Whether you were in an auto accident, slipped and fell in a public place, sustained an injury while at work, or harmed your back in a way that was “no fault” of your own, you have to get the right care. It is just old-fashioned common knowledge that a back or neck injury that is left untreated will tend to worsen, and though you may insist that it was just a fall down a few stairs, or just a box that was a bit too heavy, you must get treatment.
The problem for some people is that the injury sustained in a public place may lead to the need for legal assistance, and a lot of people are afraid of that. This, however, is no reason to let an injury just go without care. The first thing to understand is that there are many kinds of “personal injury” cases where you have to do very little to demonstrate your right to compensation. The key to all cases, however, is to act as quickly as possible after they have occurred as this is the one way to show that you were injured in exactly the manner claimed.
For example, let’s say you are at work and a manager tells you to go and move a delivery of boxes. You begin lifting and moving the boxes, but one of them is tremendously heavy, and as you begin to attempt to move it you feel a huge pain in your back and neck. You know that your lifting is done for the day, but what else do you do? Do you just go back to work? Do you go home?
This is the moment to seek emergency medical care in order to document the claim. The medical professionals consulted are going to make note of the time, date, and all of the things that have happened to your back or neck. This is the first and most essential step in demonstrating that the injury occurred at work (or in a place that was NOT your home).
Their documentation is also going to help you in terms of getting additional care and treatment from the appropriate chiropractor or rehab specialist. If you are making a worker’s compensation claim, you may have to use specific physicians, but usually your ongoing care provider is going to be left up to choose as you see fit.
Author: Dr. Trent Artichoker