Chronic pain is a complicated medical issue. It can be difficult to prove objectively, and many medical professionals dismiss complaints of pain. Workers may feel pressured to continue doing their job despite chronic pain and may even notice that their job makes the pain worse.
If you ignore chronic pain caused by your job or exacerbated by your job responsibilities, you may eventually wind up unable to do your job or hurt far worse. How will chronic pain affect your job performance?
Pain affects sleep and therefore leads to fatigue
When you feel uncomfortable, it may be difficult to fall asleep at night. Even if you fall asleep because of your overall exhaustion, you may not achieve the truly deep sleep you need to rest, or your pain may wake you up frequently.
Those with chronic pain might need to routinely adjust themselves at night or even get out of bed to take pain control medication. Disruptions to sleep and anything that prevents someone from achieving deep sleep can make them unsafe on the job and also affect their overall mood.
You may lose speed or stamina
As chronic pain continues, you may find that you can no longer work for as long as you once did because the pain reaches intolerable levels. On the other hand, even if you try to achieve the same performance metrics you have always maintained, your pain might affect your strength or your flexibility, which can affect how well you do your work.
Especially if you notice the pain worsening over time or increasing throughout your shift, you may have a hard time doing tasks that were once quite simple to complete.
Pain may make you task-avoidant
If you recognize that performing certain job responsibilities causes you pain, you may try to avoid those tasks or save them for the end of the day. Your possibly subconscious decision to avoid certain job responsibilities will affect the flow of operations at the business and may diminish your employer’s satisfaction with your overall job performance.
If you understand that pain will inevitably affect your ability to do your job, how well you support your coworkers or how your employer views your job performance, you may realize the true value in getting the treatment you need. Seeking workers’ compensation benefits for job-related pain can help protect your employment and your quality of life.
