Soft Tissue Injuries
Our Long Beach car accident lawyer can provide assistance with pursuing a case based on soft tissue injuries.
Understanding Soft Tissue Injuries with Help from a Long Beach Car Accident Lawyer
People drive their cars every single day for a variety of reasons. Even more ride in vehicles as passengers. With that, it is not a shock that there are a great many accidents. Many of these are minor with no injuries and little, if any, damage to the vehicles. Some, however, are serious and lead to significant damage to the vehicles and injuries to drivers and passengers. If you have never been in a car crash, the odds are that you will eventually be involved in one. It is important to understand that many injuries are not clear to the naked eye, but can be long lasting and severe. Soft tissue injuries involve, as the name suggests, “soft” locations on the body. This can include muscles, ligaments and tendons. Examples of soft tissue injures can be strains, contusions and sprains. Strains come when a muscle or tendon is overused. A contusion is a bruise. A sprain is ligament damage from a joint being overextended. While these might not sound serious, they can cause significant pain and lead to discomfort from stiffness, soreness, bruises and from swelling. These injuries are often due to the vehicle impact. A car accident can result in the drivers and passengers being jerked around rapidly inside the vehicle. Whiplash is another kind of injury that can result from a car crash. Technically, it is known as a cervical hyperextension or strain/sprain. These commonly arise from being rear-ended as the head and neck are shaken back and forth. Symptoms of whiplash include neck stiffness, sharp pain in the neck, back issues, and cognitive problems such as trouble remembering and concentrating. The symptoms of whiplash might be evident right after the accident, but they often take time to manifest themselves. Even if they do not show up immediately, they can still be serious. If they are not treated, a victim might have pain and discomfort in the back and neck on a chronic basis. It is important to receive medical care if whiplash has resulted from a car accident. This is true even if the injuries seem to be minor. It might be necessary to have the neck immobilized with a brace. In addition, physical therapy and muscle relaxants can help with recovery.
Your Long Beach Car Accident Lawyer Will Stress the Importance of Medical Care
Since you might not immediately feel the effects of whiplash and soft tissue injuries after the accident, it is important to get medical care whether you feel you need it or not. Soft tissue injuries can be difficult to diagnose because they do not appear on x-rays. With that in mind, you must have a doctor examine you to provide a diagnosis for your pain. When considering a legal filing to be compensated, this is imperative as the medical records will be used as evidence to prove that you were injured and how serious the injuries are.
The Importance of Liability
When there is a car accident, one of the keys is to come to a determination as to whose fault it was. This can have an extended influence from the increase of insurance rates to coming to a determination as to how the parties are compensated through insurance. The police will fill out a report after the accident. In the report, it might say who is deemed to have been at fault. These reports are heavily relied upon in a legal case. The traffic laws at the time and the possibility that they were violated will also be important. Since there are so many traffic laws, it is likely that there will be a number of them relevant to the accident. An example might be if a driver was not supposed to make a turn on a certain roadway, but did so anyway. This information could help a legal case a great deal when the decision is made as to who is liable.
Call an Experienced Long Beach Car Accident Lawyer
If you have questions about soft tissue injuries, call (949) 851-0222 to speak to a Long Beach car accident lawyer at Russell & Lazarus APC.