With the recent thumb injury I've had a few comments about how accident prone I could be, it even got to the point where The Wife chimed in. That got me thinking about how many work related injuries I have had and here is a list of all the injuries over the last eight years that required me to go on worker's compensation.
Back injury- While in Toledo on overnights, I was driving to an accident where a semi crashed into and landed onto of the concrete barricade in between both directions. I was new and hauling tail to the scene. I get close and I suddenly notice a car in my lane that did not have any lights on and was not moving, I hit the breaks, but because of ice and diesel fuel from the accident I slid into the car at about 45 MPH. Both cars were "OK," but I hurt my back. I had to go to a chiropractor for a year.
The Knee Injury- Still in Toledo I was shooting a story at a high school and as we were climbing the stairs I heard a loud pop and a sharp pain in my knee. I stopped for a minute to figure out what was wrong. I could still walk, but was limping so I continued on and finished the story. By the time we get back to the station the limp was worse and it was starting to hurt. The desk sees that I am limping,but I tell them I should be fine to finish my shift. As usual in Toledo we were short staffed and it is decided that I should go on a second shot, this time on a search for a missing Alzheimer patient with search dogs in downtown Toledo.
Mid-way through my knee starts popping every few minutes, which leads me to grab my knee and scream. My report informs the desk that I am in serious pain, but does nothing to help... no one else is able to shoot. I finally put an end to this and tell the reporter I can't go on. She calls the desk and they finally send another photographer,but here's the catch; they want me to edit the first story I shot, then I could go to the hospital. I walk in and everyone looks at me with a worried look. Later I was told I was ash white and was clearly in pain. I'm sent to the hospital 6 hours after the fact.
I tore the plica and have floating cartilage in my knee. Due to a filing error it takes nearly two months before I could have surgery. This was the most painful injury of my life.
Tendinitis of the Elbow- While shooting a sports story i grabbed my camera and felt a sharp pain in my elbow. I try to rub the pain out and continue to shoot. I think nothing about it till a few weeks later when my elbow hurts all the time. Come to find out that I had a bad case of tennis elbow and a inflamed muscle group.
Back Injury- Once again a Toledo injury (I need to stay away from Toledo), I am shooting file for The Network so if anything happens in Toledo we wouldn't have to rush up there or wait for out affiliate (my old station) to figure find away to get us the video. I'm on Alexis Road at I-75 (Oddly enough 2 miles from previous accident) when a light just turns red, no yellow just green to red. I slam on the breaks and stop just pass the line. "Wow that could have been bad." That's when I hear screeching tires and I get shoved into the intersection. The ramming Astrovan was totaled and my explorer had a dented rear bumper. I had yet another inflamed and tender back. I drive the two and a half hours back to Columbus and see a doctor.
I'm given muscle relaxers and given two days off. I should have taken more days off because I nearly killed Chud, DJL and myself on the way to a story.
The Thumb- just read the previous post and you will get the idea. A close second in the pain catagory.
Honorable mentions (not workers comp related)
The Wife tries to kill me
Fractured a bone in my foot playing basketball
Got poked in the eye playing basketball, causing a blood clot in my eyelid
Sprained my wrist on a Jacobs Ladder
Sprained my ankle playing soccer
In college I flipped over the handle bars of my bike spraining my wrist and hurting my knee
OK maybe I do need to be placed in a bubble or something.
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