Hand and Wrist Injuries: Impact on Work and Daily Life in Georgia

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A broken wrist or hand can keep a person away from work for weeks, and some injuries leave stiffness or a deformity that lasts. MedlinePlus, the health information service of the National Library of Medicine, observes that the hands are in use whatever a person’s age or work, and that a problem with the hands can stop a person from doing regular activities. Where the loss lasts, Georgia law measures it in two ways: in a claim against the person who caused the injury, through damages for diminished earning capacity, and for an injury on the job, through a workers’ compensation schedule that sets a maximum number of weeks for the loss of use of a hand, a thumb, or each finger.

Recovery Time for Wrist and Hand Fractures

A Colles fracture is “a break in the radius close to the wrist,” and MedlinePlus lists a car accident among its causes. For a small fracture whose pieces stay in place, its aftercare page expects a splint “for 3 to 5 weeks,” and it says that some breaks call for a cast “for about 6 to 8 weeks.” Treatment for a severe break may include a closed reduction, which sets the bone without surgery, or surgery to hold the bone with screws and plates. “The initial recovery from a wrist fracture can take 3 to 4 months or more,” with physical therapy, and full function can take “anywhere from a few months to a year” to return. The page adds: “Some people have stiffness and pain in their wrist for the rest of their life.”

A hand fracture is a break in one of the five metacarpal bones that connect the wrist to the thumb and fingers. Some hand fractures need a splint or a cast, and some need surgery. A splint covers part of the fingers and both sides of the hand and wrist, and a provider sets how long it is worn; MedlinePlus states: “Usually, it is for about 3 weeks.” It also states that a person “can usually return to work or sports activities about 8 to 12 weeks after the fracture,” as a provider or therapist directs. “Most fractures heal well,” the page says, though after healing the knuckle can look different or the finger can move differently when the hand closes.

When the Loss Lasts

An injury above the wrist can leave a deformity below it. MedlinePlus describes Volkmann contracture as “a deformity of the hand, fingers, and wrist caused by injury to the muscles of the forearm.” A crush injury or fracture of the arm “can lead to swelling that presses on blood vessels and decreases blood flow to the arm,” and “[a] prolonged decrease in blood flow injures the nerves and muscles, causing them to become stiff (scarred) and shortened.” In the severe form, “all muscles in the forearm that both flex and extend the wrist and fingers are involved; this is a severely disabling condition.”

How well a person does “depends on the severity and stage of disease at the time treatment is started.” People with mild contracture “may regain normal function of their arm and hand,” while “[p]eople with a moderate or severe contracture who need major surgery may not regain full function.” The page adds: “Untreated, Volkmann contracture results in partial or complete loss of function of the arm and hand.”

Lasting Loss in a Georgia Injury Claim

In a claim against the person who caused the injury, Michaels v. Kroger Co. quotes the rule of Hunt v. Williams that an injured plaintiff may recover for a decreased capacity to labor as an element of pain and suffering, and also for a decrease in earning capacity when the evidence lets the jury estimate or reasonably infer the money lost. Under the standard described in Michaels v. Kroger Co., 172 Ga. App. 280 (1984), a jury may award damages for diminished earning capacity where the evidence shows that the plaintiff’s capacity to labor and earn money has been permanently impaired, what the plaintiff earned before the injury, and the nature and extent of the disability, without a requirement of continuous employment. Michaels also quoted an earlier decision stating that such an award can rest on evidence of what the plaintiff could do before and after the injury and of the nature and percentage of permanent impairment.

Hand and Wrist Injuries at Work

Georgia’s workers’ compensation law pays for a permanent partial disability by a schedule. The term means “disability partial in character but permanent in quality resulting from loss or loss of use of body members or from the partial loss of use of the employee’s body” (OCGA 34-9-263(a)). Subject to the weekly limits in OCGA 34-9-261, the employer pays “two-thirds of the employee’s average weekly wage for the number of weeks determined by the percentage of bodily loss or loss of use times the maximum weeks” (OCGA 34-9-263(c)). For the arm and hand, the schedule sets these maximums:

  • Arm: 225 weeks
  • Hand: 160 weeks
  • Thumb: 60 weeks
  • Index finger: 40 weeks
  • Middle finger: 35 weeks
  • Ring finger: 30 weeks
  • Little finger: 25 weeks

Ratings of disability or bodily loss “shall be based upon Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, fifth edition, published by the American Medical Association” (OCGA 34-9-263(d)). The scheduled benefit is not payable “so long as the employee is entitled to benefits under Code Section 34-9-261 or 34-9-262” (OCGA 34-9-263(b)(2)).

For example, imagine a worker whose hand is rated at a 20 percent loss of use. The hand’s maximum is 160 weeks, so the schedule yields 32 weeks of benefits at two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, within the weekly limits of OCGA 34-9-261.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the scheduled workers’ compensation benefit depend on lost pay?
The statute makes the benefits payable “without regard to whether the employee has suffered economic loss as a result of the injury, except as herein provided” (OCGA 34-9-263(b)(1)).

What if both hands are lost?
Under OCGA 34-9-263(e), “[l]oss of both arms, hands, legs, or feet, or any two or more of these members,” among other losses, “shall create a rebuttable presumption of permanent total disability compensable as provided in Code Section 34-9-261.”

Can a wrist injury lead to carpal tunnel syndrome?
MedlinePlus lists a wrist injury that causes swelling, such as a sprain or broken bone, among the things that can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, in which the median nerve is squeezed at the wrist. That nerve gives feeling to the thumb and first three fingers and helps move the thumb.

Which symptoms after an arm or wrist injury call for prompt medical contact?
MedlinePlus advises contacting a provider right away after an elbow or forearm injury followed by swelling, numbness, and pain that keeps getting worse. For a wrist fracture in a cast or splint, it advises seeing a provider for numbness, tingling, or coldness in the hand, fingers that look dark, or fingers that cannot move because of swelling or pain.

  • MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, “Colles wrist fracture: aftercare” (review date June 4, 2025)
  • MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, “Hand fracture: aftercare” (review date June 27, 2026)
  • MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, “Volkmann contracture” (review date Aug. 27, 2024)
  • MedlinePlus, “Hand Injuries and Disorders”; MedlinePlus, “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”
  • Michaels v. Kroger Co., 172 Ga. App. 280 (1984); Hunt v. Williams, 104 Ga. App. 442 (as quoted in Michaels v. Kroger Co.)
  • OCGA 34-9-263(a), (b), (c), (d), (e); OCGA 34-9-261

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about hand and wrist injuries and about the Georgia rules that measure a lasting loss. It is not legal or medical advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The medical descriptions come from general health pages and do not describe any individual injury or recovery. Anyone with a hand or wrist injury should seek medical care and consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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