Every year, there are over three million injuries due to car accidents. Whether it’s a high-impact collision or “fender bender”, there’s a great chance someone got hurt.
While it’s easy to see the damage done to a vehicle, it’s not always easy to know of your personal injuries.
Learn what these common car accident injuries are so you can seek medical attention and legal advice. Keep reading to help make your recovery more bearable.
Whiplash
As one of the most common injuries in a car accident, whiplash occurs when your body tries to prevent broken bones from occurring in your neck and back.
The human body isn’t used to impact at high speeds. A crash causes your tendon and muscles to stiffen as a form of protection. The resulting trauma means these areas will be sore.
The effects of whiplash may not be felt until a couple of days after an accident. Your neck might be sore for a few weeks, but it’s better than a broken neck.
Internal Injuries
A lot of car accident injuries are visible by everyone, but internal injuries like bleeding or bone bruises aren’t always known right away or seen.
While bone bruises aren’t necessarily fatal, internal bleeding isn’t something to ignore. Even if you look and feel fine, make sure a physician checks you out after a crash. They will be able to press and prod to find an internal hemorrhage.
If you can remember, think back to the car collision. Did any part of your body (especially your torso) slam against a hard surface or object? If it did, there’s a possibility for internal bleeding.
Even the most trivial impacts should be treated as a potentially life-threatening injury.
Fractured Ribs
Ribs are designed to protect your internal organs, but they fracture easily. A lot of boxers break their ribs from receiving punches. Ribs can even break from sneezing.
The reason fractured ribs are so common is because of the seat belt. The belt tightens during an impact compressing your body and causing the ribs to fracture and break.
But broken ribs are better than flying through the windshield. If you’ve experienced this, contact your local lawyers to help you get a measure of justice.
Lacerations
Broken glass, debris, and branches are regularly present in car accidents. Since people try to defend their faces with their arms and hands, that’s where the lacerations and cuts happen.
Minor scratches and cuts are normally remedied by bandages and sometimes stitches. A more painful process is removing glass that has been lodged in your face and hands.
These injuries all require medical attention that is routinely completed at the scene of the accident.
Monitor how everything heals. Don’t be surprised to see scars form on your body. If a cut takes longer than normal or becomes more painful, seek a re-evaluation immediately.
A cut or scrape that gets worse in pain, may be infected. Check to see if it’s becoming discolored, emitting heat, or giving off a stench. An infection will need antibiotics quickly so it doesn’t get in the bloodstream.
Damaged Legs
For head-on car crashes, your legs are extremely vulnerable. A person’s natural reaction is to bring the legs up to their body.
Like an accordion, your car will squeeze and compress. This often forces the dashboard into your knees. Any kind of injury to your knees can have long-lasting consequences.
Torn ligaments or shattered knee caps may cripple your mobility. An extremely violent accident might even result in an amputation.
Immediately after a car wreck, slowly test the mobility of your legs. Quick movements or actions can cause more damage or pain.
Head Injuries
Outside of whiplash, there are several other injuries you can receive.
The most common head injury is a concussion. When the force of the impact is so strong it causes the brain to hit against the skull, you’ll likely suffer a concussion.
Sometimes the shock of being in a car accident prevents you from instantly knowing if you have a concussion. Fortunately, there are field tests medics perform to evaluate your condition.
The brain is a complex organ susceptible to a host of complications. If it becomes difficult to concentrate or remember things in the days after the crash, seek a new appointment with your doctor.
PTSD
PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, isn’t just associated with those in war. Mental injuries are just as serious as physical ones.
Car collisions are scary situations. Most people who have been in one don’t easily forget. If someone died in a car accident, the survivor of the crash might have PTSD.
This can cause extreme fear, anxiety, and nightmares. Driving a car becomes a fear or an impossible task for the victim.
Car crash survivors who constantly dwell on the incident may need professional mental counseling. Consider therapy to be your treatment for recovery.
Spinal Problems
If the head is vulnerable to issues, then the spine is sure to follow. When the spine is violently shaken, multiple injuries can occur. These injuries include slipped discs, unalignment, and fractures.
Even a small “fender bender” can throw your entire back out of alignment. The pain and discomfort affect you in all facets of life. A spine issue can even cause the length of your legs to be different.
Seek out a chiropractor or spine specialist to correct any lingering pain after a car accident.
Treat Your Common Car Accident Injuries
Getting injured in a car accident is almost unavoidable. What’s clear is that you need to treat all common car accident injuries as severe.
Use this article to help identify these injuries after an accident. It could save your life.
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Rene Bennett is a graduate of New Jersey, where he played volleyball and annoyed a lot of professors. Now as Zobuz’s Editor, he enjoys writing about delicious BBQ, outrageous style trends and all things Buzz worthy.
