Recent Spinal Injury

@sleeplessinmissouri I'm sorry you are going through this. It isn't fair. Remember, any doctor chosen by your employer is representing them, not you, and they are looking to discredit you and blame your condition on anything but the work place injury. Spine injuries are serious, and can and likely will get worse in years to come. Spinal discs have no blood supply and with aging, they are drying out and shrinking over time as normal aging. That opens up cracks and fissures caused by an injury. You may have more damage than is apparent right now. It would be wise to consult a respected spine surgeon that you trust. Getting imaging done like an MRI will be very helpful. Your employer may try to tell you it is not needed because they don't want documentation of the injury. Doctors who are willing to look the other way to avoid the truth are highly paid for their opinions, and their practice is to serve the lawyers of the employers, not an injured patient. That is why you must document everything with your written notes of your symptoms and pain and date everything. Do not keep any of your injury documentation on a workplace computer because it will be removed by an employer. You need your own specialist to document your injury and a treatment plan ASAP. This will be your evidence when this case comes before a commission that decides what to award you for your damages. You may want to take down recent photos from social media that could be used against you as evidence that you are not injured. Also be careful what you say to anyone at your workplace and remember "the walls have ears". Your attorney will advise you.

I know this is really hard when you have been a valued employee, and now they don't care about you, and it's all about preventing a financial loss for the company. Some companies are self insured which means they pay 100% of the bills. Spine surgery is very expensive. You may need that now and also later down the road because of this injury. If I remember right, my single level fusion in my neck was around $65,000. A surgery at L5S1 is a much bigger surgery, and that may not be the end of it because other levels can be affected by the loss of motion after surgery. Your attorney should advise you about getting money to compensate you if you are unable to work because of your injury in the future. You have to consider that you may not make a full recovery, and that may impact your ability to earn a living depending on what your job skills are and if you can still do that job.

I am not a medical professional, but my understanding of a disc that protrudes into the foramen is that this has gone beyond being a bulging disc and is actually ruptured. One of my doctors explained to me that this causes inflammation because the jelly like disc material has spilled, and it leads to formation of bone spur growth and arthritis that further narrows the space around the nerve exiting the spinal cord through the foramen. This would also be a reason that an employer wants to dismiss this ASAP and wash their hands of it before that happens. You do not have to do spinal injections. The injections have some serious risks and they don't fix anything. What the injections do is to reduce inflammation which can relieve some pressure for awhile, but it is temporary. If you have degeneration and bone spur growth going on, that will likely continue. An injury of a displaced disc creates a physical structural problem. Surgery can help by decompressing what is getting squished and to reinforce the spine with hardware to help support it. Also because this is a public forum, be careful about what you say here too. Your employer may recognize your posts because of details about your injury even though you are not using your name.

Thank you for the information you’ve given.

I sent a message.