It’s crazy to think how dangerous just living our day to day lives can be sometimes. Even just going to work, and heading home for the night can come with its own dangers. When these injuries do happen, we don’t always know what the first step to take is.
Here are some common injuries that can come with our day to day lives, and what to do if they happen.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome can be painful, and it develops from completing repetitive tasks. Unfortunately, we all don’t have the option of not completing repetitive tasks at our place of employment to avoid developing this injury, especially if we’re working with a keyboard and mouse. If you’re looking to minimize the pain associated with this injury you can try placing a cold pack on your wrists, or running them under warm water (try both to see which helps) to help reduce the pain. Ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories over the counter medication might help reduce discomfort as well.
Rotator Cuff Tear
While the elderly are more prone to rotator cuff injuries, they can happen to almost anyone. If you’re weight-lifting, be extra, extra, extra careful when doing shoulder exercises because your shoulder is going to take some serious time to heal. If you’re worried one has happened make sure you visit a doctor and they’ll likely perform either an ultrasound or MRI in order to see if there is a tear. This, of course, will come with the costs associated with medical treatment. If you aren’t completely sure your insurance will cover a visit, you can compare options in your area here, to make sure future instances will be covered. Knowing what you’ll be covered for will make it easy for you to handle injuries in the future as well.
Industrial Deafness
Developing hearing loss in the workplace didn’t die out in the industrial 1920’s unfortunately. If you work in an industry with an excessive amount of noise make sure you’re wearing hearing protection. Employers should be ensuring workers are properly protected, but hearing loss can still develop even with protection. If you’re having trouble hearing due to a workplace-related injury, visit your physician and file a claim with your employer. You might have to be fitted with hearing aids, but it’s a lot better than not being able to hear what’s going on around you.
Broken Toes
I think we’ve all had broken toes before, and if you haven’t you better knock on wood. Dropping things on your feet can break your toes, especially the smaller ones. You won’t need to get your toe put in a cast for this though, and chances are you’re just going to have to put ice on it and bear through it. The ice will reduce the inflammation, but the toe is going to take a few weeks to heal. That’ll teach you to watch out for that wall corner you hit your foot on.
Cutting With a Knife
Cutting yourself with a knife while preparing a meal can set you into a mode of panic. Cover your wound with something to absorb the blood, and add pressure to stop the bleeding. After some time, wash out your wound and assess if you’re going to need a visit to the physician. Don’t try and be tough if you’ve happened to cut yourself pretty deep, stitches will reduce the amount of time required to heal.
Sometimes these injuries just aren’t preventable and they’re something we all have to live with, but we should be prepared for the worst so we know what to do. Remember, if you hurt yourself and you’re honestly concerned, always seek the assistance of a physician.
