When you are involved in a car accident, many things happen to your body. Some of these things are fairly obvious, such as bleeding puncture wounds from shrapnel or scrapes and bruises from banging against a part of the car. However, some injuries are more difficult to diagnose and particularly in the case of injuries that happen internally as well as injuries sustained after a bump or a jar when someone hits you. You may not even know that you have a spinal injury or are bleeding internally unless you know the warning signs.
Some warning signs you’ll want to look for right away. For instance, in the case of internal bleeding in the abdominal area you might experience weakness or being lightheaded as well as shortness of breath according to MedicineNet. In some cases you may vomit red blood or blood that has the same color as coffee grounds. In the case of intercranial bleeding you may find that you have pain in the head but the condition also presents with altered mental states running the gamut from confusion to the patient being comatose. Brain injuries from a car accident are more rare because the brain is well protected by the skull.
One type of common injury sustained following a collision is a spinal or other back injury. Sometimes a spinal injury will present right away and sometimes it can take weeks, months or in rare cases even years to show up. Spinal injuries are caused by the jarring motion of colliding with another vehicle or your body being twisted sharply and can have symptoms such as numbness or tingling in one particular area, paralysis, pain when moving the head or having to hold the head in a strange position as well as having difficulty moving or walking.
However, some of the symptoms of a neck, back or spinal injury are more common after a car accident whether you have a major injury or not. They can include a stiff neck or pain in the neck area, headaches or blurry vision, shock and the inability to control your bowels or bladder. Spinal and neck injuries can also present with weakness in the affected areas. Also, a person that is unconscious or having trouble staying alert may suffer from an injury of this type. Since these are symptoms that people expect to have after a car accident they don’t always get themselves checked out by paramedics after a collision.
Some of these symptoms can mean that you have serious spinal, back or neck injuries however, and not getting them treated by a physician or chiropractor can cause major problems down the road. Also, you may be entitled to compensation from the other driver or their insurance company if you have sustained injuries like these as a result of a vehicle collision. Talk to your attorney or find a qualified car accidnet lawyer if you have had symptoms like the ones listed so that you can get the medical help that you need and the compensation that you deserve.
