Not all job injuries involve an accident or keep you from doing your work. Some kinds of work injuries, like repetitive stress injuries and damage to your joints, may simply cause moderate chronic pain. You may only have pain while at work, which may make you think that it isn’t that serious.
However, you should not ignore chronic pain that flares up on the job. Instead, you should consider reporting it and using workers’ compensation to get treatment. Here are three very strong reasons that you shouldn’t ignore work-related pain.
Your pain could get worse over time
If you have a repetitive motion injury or deteriorating joints because of your work duties, ignoring your symptoms will mean that you simply continue to get worse. You could eventually reach a point where you can no longer work at all. Ignoring your condition could mean that your medical costs are more and that your quality of life will decrease as you get older.
Your work performance could suffer
If you don’t report your injury, your employer may still notice how it affects your daily job. In fact, you could end up losing out on raises or promotions because it seems like you are no longer trying as hard as you used to.
Your employer might even write you up and eventually fire you if you become less productive than you once were because of a work injury. Reporting it protects you from retaliation and allows you to ask for accommodations so that you can keep your performance at a high standard.
Your pain could result in mental health issues
Chronic pain affects everything from your happiness to how you sleep at night. The more significant and long-lasting your pain is, the more likely it is to lead to depression. Unaddressed chronic pain can have serious effects for someone’s mental health.
Workers’ compensation benefits can cover your medical costs. It can also give you some income so that you can take time off of work to heal when your job causes chronic pain.