This is long so be prepared.
So this is something that happened last year but it does come back at times and I keep wondering what could have been done differently and if what they did was illegal or not in certain areas.
So I worked for a landscape company that was good when I started and had potential but changed over time due to new Manger coming in and just ruining it. (That's another story)
Anyway, one day my shoulders started hurting bad and would not stop one afternoon. It was more than a muscle ache and felt not right. I told my boss when I got back to shop cause it started as I was heading back and he said to ice it and take some medicine. Was weekend so thats what i was gonna do. Granted when I got home it got even worse. The boss above my boss called me and asked if I was OK and what happened and so forth. I told him everything and he said I could call the workers comp line (big mistake) and if I needed anything to contact him. The Comp people had me talk to a doctor and just said to rest and basic pain medicine. Wouldn't even let it get looked at. I rested over the weekend and went back to working the next week. By then the pain was gone and I was fine till midweek and it came back with a vengeance. Couldn't hold anything in my hand without it feeling like something was pulling wrong and in pain.
Later I was in so much pain I wanted to chop my arms off. I told my boss cause he took over from his boss who told me to contact him if I needed anything and then proceeded to tell me I overdid it again. Shouldn't have pushed hard and so forth and said I didn't listen to him. Nothing of the sort was said to me. I stopped working on anything that had me set things on my shoulders like leaf blowers, vacuum and so forth. He said to go home take some medicine and rest.
I no longer could stand the pain. It was radiating off and on and I was laying in bed crying cause I was in so much pain and couldn't move. I knew something was wrong in my gut. I still felt bad though like I was just dreaming it. I had to call workers Comp line multiple times to even be seen by a doctor. My boss did not like that I wouldnt just rest and let it heal on its own. This was not your normal muscle ache. I've never felt pain like this. Basic pain medicine would help for like 30 minutes and then full pain again. I couldn't even sleep. I can't describe the feeling now but I've never felt pain like that.
When it came to going to the doctor. My boss met me outside before cause they had to be there and told me not to get any medicine prescribed by the doctor that could be over the counter and that the company would take a hit on good marks cause it would then be reported as a workplace incident.
This took me back. I just said ok and went on in.
I eventually talked to doctor and I did get non-over the counter medicine cause I was in so much pain I wanted relief. They did an xray too and didnt show anything. I was tired of evertone not believing me. Scheduled me for some physio too. When I came out he asked me about the medicine and I said yeah they did prescribe medicine and it wasn't over the counter and could tell he was not happy.
Later apologized but started treating me like crap once I was cleared to come back to work. Not directly to my face but indirectly. Would not let me do any of my job, basically preventing me from even helping out in productivity (I ran a huge hospital ground by myself, guys came once a week for mowing and big work) and basically became a trash boy the rest of the time there. 8 hr days being a trash boy. I eventually had enough and quit.
Stories not done here.
I quit in March of last year and injury happened toward beginning of year. I went and joined a union job but didn't do any work till July cause of pandemic. I didn't do any physically demanding stuff till then. Wasn't till a few months in I started having issues with my shoulders again. This time my whole arm went numb and was like that for a week. I went to a chiropractor and got it looked at. My whole body had shifted forward and downward on one side and was out of alignment so much it took 3 months of realignment to even get it back into alignment (not completely, still more to go) and started to feel relief.
I still look back and wonder if this could have been prevented if they had taken care of it properly back when it first started. If it could have been avoided. I still have problems at times and have to get adjusted every month but it's nothing that would be detrimental to doing my job. Someone told me I could have probably done a lawsuit but I in a good position now and I enjoy it so much more than the landscaping it's not worth it for me to fight it.
Go with your gut on injuries and beware that workers comp doesn't really care about you. Go to your own doctor and be treated like an actual human and get treated seriously.