The knees are a very important part of the body. Without well functioning knees, you won’t be able to do a lot of activities that involve you using your legs; essentially, most human activities. You even need to use your knees to sit properly.
Unfortunately, a lot of American workers suffer knee injuries that prevent them from working. Knee injuries are the third most common injuries affecting American Workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 100,000 workers suffer from knee injuries each year.
If you’re in North Carolina and you suffered a knee injury, you’re most likely eligible for workers compensation. If you are, you’ll be wondering how much reprieve you can get from your workers compensation benefits. Read on.
Types of Knee Injuries
The amount of compensation you get for your knee injury depends to a large extent on the type and severity of the knee injury. There are many types of knee injuries. Some are quite mild, while others require surgery and could leave you incapacitated for a long time.
Here are some of the common knee injuries you could incur while working:
- Fractures: A fracture is essentially when a bone breaks.For the knee, this is usually the knee cap. This could break by forcefully impacting something harder. Fractures are usually serious and might require surgery.
- Dislocations: A knee dislocation happens when the knee hits something hard and the bones are out of place. Doctors fix fractures by sliding your bones back into place. A fracture may also affect other muscles and ligaments in your knee, which would require more extensive treatment.
- Ligament Injuries: It is easy to mistake a ligament injury with a sprain. But it’s much more than that. There are three main knee ligament affected by injury:
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)
- Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL)
- Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL)
In a lot of instances injury to any of these ligaments take months to heal. In some other instances, they require reconstructive surgery.
There are a lot of other types of knee injuries. You can always get more information on the type of knee injury you suffered from your doctor. This is important as a good understanding of your injury would help you determine the extent of your workers compensation benefit.
I Suffered a Knee Injury at Work, What Do I Do?
If you suffered a knee injury at work. You should do the following after getting treatment:
- Inform your employer about the injury. It’s possible that you were rushed to the hospital by your co-workers, without your employer having formal knowledge of the injury. To start the workers comp process, you have to formally notify your employer of your injury.
- You should get receipts from the hospital as evidence of expenses you have incurred as a result of medical treatment for your injuries.
- You should also get the contact information of anyone who was a witness. This could be your co-workers or anybody who was at the site when the injury occurred.
- If your employer already knows about the accident, you may have corresponded with either your employer or your employer’s insurance company. Ensure you keep all correspondences regarding the injury.
How Much Will I Get for my Knee Injury?
Determining how much you’ll get from your workers compensation benefit for your knee injury is not an exact science. There are a lot of moving variables you have to take into consideration.
If you decide to take on your employer or its insurance company on your own, you’re likely to get a far lesser sum than if you confronted them with the help of a workers compensation lawyer in North Carolina.
Which is why you should get in touch with the Law Office of John A. Hedrick, PLLC. Attorney John Hedrick has been handling workers compensation cases for the best part of two decades. If there’s anyone who will help you get the best result from your workers compensation claim, he’s the one.
You can get in touch with us through our website, or give us a call at 919-977-0804.
