You’ve probably bent over and picked something up a hundred times today without a second thought. At work, this simple, repetitive motion is one of the most common causes of serious, career-altering injuries. For employees across Texas, from warehouse and construction workers to nurses and delivery drivers, the risk is a daily reality.
When these preventable injuries occur, and your employer does not carry workers’ compensation insurance, the path to recovery becomes legally complex. Understanding both modern prevention and your rights is critical. This is where the guidance of an experienced Texas work injury lawyer becomes invaluable, especially for employees of non-subscribing companies.
At Armstrong Personal Injury Law, Warren Armstrong focuses on representing injured workers whose employers have opted out of the state’s workers’ compensation system. The firm understands that while technological prevention is the ultimate goal, knowing your legal options after a bending or lifting injury is equally important for protection and recovery.
The Pervasive Problem Exosuits Aim to Solve
This 2026 article from Inc. highlights a startling fact from HeroWear, a company producing wearable exosuits: about a third of the U.S. workforce bends and lifts for a living. The core problem is as ancient as it is simple. As HeroWear’s CEO Mark Harris notes, “we still lift stuff the same way as the Egyptians did when they built the pyramids.” This manual labor, repeated over hours, days, and years, inflicts cumulative “microdamage” on the body, particularly the lower back.
The human spine is not optimally designed for the repetitive stress of industrial lifting. When a heavy object slips or a lift is performed with even minor imperfections in form—a near certainty over a long shift—the result can be severe muscle strains, ligament tears, or herniated discs. For businesses, this isn't just a human cost; it’s a massive financial burden.
These injuries lead to lost productivity, high insurance costs, and, as noted in the article, extremely high turnover rates in manual labor jobs—sometimes between 50% and 150% annually. The problem employers are turning to new technology to solve is twofold: protecting the physical health of their workforce and protecting their bottom line from the immense cost of preventable injuries.
How Exosuit Technology Works to Prevent Injury
The technological solution profiled in the article is not a machine that does the work for the employee, but a wearable device that augments and supports the human body. HeroWear’s exosuit is a 2.5-pound device that workers wear like a minimalist backpack. It has straps over the shoulders and tension straps that extend down to leg loops.
The science behind it is elegant in its simplicity. During a lift, the suit engages, transferring a significant portion of the load from the wearer’s vulnerable lower back and spreading it more evenly across the stronger core and leg muscles. Harris states that the suit is designed to take about 40% of the load off the back. Crucially, research indicates that reducing the load on the back by just 10-20% can reduce the microdamage that leads to injury by over 80%.
The reported results from companies using this technology are striking. The Inc. article shares client data showing a 100% reduction in back injuries in some cases, with one client reaching 750 days back injury-free. By preventing the injury before it happens, the technology addresses the root cause. The knock-on benefits are substantial: fewer workers on medical leave, lower insurance premiums, and, as pitched to clients, happier and healthier workers who are more likely to stay in their jobs. This represents a proactive, engineering-based approach to safety that moves far beyond basic training posters.
Common Injuries from Bending and Lifting
When prevention measures—whether technological, training-based, or ergonomic—fail or are absent entirely, the consequences can be severe and long-lasting. The injuries sustained are often not simple sprains that heal in a week. They can involve significant damage to the spine and supporting structures.
- Herniated or bulging discs. This is one of the most frequent and serious outcomes. The soft discs between the vertebrae of the spine can rupture or bulge from pressure, often pinching nerves. This can cause debilitating back pain, as well as shooting pain, numbness, or weakness that radiates down the legs (sciatica).
- Muscle and ligament strains. The muscles of the lower back (erector spinae) and the ligaments that support the spine can be overstretched or torn during a lift. This causes acute pain, stiffness, and muscle spasms that can limit mobility.
- Spinal fractures. In severe cases, particularly from a fall while carrying a load or from chronic strain on weakened bones, the vertebrae themselves can sustain compression fractures. These are extremely painful and can lead to permanent structural changes in the spine.
- Shoulder injuries (rotator cuff tears). The force of lifting and carrying heavy objects places immense stress on the shoulder joint. This can lead to tears in the rotator cuff tendons, resulting in pain, weakness, and a severe loss of range of motion.
- Knee injuries. The knees act as primary stabilizers during lifting. Twisting with a load or lifting from a deep squat can tear the meniscus or damage the ligaments of the knee, such as the ACL or MCL.
