Car accidents can lead to various types of injuries, including those classified as “soft tissue” injuries. It is important to understand the complex nature of soft tissue injuries, particularly when it comes to making decisions about whether or not to seek medical care. These injuries are sometimes apparent, but it is not uncommon for a crash victim to not realize they have sustained a soft tissue injury until hours or days after a crash occurs. If you have sustained a soft-tissue injury, contact our Evanston car accident lawyers today for a free case evaluation.
What is a Soft Tissue Injury?
There are many types of soft tissue injuries that can occur as a result of a car accident. Soft tissues are the “tissues” that help our body’s movement. Unfortunately, it is not very difficult to cause severe damage to these tissues in the event a collision occurs. Soft tissue traumas involve our:
- Skin
- Muscles
- Ligaments
- Tendons
There are two main categories of soft tissue injuries – (1) acute traumatic injuries that result from an external force impacting our body and (2) overuse injuries, which are the result of the repetitive use of soft tissues doing various activities.
When we are talking about vehicle accidents, the soft tissue injuries involved are those caused by acute traumas. The severity of soft tissue injuries after a vehicle accident will depend on various factors, including the force of the impact and the angle of the impact.
Whiplash is considered to be one of the most common types of car accident soft tissue injuries. Whiplash involves the strain or sprain of the soft tissues indent around the neck area, including the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This injury is caused by a sudden impact, which leads the rapid back and forth movement of the upper body and neck.
There are other types of soft tissue injuries that can occur in a vehicle accident, including:
- Sprains. Vehicle accidents can lead to individuals suffering from sprains to their wrists, ankles, elbows, shoulders, and knees.
- Contusions. Collisions can lead to various parts of our body slamming into the inner portions of the vehicle, and this can cause severe bruising all over the body.
- Rotator cuff injuries. Our rotator cuffs are in our shoulders, and injuries to this area can be severe. If the shoulder absorbs most of the impact, this can damage the muscles and tendons in the rotator cuff.
- Tendonitis. Depending on the force of a collision, a crash could lead to the tendons connecting our soft tissue to the bones and joints becoming swollen or inflamed.
Recovering Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries
It is certainly possible to recover compensation for soft tissue injury in a vehicle accident, so long as it can be determined that the other driver was responsible for the incident. If another driver was at fault, soft tissue injury victims should be able to recover compensation through that driver’s insurance policy. In the event the insurance carrier does not offer a fair settlement, or if they deny the claim altogether, it may be necessary to file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver. Overall, soft tissue injury victims should be able to recover compensation for their:
- Medical bills
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation
- Lost income
- Prescription medications
- Pain and suffering damages
- Property damage expenses
The total amount of compensation available to soft tissue injury victims will vary depending on the severity of their injuries and whether or not there was any shared fault for the incident. Shared fault could result in a person receiving reduced compensation.