3 Health Problems That Might Have Been Caused By Your Career In The Salon
If you worked in a salon for a number of years before retiring, your aches, pains, and other health issues might not be related to getting older. They might be related to the work you used to do. You see, injuries sustained in the salon might not show up immediately; you could be suffering now from an injury you sustained years ago. And you might be entitled to receive workers' compensation benefits for injuries that can be traced back to your work. Following are three health problems that might have been caused by your years in the salon.
Repetitive Stress Injuries
Repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel, tendinitis, bursitis, and arthritis, are notorious for showing up later in life. If you suffer from any of these conditions, they could be related to the type of work you did. Cutting, perming, coloring, and styling hair all require repetitive and intricate movements that can leave you hurting years after retiring your shears. For this reason, injuries involving the soft tissues and tendons of the hands and arms are common among hairstylists.
Spinal Injury
Not only did you stand on your feet for an unbelievable amount of hours each week, you also bent, stretched, and hunched in unnatural positions repeatedly throughout the day. Bending over the shampoo bowl and stretching to cut long layers are great examples of the extreme movements that hair styling requires. All of these movements place strain on your skeletal system, resulting in bulging discs, misalignment, and more. If you worked for years in a salon and now suffer from back pain, you might have caused the damage years ago.
Respiratory Issues
Air quality in salons has been a debatable topic for years. Harsh chemicals, such as those found in hair bleach, color, perm solution, hairspray, and other salon products easily become airborne and are inhaled by stylists. In small quantities, these chemicals are harmless. However, stylists breathe the same polluted air each day, and studies show that they have higher incidences of respiratory issues to show for it. For this reason, many manufacturers of salon products have started using safer chemicals in their products.
You are entitled for compensation if you worked for an employer who carried workers' compensation insurance and if you can prove that your injuries were sustained in the salon. If you worked for yourself or if you worked on a commission-only, independent contractor basis, you might not be able to seek compensation because you were, in essence, your own employer. Therefore, you would be financially responsible for your injuries and for carrying insurance while you were working. If you have any questions regarding your rights, call a qualified workers' compensation lawyer like Prediletto, Halpin, Scharnikow & Nelson, P.S.