If you’ve had to take a large amount of time off from work due to back injuries, it can have a ripple effect on other parts of your life too. It can put a big financial burden on you and your family, interrupt your career, affect your long-term job prospects, affect your relationships and could even lead to emotional disturbances.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario estimates that at least 25% of all claims causing people to take time off work are related to back injuries. These types of injuries can have long and short term effects on mobility and general well-being, and consequently on your ability to work. Some injuries may be self-limiting and self-healing, but many injuries which start off as minor problems could escalate into a health hazard if left untreated.

Types of Back Injuries

Some of the commonly reported back injuries are:

• Spine/spinal cord injury
• Painful spasms
• Slipped/bulging/herniated discs
• Nerve damage
• Fractures
• Sprains, strains
• Paralysis 

Effects of Back Injury

Apart from the pain and discomfort, back injury can have several other effects including:

• Loss of bowel and bladder control
• Loss of sensation in limbs or tingling
• Nerve damage
• Inability to feel heat, cold etc

How Are Back Injuries Caused?

Our backs are engineering marvels, consisting of a sophisticated system of muscles, bones, ligaments, nerves and cartilages. Damage to any one of these can affect the rest of the system. There are a host of reasons why back injuries are caused in the workplace. It’s not necessary that a back injury is caused by a particular event or accident. Often, long hours of sitting or working in fixed positions, on non-ergonomically designed furniture, moving heavy items, sudden lifting etc can cause a strain or ligament tear that leads to further problems if it’s not properly attended to.

In general, back injuries are caused by force, repetition and posture. Some causes of back injuries can be divided into:

Accident-related: Slip and fall, blows to the back, gunshot, sports-injury, vehicle accidents, assaults, lifting a heavy load, jerks while moving a heavy object, loads that suddenly slip or shift while being moved, hitting one’s back, neck or shoulders against a cabinet or shelf are some of the typical scenarios which cause back injuries.

Non-Accident-related: These usually develop over time and are a result of awkward positioning of the body. For instance, slouching at the desk, poor body mechanics, repetitive movements of a particular part of the body, prolonged sitting or standing in certain positions and fatigue are some of the examples of non-accident-related back injuries.

Job specific: These injuries are caused by certain jobs that are physically demanding and put an excessive strain on the back muscles. For instance, nursing and heavy industry work requires lifting and shifting of heavy loads, long hours of standing, constant variation in weight etc. Jobs in fire-safety or accident relief put tremendous strain on the back, neck and shoulder muscles while rescuing victims. The construction industry is another place where the body is put under a lot of strain.

Sedentary jobs: In recent years, the IT industry and use of computers, laptops etc at work has meant that more and more people are engaged in sedentary occupations, involving excessive sitting in office chairs, often in a single position, with very little opportunity for the back, neck and shoulder muscles to relax.

What to Do When You Suffer Back Injury

If you or a loved one suffers from back pain that you believe was caused by an injury, you are entitled to seek compensation regardless of fault. You can claim accident benefits from your insurance company for income, medical and other statutory benefits.

If the back injury was caused by a particular person/event, you are entitled to file a lawsuit and claim damages for:

• Health care expenses
• Home maintenance and household expenses
• Economic loss
• Loss of income/earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Home and vehicle modification
• Other types of damages
• Care-giver expenses
• Rehabilitation and physiotherapy
• Massage
• Compensation for family members

How We Can Assist You

Following a back injury, you need to seek legal advice as soon as possible. Our free consultation injury lawyers can assess the facts of your case and give you an honest assessment regarding the merits. Our personal injury lawyers have the medical and mechanical knowledge of back injury cases and can help you to put together a strong case.

Our accident injury lawyers are focused on getting you the maximum possible compensation while safeguarding your rights.

If you, your family or a friend has been injured in an accident, please feel free to speak to one of our injury lawyers for a free consultation about how we are able to assist in making a personal injury claim. We consult in all cities across Ontario with a no win no fee guarantee. Our personal injury lawyers have helped victims secure millions of dollars in personal injury cases. Call us Toll Free On our 24/7 Injury Hotline: 1 – 844 495 7333.