The Main Types of Injuries People Suffer in Car Accidents and the Required Treatment

The Main Types of Injuries People Suffer in Car Accidents and the Required Treatment

Car accident injuries can be as varied and different as the individual characteristics of each accident, be it car-related or otherwise. However, there are types of injuries that are much more common with car accidents than others.

Some crash injuries can heal within a few days without any medical intervention. Unfortunately, there are also more serious injuries that can remain permanent or semi-permanent and lead to some level of physical damage.

Factors Relevant to Injury

The type and severity of injuries to drivers and passengers involved in a car accident depend on many factors, which include:

  • Did the victim of the car accident wear a seat belt?
  • Where was the victim’s car hit – front, rear or side?
  • Was the victim normally sitting on the seat or was his body or head turned in a certain direction during the accident?
  • Was the collision high or low level of severity?
  • Did the car have airbags?

There are two main categories of injuries caused by accidents: impact injuries and penetration injuries. Impact injuries are caused when a part of the human body hits the interior of a car. This might be a knee injury to the dashboard or when the head hits the seat or side window. Penetration injuries are usually cuts or abrasions. Broken glass or loose objects flying in the car cause this type of injury.

Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injury is damage to the body’s connective tissues, which means muscles, ligaments and tendons. This is the most common type of damage resulting from a car accident. Soft tissue damage can take many forms, so never underestimate the severity.

The “whiplash” type injury to the neck and upper back is a form of soft tissue injury. In this type of injury, the muscles and tendons stretch due to sudden, strong movements of the head and neck in an accident. Often road accidents cause injuries in the middle or lower spine, sometimes they are permanent and quite serious depending on the force of the impact. Other times they aren’t severe and can cause just a few days of pain around the neck.

Should you be injured in a car crash and require assistance with your claim for compensation for your injuries and other losses you should turn your mind to whether you should hire a car accident lawyer Perth to help you.  Your instructed Seattle brain injury lawyer can help you through the claim process and thereby help reduce your stress and anxiety.

Abrasions and Cuts

Any loose objects in the car become dangerous in a collision, as they fly from the impact and inevitably hit the passengers of the car. This includes phones, cups, glasses, bags, books, GPS devices and more. If any of them hit the body or face, it can easily cut the skin or cause other injuries. Sometimes the damage is minor and relatively small and does not require treatment. More serious injuries can lead to blood loss and require stitches. Abrasions and cuts can also be caused when the airbag deploys.

Head Injuries

Head injuries in an accident can be of several forms, some relatively minor and others quite severe and serious. Sudden stopping of the car or change of direction, as well as a strong impact can cause sudden and unnatural movements. In addition to the soft tissue injuries we talked about above, serious head injuries can be caused. Exposure to glass or hitting the steering wheel can cause scratches and bruises on the head, as well as more serious tears.

More severe consequences of an accident can cause internal bleeding of the head. Milder head injuries or concussions. Severe blows can also cause brain damage. This is why you should check on yourself first when in a car accident before you attend to anybody else, to make sure that you yourself are okay.

Chest Injuries

Chest injuries are also a fairly common result of car accidents. These injuries are most often in the form of bruises, but can also be serious, such as broken ribs or internal injuries. Drivers of vehicles most often suffer from this type of injury, as their position is behind the wheel, which allows very little freedom of movement before the chest hits the steering wheel. Usually fractured ribs are a result of this which require a slow and painful recovery.

Injuries to the Arms and Legs

The same forces that unexpectedly turn a person’s head in a collision do the same with their arms and legs. If the blow is strong from the side, the limbs can be thrown sharply and strongly against the door. Passengers in the car have very little legroom, which often causes knee injuries in a collision with the dashboard and seats. Depending on the nature and strength of the impact, injuries can be minor, such as abrasions and bruises, or more severe, such as fractures.

Seek Medical Assessment and Treatment

Note that some injuries are not visible immediately after an accident. Depending on the nature of the injury, it can take days, weeks, or even months for it to manifest. Our advice is, if you have a car accident, to seek medical help even for seemingly small ailments and pains, because it may turn out that they are not small and harmless. The faster you get medical help, the shorter the treatment and rehabilitation period will be. Usually, most car accidents require some form of rehabilitation in the sense of massages, movement exercises, and some occupational therapy, of course depending on the severity of the accident. As your recovery period may be long, it would help to have an income protection insurance to cover the days you couldn’t go to work.

While most people tend to stay away from the emergency room when a small or insignificant (in their eyes) accident occurs, sometimes the devil can be hidden in the details and might manifest itself later on, so take this advice from us — if every you are involved in some sort of accident, make sure that you seek medical help immediately, you might thank yourself later!

Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

Leave a Reply