Despite personal precautions and stringent motor vehicle laws, car accidents remain an unfortunate fact of life. Those lucky enough to escape with their lives are often hurt, and even the smallest car accident injuries can have a huge impact on quality of life.
It should be no surprise, then, that car accident victims are some of the most frequent pain management clinic patients. Being familiar with common car accident injuries helps victims identify when they should seek help and what they can expect on their journey toward a pain-free life.
Perhaps the most common injury seen in car accident victims is whiplash, which is named for the quick, sudden whipping motion the neck makes when the body is hit from behind. Thus, rear-ended drivers and passengers often suffer from whiplash, as do those who experience abrupt halts or other forceful impacts while inside their vehicles. Whiplash can cause severe neck and back pain, especially when left untreated.
Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, occur when the face, head, or brain experiences blunt force trauma, including crushing and piercing injuries. TBIs can be fatal, and when they aren’t, they require immediate attention to avoid extensive brain damage. TBIs can cause acute pain and be responsible for other post-accident complications, chronic headaches, and nerve damage.
Like TBIs, injuries to the spinal cord are a common cause of disability amongst car accident victims. IN some cases, spinal injuries result in total or partial paralysis. Wrecks may also leave the vertebrae intact but cause painful disc slippage or herniation.
Even victims who avoid serious spinal damage may suffer from back pains for the days and weeks following their accident. Regardless of the severity of the damage, back pain is notoriously difficult to treat, making pain management, rather than pain elimination, the more realistic end goal.
Broken bones and fractures account for much of the lasting physical pain felt by car accident survivors. While a “clean” break can be helped by a sturdy cast and later on short-term physical therapy, an uneven or complex break, such as a compound fracture, can result in chronic pain.
These injuries make it difficult for bones to repair themselves, meaning many of them never return to their pre-accident range of motion and functionality, paving the way for persistent pain and recurrent injury.
Injury to the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the body can be just as painful as bone or joint damage. Car accidents often leave their survivors with both internal and external bruising. Soft tissue damage and more serious injuries to the bones or joints often coincide, making it difficult for patients to identify the core cause of their pains. A holistic pain management plan addresses both types of injuries, as one often exacerbates the other.
Another deadly issue commonly seen in car accident victims is internal damage. Though internal injuries are sometimes obvious due to bruises, lacerations, or localized swelling, they often fly under the radar, only making themselves known when the situation is dire.
Therefore, it is crucial that accident survivors seek medical care if they have any unexplained pain, as it could be caused by injury to a vital internal organ.
Burns can be responsible for widespread damage to the skin and body after a car accident, whether chemical or physical. When vehicles become engulfed in flames, victims often have difficulty extracting themselves safely, and those who do escape may need immediate surgery and intensive care to prevent serious infection.
Burns that leave the skin thin or severely scarred may require a skin graft, which takes skin from one part of the body and applies it to the burned area. Burns can also cause lasting nerve damage, a common injury seen by pain management specialists.
Losing a limb is one of the most excruciating injuries someone can endure, as the pain often lasts a lifetime. Whether severed in the crash or medically amputated to remove a damaged or diseased section of the body, a missing limb often causes “phantom limb” pains, in which the victim feels discomfort in the appendage as though it is still attached to the body.
If you’ve been in a car accident and suffer from persistent pain, Accident Help Zone is here to help you obtain the pain relief you deserve. With multiple locations conveniently in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and surrounding areas (Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County, etc.), and New Jersey. A provider may be able to see patients on the same or the next day in most cases. Our directory’s experienced medical care professionals accept most insurance plans, including no-fault and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance. Search our directory for the best pain management specialists in New Jersey and New York. Call (888) 412-8488 to schedule an appointment with experienced pain doctors and get back on the road to recovery.
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