Term Of The Day – Cumulative Trauma
An injury diagnosed by a physician as occurring without bodily injury being the direct cause of loss. Cumulative Trauma includes injury caused by continual stress and strain. Such injury may be casually related to a person’s job and may be due to repetitive traumatic acts.
The classic cumulative trauma injury for many years was Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and and the associated very paniful DeQuervains Syndrome. Fortunately, these two injuries were addressed by the employer community. The incident rates dropped by 50%.
The bane of many adjusters resulted from determining whether or not cumulative injuries were compensable under their state’s Workers Compensation Act.
Cumulative trauma was more than just diseases of the wrists. The trauma also covered:
- Back injuries
- Knee strains
- Shoulder injuries
- Basically any joint stress over time
Many states identified a specific traumatic incident as the determining factor. Over the years, many of these states expanded a traumatic incident over weeks or month instead of one instance in time.
The modifications to the definition usually came from Workers Compensation Board or Appeals Court cases.
One data phenomenon concerns cumulative trauma and plant closing. Repetitive motion injuries spiked due to workers working with their injuries. At the time of a plant closing, the workers would report their cumulative trauma injuries that they worked with over the years.
Each state has specific legal cases or statute that determine whether or not an injury is compensable.
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