Car accidents remain an ever-present possibility on Ohio’s roadways. In 2022, there were 118 fatal traffic crashes in Franklin County, with 9 occurring in rural areas and 109 in urban areas.
While no two wrecks unfold identically, most lead to various injuries. Understanding common car accident injuries helps victims seek proper treatment and pursue fair compensation. Our attorneys have handled numerous crash-related injury claims in Columbus and beyond. We know how to leverage medical evidence and documentation to give clients their best chance at maximum settlement payouts.
Whiplash Tops the List of Common Car Accident Injuries
Whiplash leads the pack as the most frequent car accident injury. This neck injury happens when sudden hyperextension jerks soft tissues past normal limits. Rear impacts often cause whiplash, but sideswipes and other crashes also frequently result in strained muscles, tendons, and ligaments across the neck and upper back.
Symptoms arise immediately for some whiplash patients. Many only notice soreness or stiffness hours or days later as inflammation sets in. Headaches, shoulder pain, tingling, dizziness, and ringing ears point to possible whiplash. Severe cases trigger vision or hearing changes. All variable manifestations demonstrate the importance of prompt medical evaluations, even for seemingly minor soreness after a collision.
Doctors often recommend neck braces, therapy, injections, or medications to ease whiplash discomfort. Severe cases sometimes warrant surgery to decompress damaged nerves or address herniated discs. Seeking an accurate early whiplash diagnosis maximizes treatment efficacy and ensures proper documentation to support injury claims.
Back and Spinal Cord Injuries Lead to Partial or Full Paralysis
Though less prevalent than whiplash, back and spinal injuries tend to impose much more severe, lasting consequences. Our spines withstand tremendous stresses in crashes, especially high-speed impacts. Forces beyond structural limits crush vertebrae, pinch nerves, and tear supportive tissues. Discs shift out of position, putting painful pressure on delicate nerve roots.
Back and spinal cord injuries range widely in severity. Minor strains and sprains heal with rest, therapy, or injections. More severe damage necessitates complicated surgery to stabilize shattered vertebrae or replace ruptured discs. Worst-case scenarios cause partial or total paralysis and permanent disability.
Seeking legal counsel helps victims coordinate medical care while gathering documentation needed for current and potential lifelong claims. Thorough case building also prepares clients for battles against insurance denials or delays. We help clients focus fully on treatment while attorneys aggressively pursue the maximum available compensation.
Traumatic Brain Injuries Lead to Lasting Cognitive and Physical Damage
Striking heads on dashboards, side windows, or A-pillars makes traumatic brain injuries another unfortunately common car accident outcome. The CDC estimates over 2.8 million Americans annually sustain TBIs during vehicle crashes and other accidents. Prompt diagnosis and treatment proves critical, as even mild concussions leave lasting effects if not properly managed.
Brain trauma symptoms vary based on location and severity of impacts. Diffuse axonal injuries fray connections between neural cells, undermining cognition, movements, senses, and personality. Contusions and hemorrhages cause different deficits that require exacting treatment plans to maximize function and independence. We work closely with clients’ medical teams to capture needed details while eliminating distractions from legal processes.
Most crash-related TBIs are fortunately rated as mild with headaches, dizziness, and slowed reaction times. However, many patients develop longer-term problems like depression, vision changes, or seizures, highlighting the need for lifetime care. Our attorneys excel at projecting lifetime costs for equipment, medications, therapies, home modifications, and attendant care to secure sufficient settlement or court awarded compensation.
Broken Bones Bring Lasting Complications
Fractures rank among the most visually apparent car accident injuries. Dashboard and steering column contact breaks ribs in frontal collisions. Side impacts fracture clavicles, shoulders, and hips. Pedal pressure snaps ankles or crushes feet. Any body part contacting vehicle interiors risks breakage as kinetic energy transfers violently through occupants’ bodies.
Like other injuries, fracture outcomes depend largely on treatment capacity. Seeking immediate emergency assistance allows prompt realignment and immobilization to protect surrounding tissues. Delayed care means bones begin healing out of position, requiring re-breaking and surgical reconstruction. Our team coordinates quality care while eliminating billing and paperwork hassles.
Though casts and orthopedic hardware mend broken bones over time, full function seldom returns. Spurs and arthritis develop around fracture sites, causing lasting mobility limitations and chronic pain. You deserve compensation for immediate medical bills plus projected lifetime costs for medications, reduced earnings, and home or vehicle modifications to accommodate lasting damage from fractures.
Facial Trauma Changes Appearances and Functions Permanently
Facial features absorb enormous energy loads in crashes. Noses break and shatter while chins and eye sockets fracture. Teeth crack under sudden jaw-clenching forces. Tongues and lips endure lacerations from surrounding dental wreckage. Glass and metal fragments deeply embed while dashboard or window coverings burn skin on bone-deep impact contact.
Face, mouth, and eye injuries bring psychological as well as physical effects. Debilitating changes undermine victims’ body images and self-confidence. Saliva leaks from punctured glands. Food restrictions arise from dental damage while chewing and swallowing difficulties necessitate lengthy speech therapy. Double or perpetual vision impedes mobility. Scalp wounds create lifetime hair pattern distortions.
Proving future emotional suffering and relationship losses presents one legal challenge while projecting medical costs poses another. Our attorneys’ deep familiarity with facial trauma trajectories helps juries fully grasp clients’ experiences. We translate injury details into dollars judiciously yet aggressively enough to secure funds for complete and lasting recoveries.
Internal Injuries Bring Lifelong Organ Function Losses
While surface wounds tend to attract first responders’ attention, severe internal damage sometimes escapes notice immediately following crashes. Organs shift and tear on anchor points. Spleens rupture while livers hemorrhage. Pancreases digest themselves as bowel and bladder walls weaken then leak. Vascular ruptures slowly bleed into abdominal or chest cavities.
Crush impact forces also contuse lungs while hearts get knocked off rhythm. Concussions slam unprotected brains against rigid skulls. Without prompt diagnosis intervention, cascading systemic failures progress rapidly. Even timely surgeries cannot fully restore pre-crash functionality. Mesh holds guts in place while segmented organs struggle at filtration and digestion tasks. Lung capacities shrink behind scar tissue while hearts maintain circulation unpredictably. Lifelong medication regimens and restrictive diets attempt stabilizing what organs remain.
Documenting initial abnormalities and deterioration progression builds a foundation for ongoing and lifelong claims. Our legal team understands when permanent impairments manifest fully. We time settlement demands strategically to capture initial expenses plus projected lifelong earnings and healthcare losses when organs fail completely. We accept nothing less than maximal compensation.
Don’t Suffer Alone – Our Attorneys Will Fight for Your Rights
Sustaining any combination of these common car accident injuries brings devastating disruption on multiple dimensions. Making sense of treatment options while projecting lifelong implications overwhelms crash victims emotionally and cognitively. Meanwhile, insurers minimize or deny viable claims.
At the Jones Firm, our dedicated team of car accident attorneys in Columbus, Ohio, is here to guide you through the process and ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. To further explore your options for medical care coordination, claim development, settlement negotiations, or courtroom litigation, browse https://www.jonesfirmohio.com/. We want to help you regain function and independence after needless suffering in a traffic crash. You deserve accountability and compensation. Trust us to deliver the maximum available justice.
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