Being involved in a car accident can be a traumatic experience. Many victims suffer emotional distress and may even fear getting back into a car. A car wreck can also cause traumatic injuries that can be painful and long lasting.
For example, car accident victims can easily suffer soft tissue injuries. A soft tissue injury is one that occurs in one of the body’s soft areas. Ligaments, muscles and tendons are all examples of soft areas of the body.
Living with a soft tissue injury
Soft tissue injuries are often very painful. Soreness, stiffness, bruising and swelling are all common symptoms that you should be on the lookout for after an accident. If you develop any of these symptoms, you might have suffered a soft tissue injury such as a:
- Sprain
- Strain
- Contusion
Many people in California do not understand just how serious these types of injuries can be. For example, serious damage to a ligament or overextension of joints are the main contributors to sprains. These are both very painful and can impact daily life.
What about whiplash?
Whiplash is perhaps the most common type of car accident-related soft tissue injury. This type of injury is especially common in rear end collisions because the force of the impact causes victims’ heads to move violently back and forth. Symptoms of whiplash include:
- Sharp pain in the neck
- Neck stiffness
- Back pain or other problems
- Cognitive problems, including issues with concentration and memory
Whiplash symptoms sometimes show up immediately. In other situations, they develop gradually over the course of days. Since untreated whiplash can cause chronic neck and back pain, it is important to seek medical care as soon as symptoms emerge.
Adjusting to a new normal
While recovery is certainly possible, some car accident victims develop long-term injuries. Part of the problem is that symptoms for some soft tissue injuries do not show up immediately. This means that getting timely medical treatment can be difficult.
If another driver injured you in a car wreck, you might feel confused about how to move forward. Like other victims in California, you might be struggling with medical bills, lost wages and long-lasting pain and suffering. While this can certainly feel overwhelming, victims just like you sometimes find that the compensation from successfully navigated personal injury claims to be essential to their recoveries.