The only thing worse that suffering an injury is to experience pain in a previously healthy body part through no injury or accident. This occurs all the time in our practice and we typically get reports of uninjured knees, hips, back or other body parts showing signs of pain following an injury to a completely different area. These new injuries are typically caused by overuse or strain on the uninjured area as a result of overcompensation.
Think about a person with a torn ligament in the knee or a ruptured Achilles tendon in the foot. They hobble around for several months on crutches or in a brace attempting to get better with physical therapy or injections. After this fails they undergo arthroscopic surgery and are again placed on crutches for several months until transferred into a brace or boot and forced to limp for several more months. At any point in this timeline the injured worker may suffer shoulder strain from the crutches, suffer a new injury to the non-surgical body part from an altered gait (a deviation from normal walking) or hip or low back pain from the use of the brace or boot due to changes in mobility or elevation (think of walking with a a dress shoe on one foot and an athletic shoe on the other).
Under Florida’s workers’ compensation law, an injured worker can receive treatment for an injury to a body part that was not in the initial accident, but was damaged as a result of the treatment or care provided as a result of the workplace accident. However, getting the workers’ compensation insurance company to make the logical leap that they should pay for medical care for a new body part that was not reported as injured in the work accident can be difficult.
The experienced workers’ compensation attorneys at the Law Offices of Franks and Koenig have more than 50 years of experience obtaining medical benefits for injured workers, even when their injuries occur after the initial injury. If you or a loved one has suffered a work-place accident, or have suffered from an injury that you believe is related to a work-place accident, call one of the dedicated workers’ compensation attorneys at the Law Offices of Franks & Koenig today.
