Common Back Injuries After a Car Accident

Car accidents can be devastating. The damages aren’t always limited to the vehicles involved. Often, the victims feel the impact on their health and experience severe pain, especially from back injuries.

If you suffer a back injury and do not achieve full recovery, you may have to cope with ongoing pain, high medical costs, emotional distress, and lost income. To get back to good health after a car accident, extensive and expensive medical treatment could be required.

If someone else’s negligence caused the accident, you don’t have to go through all these costs on your own. You are entitled to compensation for your losses by the person or company responsible for causing the back injury.

If you are a victim of a back injury after a car accident in Los Angeles, Citywide Law Group can help you get the money you need for your recovery. Our lawyers have been helping affected individuals and families achieve this aim since 2005.

How Can a Back Injury Result from a Car Accident?

Car accidents often lead to back pain. Especially in head-on, rear-end, or side-impact collisions where the body is thrown forcefully. Other causes of back injuries include accidents that result in landing on the back or ejecting the accident victim from the car.

The back spans from the neck down to the pelvis, which makes up a large part of the body. It’s divided into three distinct areas – neck, upper back, and lower back. Any extreme jerking motion that wrenches the muscles, bones, tendons, or ligaments of the back can cause severe injury.

What Are the Types of Back Injuries from Car Accidents?

Car accidents can cause different types of back injuries resulting in varying degrees of pain. There can also be instances of limitation in mobility and other medical issues. Some of the common back injuries caused by car accidents include:

Disc Damage

The spinal discs are round pieces of cartilage that act as a cushioning system between each bone. Pain associated with the spinal discs is known as discogenic pain, and often results from whiplash during a  car accident.

Discogenic pain brings about difficulty moving and stabilizing yourself. The effect of the pain formed by the damaged discs can extend to any part of the spine, especially the lumbar spine.

Lumbar Sprains

Lumbar sprains often result from excessive force on the back causing the ligament, muscle, or tendon to be torn or overstretched. It occurs during sudden traumas such as crashing into another car or getting hit by a vehicle. A lumbar sprain may severely impact your ability to carry out daily activities. It often brings about limited movement, bruising, swelling, and tenderness on the back.

Spinal Stenosis

In medicine, stenosis refers to abnormal narrowing of the bone channel. Spinal stenosis occurs as a result of a reduction of the bone channel that holds the spinal nerves and spinal cord. It is most commonly caused by natural aging, but it can also occur after severe traumas like car accidents. Ruptured disc or bone fragment from trauma can invade the spinal canal and apply pressure on the cord or nerve, causing back injury.

Disc Herniation

Disc herniation occurs as a result of an injury to the cushion-like disc separating the vertebrae. It’s when the soft inner filling of the spine displaces and protrudes through the tougher outer encasing.

The actual rupture is often not painful. But when the protruding material comes in contact with the nerves, it creates pressure, causing serious pain. Symptoms of disc herniation include severe pain in the lower region of the back and numbness in the legs.

What Should You Do When You Have Back Injuries After a Car Accident?

Regardless of how you feel from the car accident, it’s important to seek medical help promptly for a proper diagnosis. Some symptoms from back injuries may not show up until 48-hours after the accident. A medical exam may involve the use of x-rays, CT scans, bone scans, MRIs, and myelograms.

Get a full medical examination as soon as possible to identify the severity of the injuries. It helps to state your claim better and start treatment. The treatments may require actions like:

  • Prescription pain medications
  • Injection for inflammation
  • Physical therapy
  • Chiropractic care
  • Casts to allow broken bones to heal
  • Surgical intervention

No matter the specific type of treatment required, you are entitled to your full medical bill covered by those responsible for causing the accident. Not only that, but you can also get compensation for home nursing care, adaptive medical devices, and transportation going and coming from the doctor’s office.

For more information, call our law firm at (424) 248-2700 or visit our contact us page to send us an email.