How a laminectomy can ease suffering after a work injury

Day in and day out, a labor-intensive job can require you and coworkers to lift, move, carry, and load heavy cargo set for transport to destinations throughout the country. The job hazards are many, and a spinal cord injury caused by your work could have catastrophic consequences, even paralysis.

An example of a grave injury is a blood clot in your upper spine, caused by strain and damage to the soft tissue around the neck and nearby blood vessels. This condition requires immediate surgery.

What does a laminectomy do?

In such a scenario, surgeons must perform a procedure known as a laminectomy, the removal of the vertebrae known as the lamina. After making an incision anywhere from 2 to 6 inches long, surgeons remove the entire lamina from the affected vertebrae.

Doing so eases pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots and allows surgeons to remove blood clots and bone spurs of disc matter in the affected area. Once the pressure has been eliminated on the nerve or spinal cord, surgeons close the incision.

Recovery may take months

Now, the time calls for you to be patient. While your job requires lifting heavy objects, you cannot do so while on the mend, lest you damage your spinal cord. Your new lifting limit could be objects that weigh no more than 10 pounds.

In addition, you should expect full recovery to take six months or longer.

Consider legal action

Consequently, you may forever remember the pain and anguish caused by the temporary loss of feeling in your limbs after sustaining your work injury. Which makes you wonder whether your employer properly trained you and if they provided the right equipment to safely perform your job. Consult an experienced workers’ compensation attorney to determine if pursuing legal action is right for your spinal cord injury.