Car accidents can injure any part of your body, depending on the circumstances of the crash, whether you were belted in, and the safety features of your vehicle. However, certain kinds of injuries happen more frequently in car accidents than others. Below are some of the more common car accident injuries.
Head Injuries
The violent force of an impact in a car accident often causes head injuries. Sometimes the injuries are visible, such as lacerations, bruises, or even a broken skull. But oftentimes head injuries are not visible. When your body suddenly stops moving in a car accident, you brain can get jostled around the skull, causing a traumatic brain injury ranging from a subconcussive blow – repeated subconcussive blows over time can cause permanent brain injury – to a concussion that can lead to permanent damage if not properly treated, to more serious brain injuries such as coma.
Neck Injuries
Just as the head and brain can be injured by the violent force of an impact in a car accident, so too can your neck be injured by a whiplash-effect. The injury may be as minor as neck strain that goes away in a few days or weeks or may be a more serious and long-lasting injury such as bulging discs in your spine or radiculopathy that requires therapy, medication, and sometimes even surgery to treat.
Back Injuries
The whiplash effect of a car accident can also impart significant force on your back, causing injuries that range from a mild strain or sprain, to more serious injuries like damaged disc and radiculopathy, to the most serious injuries like fractures of the vertebrae or damage to the spinal cord itself. Unfortunately, many back injuries don’t begin presenting symptoms until days, weeks, or even months after an accident – this is why parties in a car accident lawsuit often argue whether back injuries were caused by the accident, some other traumatic injury, or a pre- existing degenerative disease.
Arm & Leg Injuries
Arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes can easily be injured in a car accident. Victims’ extremities are often subject to broken bones. But car accident victims can also suffer soft tissue injuries in their arms and legs, including muscle sprains and strains, or ligament and tendon damage to important linkage such as the Achilles tendon, MCL and ACL, or rotator cuff.
Psychological Injuries
Car accidents don’t only cause physical injuries. When victims of car accidents suffer serious injury, or when car accidents involve a fatality, people may suffer psychological injuries such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, or phobias of being in vehicles, driving, going out, or injury or death. These psychological injuries may resolve themselves over time, or the victim may need to seek professional mental health treatment.
Car Accident Injury FAQs
What if I’ve only been in a “minor” accident but feel I’ve suffered serious injury?
Although major accidents often cause major injuries and less severe accident only cause minor injury, if they cause injury at all, there is no definitive correlation between the severity of the accident of the resulting injuries. In some accidents, a vehicle is totaled but the occupants walk away without a scratch. But the reverse is also true – some “fender bender” accidents cause injuries that victims spend the rest of their lives trying to resolve.
I was in a car accident but don’t think I suffered any injury; what should I do?
You may not observe any visible injuries, such as bruises, cuts, or broken bones. But the chaos of a car accident may cause your body to release endorphins, which act as natural painkillers. As a result, you may have suffered internal and soft-tissue injuries that don’t initially cause you any pain. If you’ve been in a car accident, you should follow up with your medical providers as soon as possible after the accident and get examined for any injuries that may cause symptoms later.
Contact a King of Prussia Personal Injury Lawyer to Discuss Your Car Accident Case in Pennsylvania
Did you or a loved one sustain serious injuries due to a motor vehicle accident in Pennsylvania? Don’t let the medical bills pile up while you wait for the negligent party or their insurance company to do the right thing. Right now, you need an aggressive personal injury attorney on your side, fighting to get you the compensation you need, want, and deserve. The skilled attorneys at Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg & Gifford, P.C. represent clients injured because of a car accident in Newtown, Doylestown, Lansdale, Norristown, and throughout Pennsylvania. Call (215) 822-7575 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation about your case. We have an office conveniently located at 2605 N. Broad St., Colmar, PA 18915, as well as an office in Newtown.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.
