Santa Ana, California, Workers' Compensation Blog

When you're suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, the symptoms can be so severe that you're unable to perform your job duties. You could be feeling numbness in your fingers and hands, pain and other problems that prevent you from typing or using a computer. It might even feel as if there's absolutely nothing you can do to get better.

However -- as you will see in the tips that follow -- you can take certain precautions that could enable you to eradicate or prevent carpal tunnel. If you want to take your health back into your own hands, literally, follow these tips:

• Take take care of your general health. Control your weight, don't smoke and be sure to get regular exercise.
• Keep your hands and fingers flexible with regular stretching throughout the day.
• Don't do anything that appears to aggravate numbness or pain in your fingers and hands.
• Whenever you're doing any kind of hand or wrist activity, spread the pressure evenly throughout your hand. Only slightly bend your wrists and don't do activities that cause you to bend your wrists for long periods of time.
• Always use good posture when sitting at a computer.
• Try using a wrist splint that will stabilize the motion of your wrist while working and sleeping.
• Reduce the amount of salt you consume.
• Change positions and switch hands as often as you can.

One of the most common repetitive motion injuries is known as tendinitis. This condition comes about as a result of doing the same motion over and over again on a daily basis without rest. Any worker -- even an office worker who uses a computer mouse and keyboard every day -- can contract debilitating tendinitis.

Here is a little bit more information about tendinitis that every California worker should know:

• Shoulders, elbows and biceps are some of the most common areas where someone can suffer from tendinitis.
• Tendinitis relates to the chronic inflammation of affected tendons.
• Men tend to have tendinitis more than women.
• The place where tendons become inflamed is usually at the insertion site where they connect to the bone.
• Tenosynovitis is similar to tendinitis. It happens where tendons pass through a lubricated sheath at the muscle's insertion point. With too much motion and not enough rest, this sheath can become chronically inflamed, resulting in tenosynovitis, which is treated in a similar way to tendinitis.
• Sometimes, carpal tunnel syndrome involves tenosynovitis.

A serious accident happened at a massive high speed train construction project north of Fresno late last month. The incident left five workers injured after a tower fell over. Two of the workers needed hospital care for their injuries. The California Highway Patrol said that the workers' injuries were moderate and the worst of them may have involved a back fracture.

According to the CHP, they were continuing their investigations into the incident because the accident happened on state property. The CHP says that a tower constructed out of steel rods came tumbling down in the incident. Cal OSHA has also given their explanation of what happened, saying that rebar fell down and five employees were hurt. Cal OSHA is investigating the extent and nature of the injury portion of this case. Once a Cal OSHA investigation begins, the agency will have another six months before it must file its decisions and any citations regarding the matter.

Imagine your husband has spent the last 20 years going to his job at California construction sites -- day in and day out. He has never suffered a serious injury, not even a scratch. As a painter, the risks of his job are minimal, but at his last construction job, he complained of unusual working conditions that worried you.

Tragically, last week, he went to work and he didn't come home. An accident happened while he was working on a scaffold, painting a hard-to-reach area. The scaffold was old and rickety, he slipped and his harness failed. The unspeakable event claimed his life and now you, your children, his family and friends will be attending a memorial service in his honor.