The importance of an early medical check-up after a fall

Many workplace injuries can keep you off work for a few days, weeks or even months. Some however could leave you unable ever to work again. One of these is a spinal injury.

In some cases, a person can keep on working unaware that they have damaged their spine. Nonetheless, it may only take one movement for that damage to lead to paralysis. It’s one of the many reasons it is so important to get a medical check-up after a workplace accident. Not all spinal injuries will cause long-term problems, but some can lead to either partial or full paralysis. 

It’s crucial to prevent your injury from worsening

Early intervention by trained medical staff can sometimes prevent a spinal injury from reaching the stage of paralysis. Sometimes it is not the initial injury that causes the major damage, but the body’s reaction to that initial trauma. Swelling is the body’s reaction to certain traumas,  it aims to protect the damaged part. However, if the swelling presses on the spine, it can cause permanent nerve damage leaving the person paralyzed.

There is no cure for a spinal injury

Unfortunately, if you do injure your spine, you will have to accept that there is no way of curing it. You can certainly take rehabilitation sessions, but all they can do (aside from trying to prevent the condition from getting worse) is help you adapt to the new reality that your body can no longer do everything it once could.

Not only can an early medical assessment potentially save you from further harm. It will also be crucial to getting the full amount of worker’s compensation you will need.