Many workers are not injured by a specific incident, but rather through a course of repetitive trauma to a specific body part. It is often thought that workers must have years of continued repetitive trauma to the same body part to be successful with a workers’ compensation claim; however, this is not always the case.
Attorney Meghan N. O’Brien successfully argued a case before the Illinois Appellate Court where a worker sustained a repetitive trauma injury to his neck and shoulder after eight days of repetitive overhead movements with welding.
The case was won before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the decision that the injured worker’s repetitive work activities caused his neck and shoulder injury and that it arose out of and in the course of his employment.