Four types of hidden injuries of car accidents
When the victim of a car accident can walk away with no visible injuries, it can seem like a miracle. Unfortunately, situations like this can also be too good to be true. Many injuries can go unseen and lead to disastrous consequences.
Nonfatal injuries are more common than people may expect. About three million people receive nonfatal injuries each year in motor vehicle accidents. With so many injuries out there, what are forms of unseen injuries and their signs?
Traumatic brain injuries
The brain is very vulnerable inside the skull. When a car accident occurs, it can cause the brain to bounce inside the skull violently, and each collision inside the head can harm the brain. Concussions and other traumatic injuries can appear as dizziness, nausea, fatigue, slurred speech, or headaches, or migraines.
Knee injuries
When a collision injures a knee, the victim may consider any knee pain to be just a result of the accident, and something that will go away in time. After a knee strikes a dashboard, or a car door crumples in on a knee, there can be severe unseen injuries like shattered patella, torn meniscus, or other damage to the patella (kneecap). Inflammation or bruising can be the only sign a victim sees of these injuries.
Spine and neck injuries
The spine is very delicate and significant impacts to it can jeopardize the spinal column in many ways. Whiplash may be the most notorious injury in this category, but other injuries like herniated disks, spinal stenosis, and nerve damage can occur from an accident. Numbness, stiffness, or soreness in the back and loss of function in body parts can indicate these injuries.
Psychological injuries
Car accidents have the power to injure a victim’s emotions as well as their bodies. Emotional damages can be the hardest type of injury to recognize or treat. Signs of these injuries can include fear or aversion of driving, fear of getting into vehicles at all, or fear of leaving the house. These kinds of phobias can drastically change the lives of a victim and their family, and psychological care may be immediately necessary.
Do not ignore signs of injury
If a doctor did not diagnose a victim with these injuries and symptoms, say otherwise, getting a second opinion can save a victim’s life. Do not hesitate to see a doctor to look for the hidden injuries of a car accident.