Workplace Injuries: When to Seek Chiropractic Care in Minnesota
You bent down to pick up a box at work, felt something twinge in your lower back, and now you can barely stand up straight. Or maybe you’ve been sitting at your desk for months, and your neck and shoulders are killing you. Either way, you’re wondering: Is this serious enough to see someone about? And if it happened at work, who pays for it?
Here’s what most Minnesota workers don’t know: workplace injuries—whether they happen in one moment or develop gradually over time—are covered by workers’ compensation. And yes, that includes chiropractic care.
Let me walk you through the most common workplace injuries we see at Twin Cities Chiropractic, when you should seek treatment, and how workers’ comp actually works in Minnesota.
Common Workplace Injuries We Treat
Workplace injuries don’t all look the same. What hurts an office worker is different from what hurts a warehouse employee or a construction worker. But we see patterns.
Office and Desk Workers
If you sit at a computer all day, you’re probably dealing with some combination of these:
Neck pain and forward head posture from staring at screens all day. Your head weighs about 10-12 pounds, and for every inch it moves forward, it adds another 10 pounds of pressure on your neck. Spend eight hours a day like that, and your neck is going to revolt.
Upper back and shoulder pain from hunching over your keyboard. Your shoulders round forward, your upper back muscles get overstretched and weak, and you end up with constant tension and pain between your shoulder blades.
Lower back pain from sitting too long. Sitting puts more pressure on your lumbar discs than standing does. Add in a poorly adjusted chair or slouching, and you’re setting yourself up for chronic back problems.
Carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist pain from repetitive typing and mouse use. The constant flexion and extension of your wrists can compress the median nerve, causing numbness, tingling, and pain in your hands.
Headaches that start at the base of your skull and radiate up. These tension headaches are usually caused by tight neck muscles and poor posture.
Manual Laborers and Warehouse Workers
If your job involves physical labor, you’re dealing with different problems:
Acute lifting injuries occur when you lift something heavy or awkward and feel that immediate sharp pain in your back. This is usually a muscle strain or ligament sprain, but it can also involve a disc herniation if the injury is severe enough.
Chronic lower back pain from repetitive lifting, bending, and twisting. Even if no single incident caused the pain, years of physical labor take a toll on your spine.
Shoulder injuries from overhead work or repetitive reaching. Rotator cuff problems, shoulder impingement, and chronic shoulder pain are common in jobs that require a lot of arm movement.
Knee and hip pain from standing on concrete all day or repetitive squatting and kneeling. The impact on your joints adds up over time.
Construction and Trade Workers
Construction workers face a combination of heavy labor and awkward positions:
Back and neck injuries from lifting, carrying materials, working in cramped spaces, and operating heavy equipment. The constant vibration from tools and machinery also contributes to spinal problems.
Falls and impact injuries that cause immediate trauma to the spine, shoulders, or hips. Even if you don’t break anything, the impact can cause significant soft tissue damage and spinal misalignment.
Repetitive strain injuries from using the same tools and performing the same motions day after day. Your body starts breaking down from the constant stress.
Dr. Sorum has treated workers from all these industries over his 25+ years in practice. “The specific injury varies, but the underlying problem is usually the same—repetitive stress or acute trauma that your body can’t recover from on its own,” he explains. “That’s where chiropractic care makes a huge difference.”
When to Seek Chiropractic Care for Work Injuries
So when should you actually come in? Here’s the honest answer: sooner than you think.
Immediate Injuries
If you hurt yourself at work—lifted something wrong, slipped and fell, got hit by something—get evaluated right away. Even if you feel “okay,” the adrenaline might be masking the real damage. We’ve seen this with car accidents, and it’s the same with workplace injuries.
Getting evaluated within 24-48 hours creates documentation for your workers’ comp claim and catches problems before they become chronic. Plus, early treatment means faster recovery and less time off work.
Gradual Onset Pain
This is where people make mistakes. Your back has been bothering you for weeks or months, getting progressively worse, but you keep thinking, “It’ll get better on its own.” It won’t.
If you’ve got pain that’s building over time, that’s your body telling you something’s wrong. Maybe it’s the way you’re lifting at work, or your desk setup is terrible, or you’re doing the same repetitive motion hundreds of times a day. Whatever it is, it’s causing damage, and ignoring it just makes it worse.
You can file a workers’ comp claim for gradual-onset injuries, too. You don’t need a specific incident—if the injury developed because of your work duties, it’s covered.
Chronic Pain That Won’t Quit
If you’ve been dealing with work-related pain for months or years, and you’ve just been living with it or managing it with over-the-counter painkillers, it’s time to get actual treatment.
Chronic pain doesn’t just go away. It usually means there’s an underlying structural problem—spinal misalignment, disc degeneration, chronic muscle tension—that needs to be addressed. Chiropractic care can often resolve chronic pain that people have been dealing with for years.
