Every year, more than 3.3 million people are injured in car accidents in America. Although the majority of these injuries will be minor, it is still important to seek medical attention in order to rule out any severe issues. Unfortunately, many people fail to do this in a timely manner because the adrenaline rush that they experience after an accident makes them believe that everything is okay. Additionally, the majority of motorists only monitor themselves for any obvious wounds or the symptoms of whiplash because they believe that is the most common car accident injury. However, there are several other common issues that can plague people even after a minor traffic incident.
Five Common Car Accident Injuries
1. Traumatic Brain Injury – People can suffer from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to a wide variety of different issues, including a car accident. Sadly, it is common for people to be unaware that they have a TBI until they end up developing serious complications. According to Howell and Christmas, LLC, a law firm in Charleston, SC brain injuries often go undetected after an accident and can later lead to significant complications. In order to prevent this from happening, you should always get checked out by a physician shortly after the accident occurs.
2. Back Injury – Although you are likely to realize that your back is sore as soon as you attempt to get out of your car, you might believe that it will feel better in a day or two. In some cases, this assumption is correct, but in many others an injured back will become more severe if you do not seek immediate medical attention.
3. Internal Organ Injury – All of your internal organs are at risk of being injured during an accident, but it is shockingly common to be unaware that an injury has happened until after you end up dealing with a life-threatening situation. In fact, this is the main reason that hospitals do not like to discharge people who seem fine after an accident until they have completed all of their normal testing procedures.
4. Knee Injury – Getting an injured knee is one of the most common side effects of a car accident, but it is also not taken seriously enough by most motorists. Unfortunately, many people think that they will simply be able to shake off the impact of their sore knee within a day or two, but this delay can cause the injury to become a permanent disability. Because of this, anyone who has knee pain after an accident needs to go to the doctor immediately.
5. Wrist Injury – Your wrists are likely to absorb a lot of the impact of the accident, so you should get them checked out right away if you are experiencing any pain. Failure to do this could force you to wear wrist braces for an extended period of time, and you might even end up needing to get corrective surgery.
Suffering from an injury as the result of a car accident can cause you to incur a lot of medical expenses. Fortunately, you can hire a car accident attorney to help you recover these expenses from the driver who was responsible for the incident.
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