Types of Back Injuries Sustained in a Car Accident

While over the years there have been significant safety developments in cars and on the highways, accidents are still happening, and people are still getting injured. Because of the thrashing motion that happens in most collisions, back injuries in car accidents are a frequent problem.

To get back to good health, back injuries can be extremely severe and can cause car accident victims to seek lengthy and costly medical care. Complete recovery is not possible in many cases, and patients are left with high medical bills, lost wages, chronic pain, and emotional trauma as a result of the accident and injury.

If you were involved in a Massachusetts car accident that was caused by the fault of someone else, you should not have to deal with these costs on your own. It should be appropriate for the individual or company who was responsible for causing your back injury to reimburse you for your damages.

Back injuries can be mild or severe, requiring you to undergo costly and lengthy medical treatment to return back to your original state. Sometimes the pain never really disappears completely, and for the rest of your life, you are left to live with the pain, and with the expenditures. Your accident’s seriousness depends on the type of injury.

There are several muscles, ligaments, tendons, and discs that can all result in damage to your back, not to forget the spinal column that supports the nerves in the spinal cord that passes through it.

Following a car crash, any form of back pain, discomfort or irregular symptoms should be treated seriously. Often, for several hours after the accident or the next day, injury symptoms cannot occur. Do not neglect minor back pain or believe that it can heal on its own. Consult a doctor for a full checkup.

Following are common signs and symptoms that arise after a car accident:

• General Pain in the body
• Pain from buttocks to your legs
• Tingling in arms, hands, legs, or feet
• Body stiffness
• Walking and standing difficulties
• Muscle spasms

There are many forms of back injuries that you can encounter during a car accident, and we will talk about some of the more common ones in the article below.

Among the most common injuries caused by a car accident is whiplash. It happens when the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the neck are suddenly jerked backward and forward by the head and neck and tearing. Although the cervical spine is mainly affected by pain and symptoms, whiplash can cause permanent back pain. Whiplash is frequently misdiagnosed as a severe disorder or not treated, which raises the risk of long-term neck and back injuries.

A pinched nerve or bulging disc is more generally known as a herniated disc. In the collar, upper, or lower spine, a herniated disc may occur. However, the lower back is the most common location for a herniated disc injury, as the lower back carries the majority of regular torque and force. Surgery can be considered to treat a herniated disc. The most common spine surgery used to relieve herniated disc pain is microdiscectomy. Microdiscectomy is a procedure where the herniated part of the disc is removed.

Disc pain is often mistaken for nerve pain. A nerve is often pinched by surrounding structures such as a disc, thereby causing similar pain and symptoms related to a herniated disc. The distinction between a herniated disc and a pinched nerve is that pain may be exuded to other areas of your body by an injured nerve. For instance, lower back pain can radiate pain in your leg, or pain in your neck can radiate pain in your arm.

A common cause of fractured vertebrae, particularly in older adults, is extreme and rapid impact. Accidents that cause a vertebra injury are commonly car accidents or slip and fall accidents. Fractured vertebra pain can last for weeks, and the pain often persists for several months. Some victims of injuries also experience discomfort long after the vertebra has healed due to stiffness or a change in back mechanics.

Treatment is usually non-surgical for a broken or fractured vertebra. For local pain relief, a doctor typically prescribes pain killers and recommends using heat and ice. There are two procedures doctors recommend for healing if surgery is necessary: vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. Vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive operation that is intended to strengthen the bone to reduce or remove the pain. The surgeon will inject low viscosity cement into the broken vertebral body during this operation to stabilize and cure the fracture. Kyphoplasty is also a minimally invasive treatment. Kyphoplasty aims to minimize pain, stabilize the bone, and regain the lost height of the vertebral body.

Back strains, such as lumbar or thoracic strains, occur when, due to gravity, pressure, or effect that causes them to stretch unnaturally, soft tissues are affected. The fibrous tissue in the back, such as the tendons connecting muscles to bones, is affected by lumbar strains. Problems with pain and mobility are normal and can be very persistent following a lumbar strain.Sprains cause damage to the soft tissues of the back. Typically, ligaments rather than muscles or tendons are affected in this case. Ligaments are also a type of soft fibrous tissue, and instead of linking bone to muscle, this tissue links bones to joints or links bones to each other.

