Nearly 3 million Americans to go to hospital emergency rooms every year because of car accident injuries. Half of those injuries are not plainly visible wounds, like cuts or, abrasions, but “soft tissue” injuries like neck and back trauma. Doctors treat more than a quarter of car accident injury victims for strain and sprains to the neck, back, and spinal cord. Such injuries are the leading emergency room diagnosis for car accident injury victims in Central Florida.
The sudden movement of the head backward and then forward causes Whiplash, the most common neck injury. It’s the kind of car accident injury most related to rear-end collisions. It occurs when you are sitting in a car that isn’t moving and are hit by a vehicle from behind. The sudden, violent movement of your head back into the headrest and then forward (usually with your chin hitting your chest) stresses neck muscles and tendons. Neck strain is damage to the muscle and tendons of the neck. On the other hand, doctors call tears to the bone-connecting ligaments in the neck or back sprain.
Neck and Back Pain
While 70% of auto accident victims who go to the emergency room are given imaging tests, like x-rays, CT-scans and MRI’s, many of these tests will not reveal soft tissue damage from car crashes injuries like whiplash. Although you’re likely to experience symptoms like pain, stiffness, and headaches, you may not feel it right away. That’s why it’s important to see a doctor right away after you’ve been in a car collision. See a doctor, then contact an experienced car accident attorney.
The costs from an emergency visit alone will likely be thousands of dollars. Insurance may not cover all of your expenses. There may additional, long-term costs that you may not anticipate. Insurance companies will fight to pay you the least amount possible. That’s why, for the past 30 years, people in Central Florida have been turning to the Orlando car accident attorneys at Martinez Manglardi. For a free consultation — throughout Florida — about a car accident injury call 407-846-2240.