A work-related back injury may affect more than your lower or mid-back. It may also cause pain and other symptoms from the back down to the buttocks, hips, and legs, going as far as the knees and feet.
Sciatica is the name of this medical condition, referring to pain and paresthesia distributed along the sciatic nerve. Your doctor may also diagnose sciatica as lumbar radiculopathy.
The sciatic nerve arises from the lumbar and sacral parts of the spinal cord, running down the back of the leg and innervating (giving sensation to) the back of the thigh, the knee flexors, and muscles below the knee, including the foot’s sole.
Sciatica affects many people, particularly employees whose jobs require heavy lifting (such as associates and stockers for Amazon, Walmart, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, and Target), physically handling patients (such as nurses or counselors in assisted living facilities), moving items in tight spaces (such as flight attendants for American Airlines or United Airlines), or driving (such as UPS delivery drivers).
Indeed, the data suggests five to ten percent of patients reporting low back pain have sciatica. Therefore, the number of Americans suffering from sciatica at any given time is significant, as millions of people (including injured workers) report back pain yearly.
Our personal injury law firm wrote this article for those with sciatica from an occupational injury. After reading the following sections, you will understand how to evaluate a workers comp settlement for sciatica. In addition, this information can help you decide whether to apply for Social Security disability benefits because of the condition.
Continue reading to learn more about sciatica workers compensation claims and settlements.
Then call us to start building your case: 804-251-1620 or 757-810-5614. With offices in Richmond, Newport News, Baltimore, Hagerstown, and Cambridge, we help disabled and injured workers with sciatica throughout Virginia and Maryland.
This part of the article examines medical questions you may have about work-related sciatica.
Nerve root compression is the leading cause of sciatica.
Often a herniated disc pressing on a lumbar or sacral nerve root is responsible for the compression resulting in sciatica. Indeed, the L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1 nerve roots are most involved in sciatica diagnoses.
However, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal), osteoarthritis, osteophytes, spondylolisthesis, piriformis syndrome, intraspinal tumors, or abscesses may also cause symptoms along the sciatic nerve.
Personal and occupational risk factors for developing sciatica include the following:
Common symptoms of sciatica include the following:
These sciatica symptoms may be acute (sudden), chronic, unilateral (affecting only one leg), or bilateral (affecting both legs).
Medical providers typically diagnose sciatica by physical examination (clinical findings) and the patient’s reported history.
For example, your doctor may conduct these tests when diagnosing sciatica after a work accident:
Your physician then considers these test results with your report of symptoms or neurologic deficits (including pain type, distribution, duration, and onset).
Sometimes, your physician or orthopedic surgeon will prescribe diagnostic imaging tests, such as X-rays, MRI, or CT scans. In addition, your doctor may refer you for an electrodiagnostic study (nerve conduction testing) to rule out other medical conditions that cause nerve damage and pain. However, your physician will likely not prescribe these procedures unless conservative treatment fails.
You may see several different medical providers when trying to heal from work-related sciatica:
Your doctor may prescribe one or more of these treatments after diagnosing sciatica:
Some data suggests many patients with sciatica recover within one to two months of onset.
However, other studies reveal that many patients do not. Instead, sciatica becomes chronic and affects the ability to work or perform daily activities.
For example, one study revealed that nearly half of people with sciatica reported symptoms one to four years after onset. In addition, roughly 20 percent could not work one year later, and 10 percent required surgery.
Your specific prognosis depends, in part, on the underlying cause of sciatica, whether your employer provides light duty after the onset of symptoms so you can rest and heal, preexisting conditions, and psychological factors affecting your pain response.
Further, the recurrence rate is high for this condition. Therefore, those with physical jobs may have intermittent sciatica symptoms that cause frequent absenteeism from work.
These attendance problems may help you qualify for Social Security disability (SSDI or SSI) for sciatica and other musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthritis.
The above sections focused on sciatica in general, explaining how doctors diagnose it, the treatment you can expect to receive, and the likely prognosis. You (or your attorney) need to know this to decide what evidence to gather to strengthen your case and eliminate weaknesses.
The following sections discuss specific questions and issues in sciatica cases.
As the injured employee, you must prove every element of a workers compensation claim (unless the employer, insurer, or claims administrator (Gallagher Bassett, Sedgwick CMS, ESIS, Helsman, etc.) files a pleading named application to suspend or terminate benefits).
This means you must gather and present evidence that shows the following (read about workers compensation discovery to learn how to get some of this information from the employer or insurer through interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for admissions, and depositions):
In addition, you must meet specific procedural requirements, such as filing a workers comp claim within the applicable statute of limitations (two years from the incident in Virginia).
Any work incident that causes a lumbar strain/sprain or herniates a disc (or exacerbates pre-existing degenerative disc disease) may result in sciatica.
Everyday work-related events leading to sciatica include:
In our experience, the average settlement for work-related sciatica ranges from $25,000 to $80,000 (or more).
Your sciatica case’s value depends on many factors, including the following:
These factors (and others) determine a reasonable workers comp settlement demand for sciatica. And focusing on the items that strengthen your case helps you scare the insurance representative (the defense attorney and the workers comp adjuster) into offering more money.
Call our law firm to determine your legal options if you have received a sciatica diagnosis after a workplace accident.
In addition to reviewing your claim for benefits under the Workers Compensation Act and taking steps to accelerate when the insurer offers to settle, our disability lawyers will evaluate your eligibility for SSDI or SSI benefits if you have trouble doing your job or being independent at home because of sciatica.
Contact us today for help with your disability or workers comp claim for sciatica.