In the bones of the spine, compression fractures refer to tiny breaks or cracks. A very severe back injury that results in breathing problems and constant pain may be compression fractures. Permanent damage to the spine, in some cases, results from compression fractures.

Most back injuries need multiple services for the care and lengthy periods of recovery. During this time, because of physical disabilities and emotional distress from the accident, you can feel a lot of resentment, frustration, anxiety, or depression.

You must first seek medical attention right away if you were in a car accident and sustained a back injury. Many times, people who are involved in a car accident and experience back pain do not necessarily seek medical attention. This may have a detrimental effect on a future application for personal injury. If you have felt back pain, but have declined to go to the emergency room or see a doctor immediately after the accident, and then find out that the back injury is even more serious than you first believed, an insurance provider will use your hesitation or refusal to go to the hospital as an excuse to minimize your injury or argue that somewhere else and someone else might have caused the back injury. These are common reasons insurance companies deny claims.

Similarly, you can see a doctor right away if you were in a car accident and injure your back. This will record the fact that on the same day the accident took place, you injured your back and will document how, where, and why the accident took place.

It is necessary to get legal advice after getting medical assistance. It is necessary to seek legal advice because, in some cases, it can be difficult to link your back injury to your accident. It may have a negative effect on a personal injury claim if an accident victim states an insurance provider without first consulting with an attorney. Insurance firms hire adjusters who are qualified to accept statements from victims of injuries. Part of their preparation is to ask such questions about illegal responses that could cause a liability problem that may lead to the dismissal of a claim for injuries.

Insurance providers will most frequently argue that the back injury is due to degenerative conditions or prior accidents and not caused by the car crash. Whilst it is true that back injuries are often caused by wear and tear, these injuries may also be caused by the effects of a severe car crash which the insurance companies will try to ignore. For these purposes, before you talk to the insurance provider or provide them with medical records or an order to release your medical records, it is important to consult with an experienced lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases.

In several different forms of car accidents, back injuries occur, but they are particularly common in rear-end and head-on collisions where the body is thrown forward or backward, or in side-impact crashes where the body absorbs the accident force due to the limited side-impact safety of the vehicle. This can also lead to severe back injuries when a car accident victim is thrown from the vehicle, especially if the victim lands on his or her back.

It is crucial to seek immediate medical attention after any form of a car accident to get your back injuries properly assessed. After a car crash, some soft tissue injuries in the back do not turn up until about 48 hours. To locate any injuries and start recovery, it is crucial to get a full medical exam as soon as possible after a car accident.

It is crucial to correctly treat back injuries to control pain and ensure the best possible recovery.

Back injury treatments may include:

• Surgical intervention
• Physical therapy
• Chiropractic care
• Prescription pain medications
• Steroids
• Casts to allow broken bones to heal and set

Those responsible for causing the injury should be able to pay the entire cost of back injuries caused by car accidents. This is regardless of the particular kinds of treatments you require. Not only should all medical treatments be protected, but you might even be entitled to pay extra charges for adaptive medical equipment, home nursing services, and even transportation to and from the doctor’s office.

• You may be able to recover lost income if your back injury forced you to miss work, if you were never able to work again because of your injuries, or if because of the injuries you had to move to a lower-paying position.
• The back injury causes pain and suffering.
• Emotional distress arising from the accident and/or from the accident.

Unfortunately, for many individuals, back injuries cause long-term complications. You can need to miss work following a car accident and change your daily activities due to injury. You will need assistance driving, running errands, and managing personal care activities if you have significant pain walking and standing. Caring for and treating back injuries will place immense physical, emotional, and economic strains in your life.

Acute back injuries can lead to chronic back pain and disability down the road. Chronic pain will cause you to give up doing things you enjoy, and your ability to focus and perform well at work can be impaired. Due to the challenges involved, back pain can cause you to feel uninterested in or self-conscious about socializing in public. Chronic pain can be extremely isolating, resulting in many individuals experiencing depression or anxiety.

You suffered a back injury after having been involved in a car accident and have no idea about what to do next or do not understand your legal rights. We can tell you: it’s safest to hire our personal injury lawyer at The Law Office of Matthew M. Foti than to go it alone. Our attorneys have years of experience standing up for back injury victims, and a proven track record of success in winning compensation for those injured in accidents.

Take the time to know more about our Law Office to learn how our Office remains one of Massachusetts’ best auto accident law firms to deal with back injuries and other cases of personal injury.