Whether you broke your coccyx falling down slippery boat steps or suffered a terrible case of food poisoning, you may be under the impression that the hardest days of recovery are the ones that will immediately follow your accident, injury, or illness. In actuality, as an experienced Alabama maritime lawyer will tell you, your struggle may actually get harder as time passes.
Obviously, the first few days and weeks following your on-ship disaster - whether it was a horrific slip and fall or sickening exposure to a volatile organic compound - can test your pain threshold. But a hearty sea hand can usually grit his teeth through temporary pain, secure in the knowledge that good medical care will restore him to hale health eventually.
In certain acute injury cases, rapid recovery can happen. If you break a bone, a physician can set the bone, and you can heal and recover function. This is how we all think recovery happens.
But in other cases, the initial acute suffering may subside, leaving residual chronic pain caused by the "secondary consequences" of the injury. For instance, your broken bone may heal. But you then may develop muscle knots throughout your leg, causing what's known as "referred pain." This secondary pain may make it feel like your back is hurt, and it may even give you chest pains that mimic heart-related illness. Treating the secondary, chronic pain may require an entirely different set of tools from those used when healing the initial insult to your body.
An Alabama maritime lawyer can help you identify a strategic way to obtain compensation for your injuries, damages, and other costs and can educate you about your rights as an offshore worker victim. Download three free educational resources from our website, or call our team at 877-724-7800 for a free case evaluation.
