Car accidents have the capability of causing all kinds of injuries. Blunt force, whipping motions, and sharp objects all play a part in causing damage to the people inside of vehicles when they collide. While you might think of bruises and broken bones as the only injuries sustained after a car accident, it’s also possible for victims to come away from a crash with nerve damage.
Nerve damage can be anywhere from mild to severe, and when you’ve suffered it at the hands of another person’s negligence from a car accident, you shouldn’t be responsible for the costs of medical treatment, lost wages, or any other financial burdens you’ve accumulated from your injuries. An expert car accident lawyer from Solomon Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina can help you recover financially from the wreck while you focus on recovering physically and emotionally.
Types of Nerve Damage Commonly Caused by Car Accidents
Nerve damage can occur in a few different ways from car accidents. The three main causes of nerve damage are pressure, stretching, and severing. All of these can happen in car crashes and can cause a variety of different nerve damage injuries. In car accidents, nerve damage happens often because any time a bone, muscle, or other soft tissue structure is damaged, it’s possible for the nerves to suffer damage as well.
Here are the most common forms of nerve damage that happen to victims of car accidents:
- Pinched nerve. Also known as a compressed nerve, a pinched nerve is just that—a nerve that is pinched. Typically, it can heal over time through stretching and other treatment methods, but until then it can cause discomfort, pain, and numbness in different areas of the body, depending on where the nerve is located. This is one of the less severe forms of nerve damage that a car accident can inflict.
- Whiplash. This is a common injury from car accidents and affects over 2 million Americans a year. While this injury is mostly in the soft tissue of your neck, like the muscles and ligaments, it can also cause nerve damage if nerves are stretched or compressed from the whipping motion.
- Neuropathy. In the peripheral nervous system, nerves can become damaged or inflamed, which leads to neuropathy, or the disruption of nerve signals. Many different injuries from car accidents can cause neuropathy. Some symptoms are numbness and pain and can be anywhere from mild to debilitating.
- Radiculopathy. Radiculopathy is a specific form of neuropathy that occurs in the spine. When a nerve in the spine becomes compressed or pinched, and as a result, there is pain, weakness, tingling, or numbness through the nerve. Radiculopathy is most commonly in the lower back or in the neck, and a common example is sciatica.
All of these injuries share similar symptoms: numbness, tingling, pain, weakness, and loss of use. The shock of an accident could mask these symptoms, or you might not develop symptoms until days or weeks after your collision. That’s why it’s important to get evaluated by a doctor immediately after an accident, and if not then, immediately after you start experiencing symptoms. The faster you are diagnosed, the faster you can start healing.
Permanent Nerve Damage
In more severe injuries, permanent nerve damage can occur. When blunt force trauma permanently damages a nerve, or when a laceration severs a nerve, you could be left with a permanent disability and unable to move certain parts of your body. A catastrophic injury is not only tough on you physically, but can also be hard to handle emotionally and mentally.
If you were the main supporter of your family before the wreck that caused your nerve damage, your family could be struggling financially as well. This can make it harder to heal because you’re worried about where the money is coming from for your daily expenses as well as medical bills and treatment costs. You shouldn’t have to worry about money when you didn’t cause these injuries—the negligent driver who caused the accident should be held responsible and owes you financial compensation.
If your nerve damage has led to partial or permanent disability, you might not be able to do the same work as before the accident. You could be worried about still providing for yourself and your family even though your injuries keep you from work and could potentially leave you unable to work for the rest of your life. A personal injury lawyer from Solomon Law Group can help you financially recover what you’re owed for your injuries and the lifelong consequences they’ve left you with.
Reach Out to Solomon Law Group
You shouldn’t have to go through the process of filing a car accident claim while healing from a nerve injury on your own. Our experienced car accident attorney at Solomon Law Group knows that your case deserves careful attention so that you can recover full and fair compensation for your injuries and damages.
We’ll fully investigate your claim and compile all of the necessary documents to ensure that you recover exactly what you deserve financially. You shouldn’t have to worry about finances when you have enough on your plate, like healing physically and emotionally. Contact us today so we can get started on your case and provide you with the legal support you deserve.
