Orthopedic Injuries in a Car Accident

An orthopedic injury involves the bones, muscles, joints and ligaments. Most serious injuries in car accidents, however, concern fractures of the legs, arms, hands, wrists, chest and face.

Fractures from auto accidents can often produce extreme and disabling injuries. A car accident typically involves enormous forces even from a slow moving vehicle. Too often, a victim can suffer crushing injuries and multiple fractures requiring reconstructive surgery, metal hardware, and years of physical and psychological therapy.

Even if a car accident has no issue of liability, there are other complex issues of causation and proof of damages that a car accident attorney is best able to handle if you want the best possible car accident settlement.

Causes of Fractures in Auto Accidents

• Broken limbs – During a collision, the body is thrown backwards and forwards into the dashboard steering column, or thrown against the door in a side accident. Wearing a seat belt can minimize this risk unless there is a severe T-bone accident or where there is an incursion into the car’s interior.
• Facial fractures – Smashing your face against the side window or into the steering column can produce facial lacerations and fractures. If your seatbelt breaks or is otherwise defective, you could be propelled into the windshield.
• Broken ribs – Contact with the steering wheel or side door can produce rib fractures.
• Broken collarbones – A side or front collision or a vehicle that enters into the interior of another can produce these and other serious injuries.
• Spinal fractures – Even a low speed collision has enough force to break or crack a vertebra, resulting in paralysis. Older drivers or those with preexisting spinal conditions are especially susceptible, but in negligence law it does not matter how fragile the victim was before the accident.

Types of Bone Fractures

• Hairline fracture – A hairline fracture means there are tiny cracks in the bone.
• Avulsion fracture – This is a condition whereby a tendon attached to a muscle to a bone pulls a portion of the bone apart.
• Compound fracture – These are also referred to as open fractures. In this case, the bone breaks through the skin resulting in a higher risk for complications.
• Comminuted fracture – The bone breaks into small pieces or fragments.
• Closed fracture – The bone breaks but does not pierce the skin, though there can be considerable soft tissue damage.
• Displaced fracture – The broken ends of the bones are separated, requiring surgical intervention.

 

Orthopedic injuries from a car accident can be painful and result in periods of temporary or permanent disability. Retaining a personal injury lawyer at the earliest stages of your car accident settlement is vital to ensuring that your case is handled properly and that you do not jeopardize your chances for a satisfactory recovery.