The 5 Most Common Hidden Car Accident Injuries
Hidden Injuries From Car Accidents
The Top Five Hidden Injuries Sustained In Car Accidents:
If you have recently been involved in a Phoenix AZ car accident and believe you have “Dodged A Bullet”, please be aware. Often car accident injuries can be very deceiving, which gives one the idea that they are not really injured.
Almost 2.35 million accident victims get injured or disabled in car accidents.
Cervical Strain (Whiplash)/Herniated Disc
Among the most typical injuries reported in rear-end crashes is a cervical sprain/strain (whiplash injury). This occurs when the neck & head of the driver or passenger is unexpectedly jerked backwards then forward, all in 2 hundredths of a second. The quickness of the car collision is what places your neck through severe flexion and extension, naturally resulting in hidden soft tissue injuries. More often than not, whiplash symptoms, do not manifest until a few days to a few weeks after the accident. Auto accident victims presume that a whiplash injury is minor and can be ignored, this wait and see what happens allows hidden injuries to become worse.
The quickness of the traumatic impact of a motor vehicle crash can be so extreme that your discs can bulge and even herniate. Disc bulges and herniation commonly produces pressure on the spinal nerves, triggering agonizing pain and inflammation. A herniated disc may cause muscle weakness, numbness or pain in your arms & legs. One should also be aware that spinal ligament injury is also a source of hidden injury and is considered worse than a herniated disc by the AMA guides to the evaluation of human impairment 6th edition. All these injuries have the potential to show up either right away or weeks to months later following a car wreck.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Accident sufferers can sustain a brain concussion by simply striking their head on the steering wheel, the safety air bag, the window in a side crash and rarely without even hitting any surface at all. Hitting your head is more common than not. The violent change in posture (motion) in addition to how quickly of the head and neck moves following a collision can result in a concussion. Car Accident victims usually will have to endure a plethora of signs and symptoms including but not limited to headaches, confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, diplopia or blurred vision, sense of balance problems, nausea and vomiting and even sensitivity to background noise and light. All concussions often require rest and avoidance of strenuous activities and more serious concussions may require hospitalization.
If you suffer any of the symptoms above after a car accident, come see us at Collision Injury Auto Accident Treatment. Our car accident doctors have years of experience diagnosing and managing car collision injuries.
Knee Injuries
Upon car collision all occupants will be subject to uncontrolled bodily movement, sometimes resulting in injuries to their knee(s) and this is more common than one would think. Crash victims may have their knees forcibly smash into the car’s dashboard. This impact can cause injuries by fracturing the underlying bony tissue such as the Patella and sometimes the ends of the femur and tibia fall prey to traumatic forces and either fracture or are deeply contused. Knee cartilage and ligaments are also subject to traumatic injury.
Shoulder Injuries
Suffering a shoulder injury is quite common in a traumatic accident such as a car wreck and although you are better off wearing your seat belt the design of seat belts is across your chest exposing your left or right shoulder depending on if you are a driver or passenger. The shoulder is not a ball and socket joint but more of a cup and saucer joint!! A cup and saucer type joint has much less bone to bone coverage and much less socket depth than a hip joint. These facts alone allow more movement of a shoulder joint as compared to a hip joint. Just makes anatomical sense that a shoulder joint which is that comprised of the collar bone (clavicle), the shoulder blade (scapula), and the arm bone (Humerus). The Clavicle, Scapula & Humerus are joined together by soft tissues such as tendons, ligaments and muscles. In place of a ball and socket the shoulder has a joint capsule (more soft connective tissue) that allows the shoulder to function and a much larger natural range of motion compared to the hip joint. The shoulder joint has the largest range of motion in the body and therefore is subject to more damage than the hip joint.
A shoulder injury may disrupt sleep and make activities of daily living very difficult and painful. Shoulder pain and symptoms due to a car accident can become much worse due to physical activities, may disrupt sleep and just make your activities of daily living very difficult.
As with all car collision injuries shoulder pain may present at the time of the incident or soon after the car crash but know this underlying or hidden injuries will get worse with time and could become chronic. It is imperative to report and manage any pain what so ever, including mild pain, that occurs as a result of a car accident. Timely Chiropractic and medical intervention are priority one following a car accident. Injury healing time could be extended and costly without an appropriate and sensible diagnosis coupled with specific car accident injury treatment and management.
Psychological Injuries
It’s not unusual for auto accident victim to feel a variety of anxious feelings and emotions that can present way after the vehicle has been repaired, and the bodily injuries have healed. Car crash survivors may be emotionally traumatized by an auto accident, not to mention stress, sleeplessness, nightmares, and depression.
Many motor vehicle crash victims suffer phobias and if left untreated these phobias typically worsen. In extreme cases auto accident injury victims develop (PSTD) post-traumatic stress disorder. This may cause an inability to drive their cars for fear of getting in another car wreck. This is very real and very tough to get over. You know in order to find something you must know what you are looking for!
Just a few years ago psychological injuries were referred to as Mild Traumatic Brain injury and that is no longer acceptable and are now referred to as Traumatic Brain Injury. The “mild” has been dropped because the devastation of TBI wreaks on victims of a motor vehicle collision. Riddle me this, how can someone diagnose Traumatic brain Injury (TBI) if they don’t know what it looks like. The chiropractic physicians and medical doctors of Collision Injury Auto Accident Treatment are well versed in the proper diagnosis of these soft tissue injuries. YES, I SAID IT a brain injury is a soft tissue injury and precise proper diagnosis is critical to ensure the proper treatment and management leading to the well- being of the TBI patient.
Obviously, there are a wide variety of injuries you could suffer when you or a loved one are involved in any type of vehicular crash. It is imperative and visit a health care physician immediately to assess you for hidden injuries, even if you have any immediate pain or discomfort following any type of collision trauma and/or accident. The experienced car accident chiropractors or medical physicians of Collision Injury Auto Accident Treatment vehemently advise that you do not “roll the dice” to see how things go and get a great physical work up by healthcare professionals who are trained to seek out to find your hidden injuries and manage them accordingly.
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Tags: Accident Chiropractic Treatment, Auto Accident Related Injuries, Car Accident Hidden Injuries, Car Accident Injuries Symptom, Car Accident Injuries Type, Hidden Injuries After A Car Accident, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Spinal Ligament Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury