Common Injuries in Car Accidents
About 1.6 million car accidents in the U.S. leave one or more people injured every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). While car accident injuries can be as varied as the collisions that produce them, here are some of the more common types of injuries suffered in auto accidents:
Injuries to the head, neck, and spine are among the most serious and most difficult to treat – and they are also among the most common types of serious car accident injuries. If the head strikes an object, like the steering wheel or a window, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result. Even a mild TBI can cause lingering problems with pain, dizziness, attention, mood, and memory. Severe TBIs can cause permanent disability, coma, or death.
Any damage to the spinal cord can cause loss of sensation or motor control in any part of the body. If the spinal cord is severed, the area below the injury site typically becomes paralyzed. Even if the spinal cord itself is not damaged, injuries to the bones or cartilage of the spine can cause significant problems, like muscle weakness, arm or leg pain, and reduced mobility.
The most well-known car accident injury is a soft tissue injury to the neck known as “whiplash.” It is caused by a sudden movement of the head and neck, as often happens when a car is struck by another car/truck or runs into a stationary object. Neck pain, swelling, and instability are common. Some patients temporarily lose the ability to speak after suffering whiplash. And because the symptoms of whiplash take a few days to become apparent, some people accidentally make the injury worse, simply because they don’t realize it’s there.
Broken Bones, Amputations, and Crush Injuries
The adult human body contains 206 bones. Children’s bodies contain significantly more, depending on their age. In a car accident, nearly any bone in the body may be broken by the forces of the crash. Similarly, if any part of the body becomes trapped or pinned during the accident, a crush injury damaging both bones and soft tissue, or an amputation, may occur. All of these injuries can cause severe pain and loss of mobility, and they may require one or more surgeries to correct.
Trauma and Emotional Distress
The trauma of a car accident can cause severe physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. For instance, people with pre-existing heart conditions have been known to suffer heart attacks from the stress of the crash. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related conditions are also common after a crash, especially if someone you care about was severely injured or killed. Psychological symptoms are symptoms of a real medical condition. They can be just as disabling as any physical injuries, and they must be treated just as seriously by qualified medical professionals.
Car crashes injure thousands of people on North Carolina roads each year. When you’re hurt in a crash, you may have dozens of questions crowding your mind. What happened? Who was responsible? Could something have been done to prevent the accident? How long will it be before I’m back on my feet? Who will take care of my family and pay the bills while I’m recovering? What will medical care cost?
Call 911 immediately.
