ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997              TAG: 9702140008
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-8  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL CORBITT

LIFESTYLE CAN CAUSE MANY AILMENTS

YOUR JAN. 27 Business section article (``Should the state pay for the pain?'') about carpal tunnel syndrome was incomplete. Nowhere was any mention made of the lifestyle activities or hobbies that could have caused the syndrome.

Did Eva Marie Perkins knit as a hobby? Do needlepoint? Play the piano? Spend any time at a personal-computer keyboard?

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in March 1996 that carpal tunnel syndrome is a cumulative trauma injury. It's considered to be an ordinary disease of life often caused by activities outside the workplace.

Several bills have been introduced to the Virginia General Assembly that define hearing loss, along with carpal tunnel syndrome, as diseases under the Worker's Compensation Act. Hearing loss is another ordinary disease that is often the result of lifestyle activities away from the job.

I have permanent hearing loss and nerve damage caused by shooting pistols and other firearms without hearing protection when I was younger. Cutting firewood with a chain saw, operating an unmuffled lawn mower, attending vehicle-racing events and operating loud hand-tools can cause severe hearing damage if proper personal-hearing protection isn't used.

Stand near a stoplight on a winter day, and the sound emitted by the high-powered automotive sound systems preferred by the youth will give you a headache. Imagine how loud the sound is inside that car with the windows rolled up. Many of these youth will suffer pronounced hearing loss, and will probably be wearing hearing aids by age 50.

Workers' Compensation Insurance was designed to cover illnesses and diseases caused by work activities in the workplace. Activities workers engage in on their personal time are not intended to be covered.

I agree that carpal tunnel syndrome and hearing loss should be covered if they are the provable result of on-the-job activities. If there is clear and convincing evidence that work activities caused the problem and absolute medical certainty that such problems arose out of employment, they should be covered. In the absence of such evidence, Workers' Compensation Insurance should have no liability.

Bill Corbitt of Chamblissburg is owner and operator of a small manufacturing business.

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