Minnesota Workers’ Compensation and Chiropractic Care
Here’s the part that confuses people: how does workers’ comp actually work, and does it cover chiropractic?
Yes, workers’ compensation in Minnesota covers chiropractic care. It’s considered a legitimate medical treatment for workplace injuries, and you’re entitled to it if you’ve been hurt at work.
How to File a Claim
First, report your injury to your employer as soon as possible. Minnesota law requires you to report it within 180 days, but don’t wait that long—report it right away. Your employer should give you a First Report of Injury form to fill out.
Your employer will file the claim with their workers’ comp insurance. You’ll get information about which healthcare providers you can see. In Minnesota, you generally have the right to choose your own healthcare provider, which means you can come to Twin Cities Chiropractic if that’s where you want to be treated.
Your Rights as an Employee
You have the right to medical treatment for your workplace injury at no cost to you. Workers’ comp covers your treatment, and you shouldn’t be getting bills.
You can’t be fired or retaliated against for filing a workers’ comp claim. That’s illegal in Minnesota.
If your injury requires time off work, workers’ comp also covers a portion of your lost wages (typically about two-thirds of your average weekly wage).
Working with Workers’ Comp at Our Office
Dr. Sorum has extensive experience working with workers’ compensation cases. We handle the documentation, communicate with the insurance company, and make sure everything is properly reported.
You don’t pay anything up front. We bill workers’ comp directly. Your job is to show up for treatment and focus on getting better.
“I’ve worked with hundreds of workers’ comp cases over the years,” Dr. Sorum says. “My goal is always to get people back to work as quickly and safely as possible. That means treating the injury effectively and giving them the tools to prevent re-injury.”
Office Worker Injuries: The Desk Job Problem
Let’s talk specifically about office workers, because this is a huge problem that most people don’t take seriously until the pain becomes unbearable.
Sitting at a desk all day is terrible for your body. Your hip flexors get tight. Your glutes and core get weak. Your shoulders round forward. Your head juts forward. Over time, this causes real structural problems—vertebrae shift out of alignment, discs get compressed, and muscles develop chronic tension.
How We Treat Office-Related Injuries
Dr. Sorum addresses the structural problems with chiropractic adjustments—realigning your spine, restoring joint function, and taking pressure off irritated nerves.
Joy works on the soft tissue—releasing tight hip flexors, loosening tense neck and shoulder muscles, breaking up trigger points.
We also give you ergonomic advice: proper desk setup, how often to take breaks, and stretches to do throughout the day. The goal is to fix the current problem and prevent it from coming back.
Manual Labor Injuries: The Physical Toll
If your job involves heavy lifting, repetitive bending, or standing on concrete all day, your body takes a beating.
Proper Lifting Mechanics
Most lifting injuries happen because of poor technique. Dr. Sorum teaches proper mechanics as part of treatment: bend at your knees and hips, not your waist. Keep the load close. Don’t twist—move your feet. Tighten your core before lifting. These adjustments prevent most lifting injuries.
Treating Chronic Strain
Years of physical labor create chronic strain—ongoing stress your body can’t fully recover from.
Chiropractic adjustments restore proper spinal alignment and joint function, distributing weight and stress more evenly. Manual therapy from Joy addresses muscle tension and scar tissue from repetitive work. The combination gets manual laborers back to full function.
Why Early Treatment Matters
Small problems become big problems if you ignore them. That minor back twinge can turn into a herniated disc. That nagging shoulder pain can become a rotator cuff tear.
Early treatment stops the progression. We catch problems when they’re still minor and easy to fix. Plus, workers’ comp wants documentation—waiting weeks before treatment makes insurance companies question if the injury is work-related.
And honestly, why suffer? You have the right to medical care, and it’s covered.
Prevention and Ergonomics
The best workplace injury is the one that never happens.
Office workers: Set up your desk properly—monitor at eye level, chair supporting your lower back, feet flat on the floor. Take breaks every hour. Do stretches throughout the day.
Manual laborers: Use proper lifting technique every time. Wear supportive footwear. Get help with heavy or awkward loads.
Everyone: Stay active outside work. Strengthen your core. Maintain flexibility. Address pain early.
Conclusion
If you’ve been injured at work, you don’t have to live with it. Workers’ compensation in Minnesota covers chiropractic care.
At Twin Cities Chiropractic, Dr. Sorum and Joy have helped hundreds of Minnesota workers recover from workplace injuries. We handle the workers’ comp paperwork and focus on getting you better as quickly as possible.
Don’t ignore workplace pain. Don’t assume it’ll get better on its own. And don’t worry about the cost—workers’ comp covers it.
Hurt yourself at work? Contact Twin Cities Chiropractic in St. Paul. Dr. Scot Sorum specializes in workplace injury treatment, and we work directly with Minnesota workers’ compensation to get you the care you need at no cost to you.