Jim Adler | The Tough, Smart Lawyer
You may be curious to know what are the most common car accident injuries.

Though any part of your body can be hurt in a car crash, some injuries are more common than others. These can range from contusions, or bruises, to fractures, or broken bones, and also can include burns, paralysis, amputation and cuts, or lacerations.

The most common accident injuries are whiplash injuries, which are injuries to the neck, the back or both. These are known as a soft tissue injury, which means they damage connective tissue such as tendons, ligaments or muscles. Soft tissue injuries are very common in car wrecks.

Whiplash Injuries Can Last for Years

In a sudden impact, the neck can be stretched and then abruptly snap back into place. This “whiplash” can do damage to the ligaments, vertebrae, disks or the spinal cord in the area of the back and neck. Such whiplash damage in turn can lead to paralysis or loss of function in parts of the body, including the arms or legs.

A neck injury also may take the form of an impact which crushes the trachea or larynx, or it can involve a broken neck, which can be fatal.

Even when whiplash is not as severe, it can cause extreme pain which torments the victim for months or even years. Among other neck injuries are cervical radiculitis, somantic dysfunction of the cervical region, cervical subluxation or cervical sprains.

Brain Injury Also Can Be Lasting

Accidents resulting in brain injury, concussion or loss of consciousness can be life-lasting.

A sudden blow to the head can cause a TBI, or traumatic brain injury. Individuals with a TBI often exhibit impaired vision, speech, memory and thought processes. Or the symptoms can be less severe, such as a headache or concussion, which can heal, though concussions also can have lasting effects.

Of course, a head injury may involve body parts other than the brain. A head injury may mean injury to an ear which causes hearing loss, injury to an eye which causes vision loss, a dental injury such as loss of teeth or broken bones in the jaw or face.

Sometimes head or brain injuries arise as a pedestrian injury. These happen when a person on foot is struck by a vehicle. Since pedestrians lack the protection of a vehicle, they are especially vulnerable to injuries such as a brain injury. Brain injuries can cause bleeding, swelling or bruising of the brain.

While brain injuries can be life-lasting, so can spinal cord injuries. These injuries can lead to loss of feeling or function and perhaps even permanent paralysis. Spinal cord injuries often involve displaced disc material, bone fragments or ligaments tearing into or bruising spinal tissues.

Symptoms of spinal nerve root injuries are numbness or tingling in the victim’s extremities. These types of injuries should be brought to the attention of a medical professional at once.

Victims Suffer Back, Leg, Chest Injuries

Other common injuries after a car crash include back injuries such as herniated discs, sprains, strains, muscle spasms and fractured vertebrae. These injuries can be extremely painful and can limit the victim’s mobility. They also may not reveal symptoms until some time has passed following a car crash. However, even though the symptoms may not be immediately evident, they can have lasting effects when they do become apparent.

Knee and leg injuries also are common accident injuries, ranging from bruises to fractures and also including cartilage tears (meniscus tears). Feet or toes also can be severed in a crash, or toes, feet and ankles can be broken, sprained or strained.

Chest injuries in an auto wreck also can be common, though airbags can deflect some of these. Even so, many car wreck victims suffer broken ribs or a broken sternum, or breastbone. And in some cases a defective airbag can cause an injury.

Some other injuries are impact injuries, caused by the body’s impact with a dashboard, steering wheel or some other object. When victims suffer cuts or lacerations, those are known as penetrating injuries.

Victims also may suffer tearing of the muscles along the bottom of the rib cage, also known as a diaphragm rupture.

Injuries to the pelvis and abdominal area also are common in car wrecks. These may mean internal injuries to the kidneys, liver, spleen or other organs. Other internal injuries can devastate the lungs, heart or other organs.

Victims of a car crash also can suffer psychological injuries, which are known as mental anguish. Such injuries may involve depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Financial Compensation Is Needed

Of course, a car wreck victim may suffer nothing more than cuts and scrapes, which often don’t require hospitalization and do not involve substantial blood loss. But the common accident injuries listed here require not only medical treatment, but financial compensation for victims’ healthcare costs, lost wages and pain and suffering.

Such compensation can come from a car accident claim or lawsuit.

If you or a loved one suffered such common accident injuries as these in a traffic accident, alert our law firm today. We can provide you with an experienced car accident injury lawyer for your case, as we’ve done for many thousands of Texas over the last 40 years.

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