Your Car Accident Injury

Your spine and connecting muscles are vulnerable to injury in a car accident. Afterwards, pain can exist in the upper, middle and lower back. Back injuries can be aggravating, debilitating, painful and long-lasting.

The lower back is the most prone to injury as it is highly flexible and already subject to stress due to being the primary load-bearer of your torso. The bones and ligaments of the spine can be damaged, as can the muscles and tendons which support your back. The nerves at the base of the spine can also be harmed, as can internal organs.

As sufferers of back pain know, the condition can range from mild discomfort to agony. Generally speaking, acute back pain is intense and lasts from a few days to a few weeks. Chronic back pain is less severe, but also persists for a long period of time and may re-occur frequently. Though acute or severe back pain improves over time, chronic back pain can get progressively worse. It’s a painful and frustrating reality for victims of back-related injuries.

The spinal column runs through and supports the back. Under normal function, your body freely sends nerve signals between the brain and the limbs and all of this passes through your spinal cord. An injured back can disrupt this flow. At the same time, nerve signals transmit pain and other sensations between your limbs and brain. The impact of a car accident can push the vertebrae — which support and protect the spinal column — out of place. Without question, the back is a complex part of the body. Consequently, there are many types of back injuries. Vertebrae are separated by discs (acting as shock absorbers) and are held together by muscles and tendons, all of which are linked from the base of the head (the cranium) down to the coccyx or tailbone. If these bones or tissues are forced out of place, pain is brought on when they rub against one another and/or when the nerves that enter the spinal column are compressed.

Lower back pain is disruptive to a person’s work, home-life and recreational activities. Back pain is the most common neurological condition that people suffer, other than headaches. The circumstances of a car accident aside, adults are more likely to experience back pain than children, simply due to age-related degeneration of the spine.

Chronic back pain may be a result of strained muscles, nerve root or tissue damage, or injury to any of the bones, discs, ligaments and joints that make up your back. Sufferers of chronic back pain can have one or more of a variety of conditions, for example: a herniated disk - whereby a disc of the spine bulges, ruptures or perhaps even breaks off and puts pressure on nearby nerves; fibromyalgia — when a person is subjected to ongoing aches, tenderness and stiffness; and sciatica — pain in the legs brought on by pressure on the nerves of the lower back.

Additionally, back injuries can lead to conditions that weaken the body over time, such as osteoporosis, which impacts the bones, or osteoarthritis, which breaks down the cartilage around the joints. Cartilage is material that acts as a cushion between your bones. If cartilage breaks down, bones rub against one another. This is painful and also impairs your ability to move.

Given that your brain controls your behaviour, thoughts and movements, an injury to your brain can be harmful to a myriad of aspects of your physical and mental health.

Brain injuries are common in collisions involving cars, motorcycles and bikes. The damage can range from a mild concussion to a devastating traumatic brain injury (TBI), the results of which can range from a simple headache to permanent cognitive impairment or even death.

Even minor injuries to the brain can result in long-term problems. Brain injuries are complex and therefore require specialized medical attention. These complex and serious injuries also require experienced legal expertise.

TBI refers to physical trauma caused to the brain. Damage can exist in just one specific area of brain function but more frequently, the injury will affect several aspects of brain function. Concussions are the most common but least severe form of TBI. They are often referred to as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI), which can still be very serious and must be understood and treated. A concussion usually involves a brief loss of consciousness, after which physical evidence of damage is not detected in a medical scan. A person suffering a concussion often experiences confusion and memory loss. Other effects include dizziness, blurred vision, mood changes, headaches, vomiting, convulsions, slurred speech and numbness or weakness in the arms and legs.

In general, a TBI is caused by a sudden violent blow to the head that sets the brain colliding into other parts of the inner skull. If there is a penetrating injury, most of the damage will exist where the impact occurred though the effects can also be seen on the opposite side of the brain. After a penetrating skull fracture, fragments of bone can enter the tissue of the brain and cause bruising. This puts pressure on the brain and can impair vital functions.

Bruising and swelling in the brain can be of critical concern. Swelling within the confined space of the skull is particularly serious due to the lack of room for expansion. This intracranial pressure, as it is known, can cause significant additional damage.

Friends, family and co-workers of an accident victim are often in the first to notice behavioural changes. Significant swings in a person’s moods can be a sign of brain injury that requires immediate treatment and specialized care.

Any time your head hits a part of the vehicle there is potential for a head injury. Cuts and bruises are the most obvious injuries. However, the brain can be damaged by sudden head movement even if there are no outward signs of injury. An injury to the head brings a risk of brain swelling (which can block the flow of oxygen to the brain), nerve damage and other conditions that can lead to long-term problems. Head injuries can cause victims to be confused or can be observed by a person’s difficulty in breathing or lack of energy. Symptoms might not be immediately apparent but might appear hours or even days after the accident and can include headaches, dizziness, behavioural changes, memory loss and depression.

The knees are the largest joints in your body, but are also largely unstable and therefore susceptible to injury. The knee is incredibly complex and enormously important due to its weight-bearing function. The complexity of the knee’s structure lends itself to the occurrence of several injuries at one time. This can make diagnosis especially difficult and may require multiple methods of treatment.

