Common Types of Car Accident Injuries and Their Legal Implications
Car accidents can cause various injuries depending on where and how the crash occurred. Understanding the common types of injuries and their legal implications is important to receive appropriate medical treatment and compensation for your damages.
Broken bones and soft tissue damage (soft tissue injuries) are two of the most common injuries. Some of these injuries can be serious and long-lasting; others may not even be recognizable right after the accident.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are one of the most devastating types of injury a person can sustain in an accident. Depending on the severity of the injury, an SCI victim may need years of medical treatment and rehabilitation therapy to recover.
Damage to the spinal cord causes a disruption of nerve signals to and from the brain. This can lead to a loss of feeling or motor function in the arms and legs, a condition called paralysis.
An injury to the spinal cord can occur at any level of the spine. However, the higher on the spine a person is injured, the more likely they are to suffer from paralysis.
If you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury due to the negligence of another party, you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Talking with a skilled lawyer like the car accident lawyer in Yuba City about your case is important.
Head Injuries
Car accidents can cause a wide range of injuries to the head and neck. These can include whiplash, which involves stretching muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the neck area.
Whiplash is especially common in rear-end collisions because they throw and jerk the head and neck back and forth. Broken ribs and chest bruising are also common, often in tandem with head injuries like concussions.
The CPSC defines head injuries as anything that affects the brain, skull, or scalp. Some head injuries are closed, meaning they don’t break the skull.
Others are open (penetrating), meaning something breaks your scalp and skull and enters the brain.
A serious head injury, called subarachnoid hemorrhage or intracerebral hematoma, may cause bleeding in the brain or the layers surrounding it. Symptoms can appear immediately after an accident or develop over days or weeks.
Knee Injuries
Car accidents are known for inflicting many injuries on victims, and knee injuries are among the most common. Injuries to the knee can vary from minor, requiring a quick check by a doctor, to serious, needing surgery and physical therapy.
Knee injuries can include sprains, dislocations, fractures, and tears to ligaments or tendons. These types of injuries can result from a single trauma or chronic overuse.
Fractures to the patella or femur are the most common injuries, but other bones can break, too. Symptoms of a knee fracture can include pain, swelling, stiffness, and difficulty extending the knee.
Tears to the meniscus, a piece of cartilage that provides cushioning between the thigh bone and femur, are another type of knee injury. These types of injuries require arthroscopic surgery and other treatments to repair. Depending on the severity of the tear, recovery can take eight weeks or longer. Treatments can help restore mobility and reduce the risk of future injury.
Soft Tissue Injuries
Many accidents cause damage to soft tissues, which include muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The body relies on these tissues for strength, stability, and joint function.
When these tissues are injured, it can cause pain and discomfort, as well as diminished mobility and range of motion. In some cases, these injuries can also lead to permanent disability or amputation of the affected tissue.
In addition, damage to these tissues can cause scarring or disfigurement. Victims of these injuries may require ongoing medical care and treatment for the rest of their lives.
You may be entitled to compensation if you have suffered a soft tissue injury due to someone else’s negligence. This can help you cover costs related to your accident, such as medical expenses and lost income.