The medical journey for these injuries can involve extensive physical therapy, costly imaging like MRIs, injections for pain management, and sometimes surgery. The recovery timeline can stretch for months or even years, and some individuals may never fully return to their pre-injury capacity, impacting their ability to earn a living.
Your Rights After an Injury at a Non-Subscribing Company in Texas
In Texas, private employers have the unique option to forego carrying traditional workers’ compensation insurance. These “non-subscribers” operate outside the state’s administrative system. If you are injured while bending or lifting for such an employer, you cannot file a standard workers’ comp claim. Instead, your ability to seek compensation hinges on proving, under Texas negligence law, that your employer’s lack of care directly caused your injury.
This means you must establish that your employer failed to provide a reasonably safe workplace. In the context of bending and lifting injuries, evidence of negligence could include:
- Failure to provide adequate safety equipment or technology. This could mean not providing available assistive devices like lift tables, hoists, or, as highlighted in the modern context, exosuit technology to reduce strain.
- Failure to properly train employees on safe manual handling techniques.
- Requiring employees to lift objects that are clearly too heavy or awkwardly shaped without assistance.
- Ignoring known ergonomic hazards or employee complaints about unsafe tasks.
Successfully navigating this type of claim requires a meticulous approach to evidence. This underscores why consulting with a knowledgeable Texas work injury lawyer is a critical step. Warren Armstrong has extensive experience building these cases, where the focus is on demonstrating employer fault for failing to provide a safe work environment.
Critical Steps to Take If You Are Injured
The actions you take immediately following a work-related bending or lifting injury can significantly impact both your health and any potential legal claim. It is important to proceed carefully and deliberately.
- Seek medical attention immediately. Your health is the priority. Even if the pain seems manageable, some injuries, like disc herniations, can worsen. A prompt medical evaluation creates an essential record linking your injury directly to the workplace incident. Describe exactly how the injury happened during your work duties. Follow all treatment plans and keep detailed records.
- Report the injury formally and in writing. Notify your supervisor as soon as possible, ideally on the same day. Provide your own written notice and keep a copy. Your note should state the date, time, location, how the injury occurred, and the nature of your injury.
- Document everything. Start a file. Include your written injury report, copies of all medical paperwork, receipts for expenses, and a diary noting your pain levels and limitations. If possible, take photos of the area where you were injured and the object you were handling.
- Be cautious with communications. Do not give recorded statements to your employer’s insurance adjuster without legal advice. Be very mindful of what you post on social media, as insurers will look for any content they can use to argue your injuries are not as severe as you claim.
- Understand your employer’s injury benefit plan. Non-subscribing employers typically have a private occupational injury benefit plan. Obtain a copy. These plans often have strict deadlines and the benefits are usually less comprehensive than workers’ comp. It is crucial to understand that accepting benefits from this plan may impact your right to pursue a separate negligence lawsuit. This is a complex decision where the counsel of a Texas work injury lawyer is essential.
Why Legal Guidance is Essential in Non-Subscriber Injury Claims
Pursuing a claim against a non-subscribing employer is fundamentally different from a workers’ compensation case. You are not filing for benefits from a state-regulated insurance pool; you are filing a lawsuit alleging that your employer’s negligence caused you harm. The stakes are higher, and the process is adversarial.
An experienced lawyer like Warren Armstrong investigates to build a compelling case for negligence. This involves gathering evidence such as workplace safety records, training manuals, witness statements, and documentation of what safety equipment was or was not provided. He works with medical experts to clearly establish the cause and extent of your injuries, and with economic experts to calculate the full value of your damages—not just current medical bills, but future care, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
Perhaps most importantly, a skilled Texas work injury lawyer handles all negotiations with the employer and their insurance carrier. These entities are motivated to settle claims quickly and for as little as possible. Having an advocate who understands the true long-term cost of a serious back or shoulder injury ensures you are not pressured into accepting a settlement that fails to cover your future needs.
Modern technology like exosuits represents a promising frontier in preventing the immense physical and financial toll of lifting injuries. When prevention falls short or is not implemented, and an injury occurs at a company that does not carry workers’ compensation, the legal path is fraught with complexity. Protecting your health and your rights demands prompt medical care, thorough documentation, and informed legal strategy. For injured employees navigating this difficult landscape in Texas, seeking the guidance of a dedicated Texas work injury lawyer like Warren Armstrong at Armstrong Personal Injury Law can provide the clarity and advocacy necessary to pursue a fair recovery.
