Canadian Safety Reporter

5 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 News | December 2018 | CSR Chronic pain disability from other ailments, not workplace injury Worker continued to experience pain from shoulder and arm injury, but had already received benefits for that; ongoing pain from CTS, migraines not compensable BY JEFFREY R. SMITH AN ONTARIO worker's chronic pain is from other organic ail- ments and not related to a par- tial disability stemming from a workplace injury, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal has ruled. The 40-year-old worker was employed as a public affairs as- sociate with a large municipal- ity in Ontario. The municipality hired her in June 1998 as a public affairs co-ordinator and moved to the associate position in 2003. Her job duties included typing more than half the time along with using the phone and writ- ing notes. Nine years later in April 2007, the worker — then 29 years old – reported a gradual onset inju- ry to her neck, upper and lower back, abdomen, shoulders, arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, hands, and fingertips on both sides. The worker sought medi- cal attention for her ailments and underwent an MRI, which revealed a small central disc protrusion and a small lateral disc protrusion in her back, but there wasn't any encroachment on her nerves or her spinal cord. The rest of her cervical spine ap- peared to be normal and a bone scan a couple of weeks later was also normal. The worker reported her in- jury to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), which conducted an ergonomic assessment of the worker's workplace. The assess- ment determined that the pub- lic affairs associate position had several risk factors that could cause, contribute to, or aggra- vate neck, shoulder, and arm injuries. The results of the assessment prompted the WSIB to allow en- titlement to workers' compen- sation benefits for a repetitive strain injury to the soft tissue of the worker's neck, shoulders, and arms. The WSIB determined the disc protrusions in the worker's back were minor and didn't con- tribute to her injury. The worker received loss-of- earnings benefits until June 31, 2007. She was able to return to work on modified duties with graduated hours one month later after the municipality implemented recommendations from the ergonomic assessment. An orthopaedic surgeon and a physiotherapist assessed the worker in January 2008. They found the worker was "pain fo- cused" but had diffuse pain with no objective pathology for it. The surgeon believed the work- er would be able to fully recover with "no significant ongoing im- pairment." The WSIB noted that the worker's work hours should be increased and she could follow the employer's return-to-work plan, which would place her in full-time duties by March 17. The worker was able to return to her full-time duties by the ex- pected date. The worker appealed the de- nial of benefits for her cervical spine protrusions, but withdrew the appeal when she took a leave of absence to move to the U.S. with her husband. After her leave of absence expired in July 2009, she resigned from her job. Worker diagnosed with multiple painful conditions After she moved to the U.S., the worker consulted specialists and received massage therapy and physiotherapy, but her pain got progressively worse. In 2011, she was diagnosed with carpal tun- nel syndrome in her right wrist and thoracic outlet syndrome in her hands and fingers. In 2010, the worker reacti- vated her appeal, but an appeals resolution officer agreed with the original decision that the worker's entitlement was lim- ited to the soft-tissue injury to her neck, shoulders, and arms. The officer found the soft-issue injury had resolved without a Worker's > pg. 8 Credit: Shutterstock/Ahmet Misirligul e worker received benefits for a repetitive strain injury to the soft tissue of her neck, shoulders, and arms.

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