Does South Carolina workers’ compensation cover herniated disc injuries?

Workers Prone to Herniated Disc Injuries

Employees who are especially prone to work-related herniated discs include:

• Long-distance truck drivers who sit in one position for many hours
• Local delivery truck drivers who carry items from their trucks to recipients’ doors
• Healthcare workers who lift, turn, and bathe patients
• Users of heavy power tools
• Retail employees who stock shelves
• Warehouse employees who handle heavy objects repeatedly
• Farm workers who stoop, bend, and handle heavy equipment
• Maintenance and cleaning personnel

Workers in other positions might also suffer disc problems as a result of bending, twisting, lifting the arms over the head, or lifting heavy objects. While some disc injuries can be treated with medication, rest, and chiropractic care, more serious disc issues might require expensive back surgery and a long recovery time during which you cannot work. Even after you’ve recovered, your compromised disc is fragile and vulnerable to re-injury. In the worst cases, paralysis can result and leave the victim partially or completely disabled.

When You Need a Workers’ Comp Lawyer

While claims for very minor workplace injuries with low medical bills and little or no time off work might be pursued successfully without legal help, spinal injuries can be very serious and expensive for your employee’s insurer, which is likely to search for every possible way to deny or devalue your claim. In such a case, you don’t want to go up against the insurance company’s adjusters and attorneys without an experienced lawyer of your own to help you seek fair benefits by organizing your medical evidence, calculating your lost earnings, and calling in expert witnesses if necessary to prove your disc injury is work-related.