Car accidents, whether in the front, rear, or left turn accident, can cause a multitude of different types of injuries, including Facet Joint Injuries. It is important for you to understand the different types of injuries that can result in a car accident so that you can understand what you might want to watch for. Some types of car accident injuries are obvious and are immediately noticeable. By contrast, others may be less obvious, and you might not realize that you have been injured for some time after your accident. The car wreck attorneys at The Lovely Law Firm can help get you the money to cover your medical bills.
Effects of a car accident
- Back pain and injuries
- Brain injuries
- Bruises and crush injuries
- Chest injuries
- Fatalities
- Other head injuries
- Knee injuries
- Pregnancy injuries
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Broken bones
- Trauma
- Whiplash
- Getting medical bills paid
- Facet joint injuries
There are several effects of a car accident. Immediately after an accident, your body may respond by sending a rush of adrenaline coursing through your system. This is how your body responds when you are presented with danger. It is your body’s natural fight or flight response, and the adrenaline serves to help you to respond to an imminent danger. When you experience this surge of adrenaline, you might not realize that you have been injured. You might actually believe that you have not been injured because of the adrenaline in your system. When the adrenaline wears off, you may suddenly feel sore and realize that you have been injured. The pain that you experience may become worse before it gets better. In other words, you might not feel too badly immediately after your accident only for your symptoms to grow much worse over the ensuing days or weeks. Because of the nature of how your body responds to accidents, it is crucial for you to seek immediate medical attention after an accident regardless of whether you think that you have been injured.
Back pain and back injuries
Back pain and back injuries are common car accident injuries. Depending on the area of the vehicle that was hit, you might suffer bruising, soft tissue damage, slipped discs, or spinal cord injuries in an accident. The pain that you feel in your back after an accident might range from minor to severe. Severe back injuries may cause chronic pain and may require surgery. For example, if you suffer a slipped disc or a ruptured disc in an accident, you might have to undergo physical therapy, steroid shots, and surgery to repair the slipped or ruptured disc. If you suffer a severe spinal cord injury in a car accident, you may be left with permanent paralysis that can permanently alter the course of your life.
Brain injuries
Brain injuries can be caused in car accidents when you receive a substantial blow to your head that causes your brain to slam back and forth inside of your skull. This kind of injury can include a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion or a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury. Depending on the extent of a TBI, you may suffer symptoms for several months or permanently. Severe traumatic brain injuries can leave people with lifelong disabilities that might necessitate round-the-clock personal care, ongoing rehabilitation, mobility problems, difficulty communicating, and personality changes.
Bruises and crush injuries
Bruises or contusions are very common injuries in car accidents. Parts of your body that are struck by different parts of your vehicle may be bruised. You can also experience crush injuries from your seatbelt across your abdomen and chest. If the roof of your vehicle collapses, you can suffer serious crush injuries that can be fatal. Like the other types of common car accident injuries, bruises and crush injuries can range from minor injuries to incapacitating injuries.
Chest injuries
Injuries to your chest or thoracic region of your body can be serious. These might include fractures to your collar bone or sternum, injuries to your lungs or heart, and fractured vertebrae. Chest injuries often require hospitalization for treatment. You might have a collapsed lung that makes it difficult for you to breathe or other types of thoracic injuries that can endanger your life.
Fatalities
It is an unfortunate fact that many people are killed every year in car accidents. When people die as a result of car accident injuries, their loved ones might be able to recover compensation through wrongful death lawsuits. These lawsuits are filed by the personal representative of the decedent’s estate against the negligent or wrongful party who caused the fatality accident for the benefit of the decedent’s heirs or beneficiaries. Money that is recovered is paid into the estate, from which it will ultimately be distributed to the beneficiaries or heirs.
Other head injuries
In addition to TBIs, other head injuries are also common in car accidents. These might include severe lacerations, bruises, and broken bones. These types of injuries may cause greater injuries in the future if complications arise. People who suffer severe lacerations in car accidents may also be left with scarring that leaves them permanently disfigured.
Headaches are also common in car accidents. They might result from cervical injuries that can lead to chronic headaches. Most headaches from car accidents will resolve after a few weeks or months, but others may be problematic for a longer period of time.
Knee injuries
Knee injuries can also happen in car accidents. Your knees might be injured when you brace against the collision against the dashboard or the back of the seat in front of you. Knee injuries in car accidents may include sprains, strains, or injuries to the joint. Some joint injuries to your knees may cause the onset of arthritis in the joint and ongoing mobility issues.
Pregnancy injuries
Pregnant women can suffer injuries in car accidents that can result in the loss of their pregnancies or that can result in injuries to the unborn babies. Pregnant women may be able to recover compensation when they suffer miscarriages because of their car accident injuries. In some cases, it is possible for an unborn baby to have an injury claim from an accident. This might be possible if the doctor is able to show a relationship between the injuries that the baby has and the car wreck that occurred.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
People might also suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological disorders as a result of being in a car accident. People who are in car accidents might develop PTSD after they witness the serious injuries or deaths of others in the collisions. For example, if a mother sees the death of her child in an accident, it is likely that she might develop PTSD because of what she witnessed. PTSD can be debilitating and can cause nightmares, intense fear, an inability to work, and other problems. Psychological injuries that result from car accidents may be compensable in a personal injury lawsuit.
Broken bones
Broken bones are common in car accidents. You might suffer fractures to many different bones in your body, depending on the point of impact and whether your body contacted different parts of your vehicle. People who are thrown free from vehicles may suffer multiple fractures. Some common fractures that can occur in accidents include the following:
- Skull fractures
- Facial bone fractures
- Fractures to the vertebrae
- Rib fractures
- Collar bone fractures
- Fractures to the arms, legs, hands, and feet
- Pelvic and hip fractures
Fractures can take months to heal, and some types of fractures may never heal to the extent that your function is restored to its prior level.
Trauma
Trauma after car accidents can be as debilitating as physical injuries, akin to conditions like PTSD. If you suffer psychological trauma, you may be entitled to compensation. This type of trauma might manifest as depression, anxiety, fear, or grief. Demonstrating this link can be facilitated through therapy sessions, where a professional can establish a connection between your accident and the psychological distress you've experienced. Some individuals face psychological trauma so severe that it hinders their ability to return to work, making psychological trauma after car accident compensation crucial for their recovery.
Whiplash
Whiplash is one of the most common types of car accident injuries. This type of injury is especially common in rear-end accidents, but it can happen in other types of accidents as well. Whiplash is a soft-tissue injury that happens when the forces of an accident cause your head and neck to be propelled forward suddenly. When the forces subside, your head and neck are then thrown backward violently, causing them to overextend. This can cause damage to the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your shoulders and neck. Whiplash injuries may be minor and resolve after a few weeks. They can also be more severe, causing chronic pain, muscle stiffness, mobility losses, and other symptoms that can last for months or years. If you suffer from whiplash injuries, you might benefit from physical therapy or chiropractic care.
Getting medical bills paid
Your medical bills are recoverable in a car accident claim. You may be able to recover the past medical expenses that you have incurred from the date of your injury up to the date of your trial or settlement. In addition, you may also be able to recover the future expected medical and rehabilitation expenses that are related to your injuries. To determine the likely future costs, you may need to retain a life care planner to perform a future cost estimate and to provide expert testimony or to give an expert opinion about the future potential costs of your medical care.
