Back injuries can be very serious and can require car accident victims to undergo extensive – and expensive – medical treatment in order to get back to good health. In many cases, a full recovery is not possible, and victims are left coping with high medical costs, lost income, ongoing pain and emotional distress resulting from the accident and injuries. You should not have to cope with these costs on your own if you were injured in a South Carolina car accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence. The person or company that was responsible for causing your back injury should be required to compensate you for your losses.
If you have suffered a serious back injury in a car accident in South Carolina, Joye Law Firm can work to help you recover money to help with your recovery. Our South Carolina car accident lawyers have been helping individuals and families whose lives have been disrupted by car accidents since 1968.
Types of Back Injuries From Car Accidents
The back spans much of the body and is made up of ligaments, muscles, tissues, tendons and bones that stretch from the neck all the way down to the pelvis. Unfortunately, an injury to any part of the back can cause limitations in mobility, debilitating pain and ongoing medical issues.
Some of the most common types of back injuries from car accidents include:
- Back strains – Back strains, like lumbar or thoracic strains, occur when soft tissues are damaged due to force, pressure or impact that causes them to stretch unnaturally. Lumbar strains affect the fibrous tissue in the back, such as the tendons that connect muscles to bones. Pain and mobility problems are common and can be very persistent after a lumbar strain.
- Back sprains – Like strains, sprains involve damage to the soft tissues of the back. In this case, typically ligaments are affected rather than muscles or tendons. Ligaments are also a type of fibrous soft tissue, but this tissue connects bones to joints or connects bones to each other rather than connecting bone to muscle.
- Herniated discs – The bones (vertebrae) of the back are cushioned by small, spongy discs. When too much pressure or force is placed on the discs in a car accident, they can break or rupture. The discs can also bulge, pressing on the nerve roots located along the spine. You may experience significant pain, weakness and numbness as a result of a herniated disc. The pain can radiate throughout the body, especially up and down the back.
- Compression fractures – Compression fractures refer to tiny breaks or cracks in the bones of the spine. Compression fractures can be a very serious back injury that results in breathing problems and persistent pain. In some cases, permanent damage to the spine results from compression fractures.
- Lumbar or thoracic vertebrae fractures – The lumbar vertebrae are bones in the lower back, and the thoracic vertebrae are bones in the middle part of the back. Bones in both the lumbar and thoracic region are prone to rotation fractures, flexion fractures and extension fractures. Flexion and extension fractures are more common. with flexion fractures occurring in situations where the back of the bone stays stable but the front of the bone breaks and loses height. Extension fractures, which are especially common in head-on crashes, occur when the bones pull apart. Rotation fractures are relatively rare and happen when the bone bends to the point of breaking.
Car Accident Back Injuries: Causes, Treatments and Compensation
Back injuries happen in many different types of car accidents, but they are especially common in rear-end and head-on collisions where the body is thrown forward or backward, or in side-impact crashes where the body absorbs the force of the accident due to the vehicle’s limited side-impact protection. When a car accident victim is ejected from the car, this can also lead to serious back injuries, especially if the victim lands on his or her back.
After any type of car accident, it is important to seek prompt medical help in order to have your back injuries properly diagnosed. Some soft tissue injuries in the back do not show up for around 48 hours after a car accident. It is important to get a full medical exam as soon as possible after a car accident to identify any injuries and start treatment.
Treating back injuries properly is essential to controlling pain and achieving the best possible recovery.
Back injury treatments may include:
- Surgical intervention
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic care
- Prescription pain medications
- Steroids
- Casts to allow broken bones to heal and set
The full costs of back injuries caused by car accidents should be covered by those responsible for causing the injuries. This is regardless of the specific types of treatments that you need. Not only should all of your medical treatments be covered, but you may also be entitled to payment of additional costs for adaptive medical devices, home nursing care and even transportation to and from the doctor’s office.
You may also be entitled to compensation for:
- Lost income if your back injuries required you to miss work, if you are not ever able to work again because of your injuries, or if you have to switch to a lower-paying job due to the injuries.
- Pain and suffering resulting from the back injury.
- Emotional distress resulting from the accident and/or from the injury.
Our South Carolina Car Accident Lawyers Can Help
If you have suffered a serious back injury in a car accident, Joye Law Firm may be able to help you obtain compensation to assist you during your recovery. Our car accident lawyers have been helping people from Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Columbia and across South Carolina since 1968.
Joye Law Firm attorneys have nearly 250 years of combined litigation experience, and some of our lawyers have been named Super Lawyers in South Carolina. Some of our lawyers have also received an AV rating (the highest rating possible) from the distinguished Martindale-Hubbell legal directory.
If you have a back injury because of a car accident someone else caused, call Joye Law Firm or complete our online form for a free initial consultation today.
