St. Louis Workers Compensation Attorney on Work Related Elbow Injuries

If you have injured your elbow at work, you should be getting ALL of your rightful workers compensation benefits, not just the ones your employer’s insurance company wants to approve!

When we talk of elbow injuries, the term that first comes to mind may be tennis elbow. However, not all elbow injuries are the same, and they are not all sports or leisure time traumas. Elbow injuries can happen in the workplace as a result of a single traumatic event or be a repetitive stress injury. Being familiar with common work related elbow injuries can help an injured worker be better prepared to deal with their employer and receive their workers compensation benefits.

Common Elbow Injuries in the Workplace

What we usually refer to as tennis elbow is medial and lateral epicondylitis. There is another common elbow injury knows as golfer’s elbow, which is medial epicondylitis. Both injuries cause pain in the elbow joint, on the outside and the other on the inside of the elbow joint. Pain is usually intense and can make it difficult to grip objects.

Some elbow injuries are also caused by nerve compression. One such injury is radial tunnel syndrome, also known as resistant tennis elbow, which cases pain around the elbow joint and affects the use of hand and wrist. Cubital tunnel syndrome is an injury, which involves pain around the elbow that shoots down the forearm and affects the fingers as well.

One can also suffer bursitis and tendinitis in the elbows. The triceps and biceps tendons can also cause elbow pain, one in the back and the other in the front of the joint. There is a bony area at the back of the elbow joint, knows as olecranon, which can also develop bursitis and cause tenderness and swelling.

Common Symptoms of an Elbow Injury

Although most elbow injuries may seem similar based on the symptoms, they all may require different type of care and treatment. A worker who experiences pain or tenderness in their elbow joint should seek immediate medical treatment. The doctors may suggest some tests such as an MRI to diagnose the injury and help start the right treatment plan. Here are some of the symptoms that an injured worker may experience due to an elbow injury:

• Inability to flex or straighten the arm
• Loss of use of the arm that makes it difficult to carry objects
• Redness or warmth around the elbow or arm accompanied by fever
• Deformity in the elbow after an injury
• Pain in the elbow even when it is at rest
• Elbow pain that lasts more than a few days
• Any unusual conditions of the elbow

Once the injury is diagnosed, the doctor will recommend a course of treatment. For minor injuries, the doctor may recommend rest and putting ice and/or heat on the affected area. Physical therapy may be required to restore the normal strength and movement of the elbow joint. Also, the doctor may prescribe pain and anti-inflammatory medications to ease the pain and reduce swelling. Sometimes, cortisone injections are given to treat serious cases. For more serious cases, surgery may be required.

Work-Related Injuries