Types of Injuries from Car Accidents

Car crash injuries can take both a physical and psychological toll on anyone involved in a motor vehicle accident. A successful recovery and avoiding a lifetime of pain and disability depends on prompt detection, diagnosis and treatment.

In addition, how quickly you report your injuries to your insurance company is critical to ensure you receive all the benefits you are entitled to. With the challenges of today’s laws and dramatically different statutes of limitations in each state, attorneys are truly racing against the clock to protect their clients. With that in mind, it’s critical to ensure that you’re receiving complete and appropriate medical care for all of your injuries. That starts by understanding what kind of injuries may occur in someone involved in a crash with a car or truck.

Read on to learn the most common types of injuries that people suffer from a car accident.

Headaches

A constant headache after a car accident can be painful and debilitating. They can frequently also be a symptom of another injury, such as a traumatic brain injury or concussion. Timely medical attention and early documentation is crucial.

Common causes include:

Trauma that consists of the victim striking his or her head on the steering wheel, the dashboard, a window or any solid, immovable object.
Pinching of nerves in the spine and at the base of the skull.
Muscle injuries (including tears, strains and spasms) in the neck and upper back.
Fracture of the spine and/or skull.
Disc herniations or bulges of the spine.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Many people suffer TBI after a car accident. According to the CDC, car crashes were the second leading cause of traumatic brain injury-related hospitalizations and deaths.

These brain injuries are difficult to diagnose because survivors can appear “normal” and TBIs don’t appear on MRIs and CT-scans.

Frequently, a car accident brain injury is caused when a person’s head strikes a steering wheel, window, dashboard or some other solid object during a crash.

But a person’s brain can be injured even if there is no direct blow or jolt to the head.

The force created by the sudden impact of a motor vehicle crash causes a person’s head to violently whip backward and then forward, which results in the person’s brain crashing first against the front interior of the skull and then against the back interior of the skull. This can result in a contusion (bruising) or a brain hemorrhage (bleeding from the brain within the skull).

There are numerous symptoms associated with a brain injury that may be as severe as a loss of consciousness to something as mild as a change in mood.

Back Injuries

Back pain, or back injury after any trauma, should be taken seriously. If it is not properly diagnosed and treated, the result may be long term chronic pain.

Types of back injuries include:

Lumbar sprains and strains
Back fractures (lumbar and thoracic vertebral fractures)
Spinal cord injuries to the back
Herniated discs (lumbar or thoracic)
Protruding, ruptured, or bulging cervical discs
Spinal stenosis
Bone alignment problems
Soft tissue damage

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD after a car accident is extremely common. Not only are car crashes one of the causes of post-traumatic stress disorder, but according to a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study, 39.2% of motor vehicle accident survivors develop PTSD.

Given how common post-traumatic stress disorder occurs in crash survivors and the life-altering effects that this disorder can have, it’s imperative that people understand what it is, what its symptoms are and what their treatment options are.

Symptoms of PTSD vary but the majority of injured people have flashbacks or nightmares about the accident and avoid driving or even riding in a car.

Neck Injuries

Rear-end collisions are a major cause of whiplash, neck pain and a neck injury after a car accident. The force of the accident causes a driver’s or passenger’s head to be thrown forward and backward. This rapid back-and-forth whip-like movement frequently results in serious neck injuries, including damage to the bones of the spine, cervical disc injury and tears, sprains and strains of the ligaments, muscles, nerves and other tissues of the neck.

Types of neck injuries also include:

Protruding, ruptured, or bulging cervical discs
Spinal cord injuries to the neck
Whiplash or soft tissue neck injuries
Neck sprains and strains
Stenosis of the cervical spine

The Risk of Delayed Injuries

Delayed car accident injuries can have symptoms that are not initially identified or treated in an emergency room. Days and even weeks can pass before they are diagnosed and documented in medical records.

When delayed injury symptoms remain untreated by doctors and hospitals, it can put accident victims at a distinct disadvantage for getting the medical care they need, a fair and full legal settlement, and – depending on how long the injuries go without documentation – obtaining benefits from the insurance company.

Lags in diagnosis and treatment can also shortchange your car accident settlement by thousands or tens of thousands of dollars as the defense attorneys and claims adjusters argue about a ‘gap of time’ and causal relationship to an accident in regards to delayed car accident injuries.

Some examples of delayed injuries include:

Herniated spinal disc
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Concussion
Neck injuries
Back pain
Emotional injuries
Headache
Depression

Too often, doctors focus only on the physical injuries and do not ask important follow-up questions as late appearing injury symptoms occur. Emergency rooms and acute care centers are especially well known for missing injuries. In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, researchers examined TBI-related emergency room records from 2009–2010 and concluded that 56% of patients who had a mild TBI were not diagnosed during their emergency room visit.

Conclusion

The best way to handle car accident injuries is to inform your doctor and auto insurance company of all of your injuries as soon as possible – even if you believe they are minor and they will likely go away in time. This includes both physical as well as psychological injuries - even if they are sporadic. Some injuries can easily get worse over time.

Not properly documenting the areas of your body where you feel any pain after an accident, even if late appearing symptoms occur, can result in an insurance company denying your claims and refusing to pay for it later on. This can prevent you from getting vital medical care and benefits if your injuries become worse.

You should contact a personal injury lawyer after a car accident if: (1) a family member or loved one has been killed; (2) you are not getting the medical care you need; (4) you are not being reimbursed for your lost wages; (5) the insurance company denied your claim and/or has cut off your benefits; or (6) the auto insurance company is not treating you fairly or honestly.