Common Car Accident Injuries

 Posted on March 06, 2017 in Personal Injury

Car accidents are some of the most common ways people sustain injuries. Yearly, more than 2 million people a year sustain injuries or disabilities from collisions in the United States alone. While cars are designed to be as safe as possible,they can’t protect you from everything. Here are a few of the most common kinds of injuries you could get in a car accident.

Head/ Brain Injuries

You could sustain severe brain damage or mild concussions depending on the circumstances of the crash. If your airbag deploys on time, the force of the inflating item could cause you significant injuries, though they wouldn’t be as severe if the airbag had not deployed. Airbags have been known to cause concussions, bruising, fractures, hearing loss, eyeinjury, and irritation to the throat and skin. If your airbag doesn’t deploy in time, or you strike your head on something other than the steering wheel, you could sustain skull fractures, cuts, bruises, or more severe traumatic brain injury.

Neck/ Spine Injuries

Even in the mildest fender bender, there is the possibility you will sustain whiplash. Whiplash is one of the most common types of car accident injuries.It happens when an abrupt backward and/ or forward jerking motion of thehead results in damage to the inter vertebral joints, discs, ligaments,cervical muscles, or nerve roots. In other words, your spine is strainedwhen your head continues to move, but the rest of your body has stopped,likely kept in place by the seatbelt across your chest. More severe spinal damage has occurred in more severe collisions. Any extreme blow to the spine or neck could cause significant spinal damage, which can prevent information from the brain from reaching the rest of the body. In particular cases,car accidents have caused paralysis in some individuals.

Damage to Limbs

Because arms, legs, feet, and hands are not really bound by anything during a car crash, they could accidentally be dislocated or broken completely if you land wrong during an accident. For example, drivers’ knees are often extremely close to the steering wheel. In some accidents, the force of the crash could cause the knee to jerk up and into the wheel, causing it to fracture or break. In another example, if the car flips over and a person lands awkwardly on a shoulder, wrist, or arm, that limb could easily break with the pressure.

Chest/ Torso Injuries

While seat belts are designed to protect you from getting thrown from the car, they can also cause their own type of damage during a collision.The force of a sudden break could cause a seat belt to put too much pressure on your chest area. This pressure can cause serious bruising and could even fracture or break a rib or sternum. Other blunt force trauma in car accidents could cause collapsed lungs or internal bleeding of the internal organs or abdomen. Any internal bleeding requires medical attention immediately.

Emotional Injuries

People sometimes don’t see emotional distress as important. However,trauma from a car accident could be just as debilitating as a broken leg.Getting into a life-threatening situation can cause some to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could manifest in any number of ways, including the fear of ever getting into a car again. Mental trauma could also be significantly harder to treat, particularly when people don’t consider it a priority. Those who experience a car crash might want to consider seeing a counselor or therapist to help them work through any post-crash psychological injuries.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car crash caused by someone else’s negligence, it may be time to hire an experienced Greenwich personal injury attorney. Car accidents can lead to an extremely high number of bills because of property damage and injuries sustained by passengers. Make sure you don’tpay for someone else’s mistake. Let us help you recover compensation for medical costs and potential lost wages. Our skilled attorneys are dedicated to helping victims of serious and catastrophic personal injury.Let us see what we can do for you. Contact us at 203-661-6000 or fill out our online form to schedule a free case consultation today.