There are two types of workers’ compensation claims: injury and occupational disease. An injury is a condition requiring medical services associated with a discrete event. For example, a worker falls off a ladder onto pavement, fracturing his ulna and radius near his wrist. That would be an injury claim, as one can point to an identifiable period of time when the injury - the fractured radius and ulna - occurred.
An occupational disease, on the other hand, is a condition which arises over a period of time. Let’s say the worker is a mechanic of heavy machinery who uses hand and pneumatic tools seven hours per day and after 6 months develops carpal tunnel syndrome. That may well be an occupational disease claim.
For both injury and occupational disease claims, medical opinions relating the injury or condition to the work exposure is necessary.