Every time you get behind the wheel, you become a potential victim of a negligent driver. No matter how careful you are or how many precautions you take, sometimes you cannot avoid all common car accidents. Some of the most common injuries in car accidents, even a minor fender bender, can lead to serious physical injury. An internal injury, soft tissue injury, or a possible traumatic brain injury (brain damage) could be life-threatening from seemingly innocuous injuries from a car crash. Car accidents are generally responsible for more serious injuries per year than any other incident.
Additionally, car crashes also result in billions of dollars of property damage every year, which is beyond the resources required for medical bills and medical treatment stemming from the car crash. Add to that the pain and suffering car accident victims and their loved ones endure. We can see how having an experienced personal injury attorney review your automobile accident case can be of huge benefit.
Read further to learn more about the most common car accident injuries.
Head Injuries and Concussions
Head injuries are some of the most severe injuries that drivers and passengers suffer from a car accident. These can result in traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and can negatively impact your life. When an individual is involved in a high-speed wreck, it is common for the head to come into contact with the window, steering wheel, or even the dashboard. Such an impact can cause severe head and brain injuries, including contusions, concussions, fractures, and swelling, as well as traumatic brain injury, sometimes of which it can be difficult to detect the symptoms.
Another danger with TBI or head trauma resulting in tissue damage is that, unlike scrapes, cuts, contusions, and lacerations, you cannot see the injury on the surface of the skin. This makes vehicle collisions where one of the most common injuries, a head injury, occurs.
Back Injuries
Back injuries are among the most common injuries in car accidents and an injury that results in ongoing medical care from a motor vehicle accident. If the damage is severe enough, a victim might experience nerve damage, limited mobility, or even permanent paralysis. Herniated discs, fractures, or other internal injuries can all stem from an auto accident. When spinal cord injuries are involved, you must also be concerned with breathing or other autonomic system functions that can be disrupted and cause internal organ damage or even wrongful death.
Back pain from vehicle crashes can cause lifelong back pain and require ongoing medical treatment and physical therapy to regain even a small part of the quality of life you once enjoyed.
Neck Injuries
Whiplash occurs when there is an uncontrolled and sudden movement of the head and neck that results in damage to the neck muscles and ligaments (soft tissue injuries). The severity of the injury often depends on the individual and the force of the impact. People that are involved in rear-end collisions often suffer from whiplash and have wildly varying levels of neck pain associated with whiplash injuries. Neck injuries almost always require great care on the part of the car accident victim, in part because any sudden movement of the neck while it is healing, can cause further damage to muscles and ligaments and set back the healing process, which can result in life-long physical injuries.
Chest Injuries
Striking the steering wheel or dashboard with your chest might cause you to experience injuries such as broken ribs or damage to the lungs and other organs, or when the seatbelt holding you back can injure your chest during the sudden deceleration. When an airbag deploys at the high speeds they are designed to, it can cause broken ribs, broken noses, contusions, and more, as well as lacerations from broken glass.
When a person suffers these types of injuries, internal bleeding is common, and it requires medical attention as soon as possible after the accident.
Burn Injuries
Sustaining burn injuries from an auto accident can be particularly terrible, as it results in both physical injuries as well as psychological injury from the possible disfigurement caused by the burn. Ongoing medical care to provide the proper medical treatment for burn victims becomes part of everyday life and the risk of infection and additional soft tissue injuries.
Broken Bones
Broken bones and the medical care and impact on your life can sometimes be dramatic. Most common are broken ribs; however, broken arms, legs, as well as sprains can all be common car accident injuries. There are times when you may not even realize that you’ve sustained a fracture during the car crash, as well as other serious injuries such as a concussion.
Internal Bleeding
When you have suffered an injury due to an accident, internal bleeding could be the most severe injury you experience, even more so than a broken bone. While some internal bleeding may begin to heal without medical attention, many cases require surgery.
In some cases, internal bleeding happens due to obvious injuries, such as a puncture wound. Since these injuries are easily visible, a healthcare professional will typically render aid immediately. However, internal bleeding can also result from less severe or obvious trauma. In these cases, you may not notice the effects for several days.
Blindness
Having your vision ripped away from you prematurely is one of the most devastating injuries someone can sustain from an auto accident. When this happens, the accident victim needs to mourn the loss of their vision and will likely go through all of the stages of grief. The damages they suffer will be life-long and will significantly impact every area of your life.
Compartment Syndrome
A compartment is a space beneath the fascia that contains muscles, blood vessels, and nerves in the arms and legs. When there is bleeding or swelling within the compartment, there isn’t anywhere for it to go because the fascia doesn’t expand. It remains rigid since it is meant to keep these structures in place. As the pressure builds, the blood supply to the nerves and vessels in the compartment decreases. This lack of blood supply means that the muscles and nerves aren’t getting the needed oxygen and nutrients.
This can be extremely painful and can become life-threatening quickly.
Emotional Distress
In addition to other physical injuries, a car accident victim may also experience emotional distress. You may require treatment for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or other mental anguish after a car accident. These psychological injuries are very real and have very real-world consequences.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident due to another driver’s negligence, you might be entitled to compensation for your injuries and property damage. An experienced personal injury attorney in the Kansas City area can help you file a claim so that you get the justice you deserve.
Call the car accident attorneys at Townsend Law, LLC, today for a free consultation. Let our Kansas City car accident lawyers provide a free case evaluation and see what kind of claim you may have. The personal injury lawyers at Townsend Law, LLC have extensive experience working with insurance companies to fight for maximum compensation to cover your medical expenses, physical therapy, pain and suffering, and lost wages associated with your injury claim.
Call the law firm of Townsend Law, LLC today for a free case evaluation.