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Did you thank god because you survived a serious accident without a scratch on your body? Undoubtedly, having no visible injuries like bone fractures and lacerations after a car accident is a significant relief. However, a powerful crash in a motor vehicle accident can shake your physical and mental being.
Not to instill a sense of fear, but one should be extra vigilant after surviving a car accident as it takes a few days for some types of injuries to show up. Ignoring the minor signs your body is showing can be worrisome later.
Why Does It Take Longer For The Body To Show Visible Signs Of Injury After A Wreck?
There are several reasons why people would not experience immediate signs of injuries after a wreck. One of the main reasons is the activation of flight-to-fight response triggered by the body when involved in an accident. This results in the overproduction of adrenaline. With this, your mental focus increases or gets distracted to overcome muscle fatigue. Therefore, you may not feel the pain, or it gets overlooked by the aftermath of the wreck.
Another reason is more rational. Some types of injuries take longer to show up or develop. You may experience pain and discomfort when the damaged blood vessels begin to leak or the tissues begin to swell slowly and gradually.
The Most Common Hidden Injuries After A Motor Vehicle Accident
Some of these hidden injuries would not be basic but can be life-threatening. The most serious ones include:
Traumatic Brain Injuries
A traumatic brain injury can be caused if you banged your head hard somewhere inside your car because of the car collision, either from the back or front.
It may even take months to show visible signs of injury. A traumatic brain injury can result in forgetfulness, getting agitated frequently, and other such personality changes.
Backbone Or Spine Injuries
The most common backbone or spine injury is herniated discs. Under this, the underlying tissues of the vertebrae of the spine tend to swell up or rupture. It can put pressure on the nerves coming out of the spine. When this happens, there is loss of feeling, severe pain, loss of control on muscles, and so on.
In some cases, symptoms may show immediately, while it may even take weeks and months as well.
Head, Shoulder And Neck Injuries
Neck and head injuries are commonly caused in car accidents from whiplash i.e., sudden movement of the neck back and forth. If you are lucky, the strain and discomfort will last for a few days only. However, in severe cases, this could be much more than just a mild strain.
Shoulder injuries are also common in car accidents. This again is caused by sudden collisions that throw one side of your shoulder forward with force and result in twisting your neck in the process. In serious cases, it causes tearing of shoulder ligaments which may need surgery to rectify and further involve physiotherapy to return to normalcy.
Besides these, there may be other hidden injuries but would not be too severe and get settled well with minor precautions. Think of a sprain in the leg, twisting of the ankle, and so on.
However, ignoring signs of the injuries mentioned above can be detrimental and can even cause lifelong complications. Your body would continuously give you minor signs to identify them.
For instance, visible symptoms resulting from a traumatic brain injury could be headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, fogginess etc. Similarly, a backbone or spinal injury would have symptoms like neck pain, constant back pain, shoulder pain, numbness in hands and fingers. A slipped disc or a fracture will have lower back pain and aching muscles as the first symptoms.
What To Do After Identifying Such Injuries?
The sooner you can identify such injuries, the better it is not only for your body also from the point of view of fighting a car accident lawsuit.
A good law firm can help you provide rightful compensation on your medical bills if you a not-at-fault driver in a car accident. Therefore, identifying your injuries after an accident is important. It can help you save potential money spend on medical bills as a result.
An experienced motor vehicle accident attorney may also provide non-monetary compensation like loss of mental being, compensation for pain and suffering caused, and much more. Moreover, they also help in recovering your rightful compensation from the insurance companies involved.
So, if you or someone you know was recently involved in a motor vehicle accident and is experiencing any symptoms, it is important to seek medical assistance and inform your attorney to decide the next course of action.
