Common Injuries Occurring From Car Accidents

A car accident, no matter the extent of the damage, is a serious matter. Whether you are the driver at fault or the passenger in an impacted vehicle, a car crash can leave both physical and emotional injuries and scars.  On the more serious side, an accident can lead to significant lifelong injuries or even worse, death.

As personal injury lawyers in New York, we work with a variety of clients.  We have seen many different types of injuries from car accidents.  That being said, several injuries tend to be the most common.  While many of us never expect to get into a car crash, it is useful to recognize the most frequently occurring injuries that occur in auto accidents.

Frequent Injuries From Car Crashes

To start, some of the more common car crash injuries that we see are cuts and scrapes.  These cuts and scrapes can be caused by many different things.  For example, flying glass, items located within your car, and other debris outside the car can hit the skin, including the car’s seat belt or other safety devices.  Even if those objects do not create cuts or scrapes, they may cause some pretty significant bruising, for example, an exploding airbag.

The good news is that these cuts and scrapes often are not fatal.  While they may take several days or longer to heal, you may not even need medical treatment.  That being said, there are some situations where cuts and scrapes may cause significant bleeding and disfigurement.  If this occurs, you may need more urgent medical treatment.

From scrapes and cuts, some of the more common injuries from a car crash are what are often called soft tissue injuries.  Generally speaking, soft tissue injuries are injuries to the body’s connective tissue.

While soft tissue injuries can take many forms, one of the more common forms is whiplash.  Even if you have not gotten into a car crash, you may have experienced whiplash with a sudden hard stop.  Whiplash can cause injuries to your neck and upper back.  Even days or weeks after the accident, you may experience persistent pain in these areas.  Beyond whiplash, some other soft tissue injuries include but are not limited to, muscle sprains and severe back injuries.  You may also suffer injuries to other body parts such as hands, arms, legs, and fees, just to name a few.

Next, brain and head injuries are common in car crashes as the brain bangs back and forth inside the skull causing bruising, bleeding, and tearing of nerve fibers.  As personal injury lawyers in New York, we see these types of injuries.  These types of injuries can range from mild to extremely serious.  On the milder side, the impact from a car crash can cause the head to move in unnatural or unexpected ways.  For the more serious car crashes, however, traumatic brain injury can occur.  In fact, more than 50% of traumatic injuries occur from auto accidents.  This type of injury can be serious, ranging from concussions to skull fractures.  In essentially every instance of this injury, you will want to seek medical attention as soon as possible.  Even if you think that your brain or head injury is minor, you want to take this extremely seriously.

From brain and head injuries, our firm has also noticed that arm and leg injuries are quite common.  As you can imagine, an intense car crash can cause the vehicle to cave in, affecting your arms and legs.  This is especially true if your car is hit from the side.  In some of the worst-case scenarios, your arms or legs could be trapped or pinned down inside the vehicle after the accident.

Finally, psychological injuries are common from car crashes.  This can include things like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.  While these injuries may not appear on the surface, they certainly exist.  Seeking therapy or other mental health care is a good start to proactively address these injuries.

Being Aware of These Injuries

While we do not expect to get in a car crash in our day-to-day lives, being aware of these injuries can be beneficial.  We can set our expectations and not be surprised if we suffer minor or substantial damage from the accident.

Not only that but being aware of these injuries can help your accident lawyer get the best outcome for your case.  As personal injury lawyers in New York, we help all kinds of clients obtain full and just compensation from their insurance companies.  Working with our clients, we can do everything from gathering evidence to litigating potential claims.  We will be there for you during the entire process.

If you are looking for a personal injury lawyer in New York, we encourage you to contact our firm.  Reach out today and one of our experienced attorneys will be happy to discuss your accident claim.