints

Any of these can cause other unpleasant symptoms, such as bruising, swelling, bleeding, stiffness, tenderness, and limited range of motion. 

How we can help

Here are the things we can do to help you when coping with injuries from work:

Medical care

Our medical treatments can be tailored to your needs and include care options like fracture care, bracing, casting, walking boots, wound care, injections, surgery, topical and oral medications, and physical therapy.

Claim assistance

If you’re struggling to figure out your rights and understand how workmen’s compensation claims work, we can help you file it and make the process clearer as we go. 

Injuries can sometimes last for years after they happen, and you’ll need to know what you’re entitled to if it comes to that.

Nobody wants an injury to happen, but if it does, make an appointment with Drs. Madey, Mirza, Fromme, Zandschulp, and the team at Go To Ortho today to get the help you need.