Dealing with a back injury from a car accident can be costly. In most cases, these injuries have lasting implications and typically leave victims with lifelong injuries that are painful and cause a lot of suffering. If you’ve been injured in a crash, a car wreck attorney in Los Angeles can help you recover compensation for your damages.
Now, here is a look at six of the most common back injuries people suffer after being involved in a car accident.
1. Whiplash
Whiplash is a typical car accident injury that often leads to ligament, tissue, and muscle damage in the neck area. Whiplash is quite common in rear-end collisions since the neck and head are propelled forward while the body remains still, causing the neck and head to come to an abrupt stop.
It can take several hours or a few days before the victim notices whiplash-related symptoms, including blurred vision, fatigue, dizziness, stiffness, or pain. It’s worth noting that whiplash injuries vary in severity from mild to severe and generally require physical therapy to heal completely.
2. Spinal Fractures
These fractures are often suffered in accidents where a vehicle’s seat belt doesn’t hold the victim’s body in place properly. In most cases, the victim’s lower half remains still while their head and torso get jostled around – it’s this jostling around that results in spinal fractures.
A compression fracture is a common spinal fracture many people suffer. These injuries occur when the victim experiences a small fissure or crack along their vertebrae. The fractures typically cause pain or other related symptoms around the affected area. In most cases, victims experience pain when breathing and when walking or sitting down. The injury can also lead to muscle weakness, bladder issues, and numbness.
Fractures of the spine are treated differently depending on how severe they are – some can heal with rest and immobilization while others require surgery.
3. Herniated Discs
The discs that cushion the vertebrae in the spine may be subjected to substantial force during an accident, causing the discs to shift. When that happens, the nerves get compressed, leading to numbness and pain. This type of injury is called a herniated disc – it can also be referred to as a slipped, bulging, or ruptured disc.
Herniated discs are generally treated using non-invasive, conservative methods. In most cases, doctors focus on physical therapy and pain relief to treat the issue. However, there are cases where the victim will have to undergo surgery to treat the injury – this is often the case in instances where the damage is quite severe and is affecting other vital structures in the victim’s body.
4. Spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis occurs when stress fractures force vertebrae in the spine to move out of place. This condition compresses the spinal canal or nerves and may cause the victim to experience weakness, difficulty in walking, pain, and numbness.
Treatment for spondylolisthesis is generally determined by the displaced vertebrae’s location and severity of the displacement. Physical therapy is one option, as is surgery.
5. Spinal Stenosis
While this back injury isn’t typically caused by car accidents directly, a crash can cause people with asymptomatic spinal stenosis to start experiencing its symptoms.
If you’re experiencing vertebral height degeneration and your spinal canal’s narrowing due to age, trauma could cause you to start experiencing spinal stenosis symptoms earlier than you naturally would. Spinal specialists can determine if the accident you were involved in is responsible for causing your spinal stenosis symptoms to accelerate and can help determine which treatment option will work best for your condition.
6. Spinal Cord Injuries
What many people don’t know is that even a low-speed auto collision has the potential to damage the spinal cord – the force of the impact could lead to the spine getting severed, cut, or bruised. When the spinal cord gets severed or lacerated, this could cause permanent paralysis.
Getting Compensated for Your Back Injury from a Car Accident
When you have a back injury, it becomes hard to perform your daily activities – as such, getting back to work might take a while. At the same time, most injuries cause severe pain and often require extensive and costly medical care. And apart from impacting your finances, they will also affect your quality of life.
As a victim, you can recover compensation for injuries suffered and your expenses by filing a personal injury lawsuit or insurance claim. However, to have an easier time navigating through the claims process, you should consult a personal injury attorney for legal counsel and representation. Your attorney will review your situation and gather the evidence required to support your case to ensure you get the compensation that you rightly deserve for your pain and suffering.
Need Help? Get in Touch with Our Attorneys for Assistance!
If you’ve suffered a devastating back injury from a car accident, let a personal injury lawyer from McDonald Worley review your situation and advise you on the best course of action to pursue as you seek compensation for your injuries.
The attorneys at McDonald Worley are here to protect your rights and ensure you get what you deserve. Therefore, if you got injured in an accident caused by the negligent actions of another person, we are here for you and will do our best to make sure you recover compensation for your pain, lost wages, medical bills, and suffering.
For legal counsel and assistance, call our personal injury law firm in Los Angeles, California today, and schedule a no-obligation, free-of-charge consultation with one of our skilled auto collision attorneys. At McDonald Worley, we work on a contingency fee basis – that means we only get paid if we win the case and recover compensation for you.