Though the knee may seem to act like a hinge, it actually moves in more than one way, enabling you to bend, extend and rotate your leg. Linking the thigh and lower leg, (the femur and the tibia), the knee combines leg mobility and strength, particularly the strength to withstand the impact caused by walking, running and jumping.

The bone within the knee joint is the patella, where cartilage joins with ligaments (cruciate ligaments) which criss-cross between the tibia and femur. These ligaments form an X-shaped support structure. It guards against the bones being moved out of place. However, damage caused in a car crash can create significant injuries in this area. In some cases, surgery is needed to realign the patella.

An unhappy triad is a serious knee injury that occurs when a lateral force hits the knee while the foot is fixed on the ground. Though more common in sports than car accidents, injuries of this kind involve tearing of the medial collateral ligament (MCL), the anterior cruciate ligament ligaments (ACL) and medial cartilage. Nevertheless, damage to just one part of the knee can lead to a complex or nagging injury.

The ACL are the main ligaments in the knee. They connect the back of the thigh to the front of the shin and prevent the shin from moving excessively. Damage to these ligaments makes the knee unstable. This can harm your ability to walk, as well as cause considerable pain. Rehabilitation usually involves specific exercises and slow, gradual progression. Knee surgery may also be required.

The MCL is wide and flat. It acts to resist forces that push the knee toward the body. The medial meniscus is somewhat like a semicircular shock absorber for the knee. It acts to reduce friction between the two bones and enables knee movements to be smooth. Unfortunately, it is also slow to heal. The outer portion heals quicker than the larger inner portion, due the inner portion’s limited blood supply. Large tears to the outer portion often require surgery. Making matter worse, if the meniscus must be removed, there is an increased risk of arthritis.

An injured shoulder can become a difficult and persistent problem for victims of a car crash. The important functions carried out by your shoulders require the ball and socket joints to rely on healthy muscles and tendons. If these areas are damaged, pain may only be the first problem you are forced to endure.

The shoulder is the most mobile and flexible joint in the human body. We all depend upon our shoulders for a very important reason: the shoulder joint allows us to control the movement of our arms. A healthy shoulder provides the balance between mobility and stability.

The force of a car crash can cause a range of injuries to your shoulders. Dislocations and separations are common and deterioration in the long-term is known to follow. The shoulder is damaged if a tear or partial tear happens to the rotator cuff, a group of four muscles which work together to control the arm and shoulder. The rotator cuff controls how the arm is rotated internally and externally, as well as how it is moved upward and downward. Tendons are situated at the end of each muscle and attach to the bone. When tissue is torn, pain and weakness often follow. Many torn rotator cuffs are the result of overuse, but direct impact to the shoulder can result in a traumatic tear. Depending on severity, a person suffering from this injury will need to undergo physical therapy and perhaps surgery.

A shoulder can be separated if struck at the top, which in turn causes a tearing of the ligament that connects to the collarbone. Similar to other injuries of sprain or strain, the degree of damage and pain is proportionate to the extent of the tear. If the ball of the socket joint pops out of place, you have suffered a dislocated shoulder. A feature of this injury is immediate disability, a situation that requires proper relocation by a doctor rather than by an anxious patient. Improper handling at this time can cause further damage to the nerves and neighbouring tissue and could also harm the flow of blood to the area. Though broken bones and dislocations require casts or slings for a short period of time, a separated shoulder can be an ongoing source of pain and disability.

Your neck is made up of small bones, cartilage (or discs) between the bones, muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons, any or all of which can be harmed by sudden uncontrolled movement. The key area involves the seven bones of the cervical spine, which support the head, as well as provide a basis for balance and proper posture. Whiplash is the result of a sudden moderate to severe uncontrolled movement of the neck.

Whiplash injuries are common result after a car crash. The unexpected force of the crash can cause the head to be rapidly thrown back and pushed forward. This can force the neck bones to snap out of place and cause damage to the surrounding muscles and nerves. In some cases, nerve damage interferes with blood flow and the transmission of the nerves’ electrical impulses. Pinched nerves can damage or even destroy the function of certain parts of the body.

Rear-end collisions are a big cause of whiplash injuries, simply due to the nature of the impact, which causes a person’s head to be knocked forward and then bounced back. One reason for the high number of whiplash injuries in car accidents is the lack of warning before impact. In a split second, your neck can go from a relaxed position to an extended and strained one. This extreme and rapid change in motion is unnatural and the results can be painful, debilitating and long-lasting.

Sprains, strains and hyperextensions are common descriptions of whiplash-related injuries. Whiplash can also cause shoulder pain, shooting pain to the arms, muscle spasms, swelling, headaches and dizziness. When it comes to treatment, whiplash and other neck injuries need to be taken seriously right from the start. Getting medical advice is a good idea, especially in cases of significant pain and when mobility is decreased. Injuries can be more serious than they appear. A protective neck collar may be needed, as well as pain medication and restricted activity.