After a car crash, you could suffer different types of injuries — from broken bones, bumps, and bruises. In more severe cases, you could lose your life.
Atlanta car accident attorneys deal with many cases of back injuries and other forms of injuries that put clients through a lot of pain and trouble. Here are different kinds of back injuries and pains that you could experience after a car accident.
Classification of Back Injuries and Pains
Some of the back injuries you could get after a car crash include lumbar sprains, spinal stenosis, and facet joint injuries.
Spinal stenosis is an injury that many Atlanta car accident attorneys see from time to time. It involves a ruptured disc that enters the spinal canal space. The ruptured disk applies pressure on the spinal cord or nerves, causing severe pain.
Facet joints contain disks that facilitate and limit your vertebrae’s movement. Whiplash, a rapid back and forth motion, could cause damage to these joint; thereby leading to back pain.
Back pains are classified into three categories: chronic, acute, and semi-cute pains.
Chronic pain may last for the remainder of your life if you do not seek medical help, as recommended by most reputable Atlanta car accident attorneys. Corrective treatments such as physical therapy, steroid injections, surgery, nerve blocks, and orthotic devices can help you ease back pain.
Acute pain may subside once the underlying issue is fixed. The pain can last anywhere between a few days and a few weeks.
Sub-acute pains last longer than acute pains and require more intense treatment. On average, this type of pain lasts less than 3 to 6 months.
How Do Doctors Diagnose Back Injuries?
Diagnosing different types of back injuries can be challenging because some injuries have the same symptoms.
Atlanta car accident attorneys from Ponton Law have observed that medical doctors have a wide variety of diagnostic tools that they use to diagnose back pain after car accidents. Physicians may use X-rays to create images that display vertebral fractures and misalignment.
X-rays, nonetheless, can be useless in a disc and soft tissue injuries. Your doctor may use CT-scans, otherwise known as computerized tomography, to diagnose tumors, spinal stenosis, and ruptured disks.
A discography can also help physicians to diagnose back injuries and pain before recommending various treatments. Discography involves injecting dyes into the affected area to get higher resolution images during CT-scans.
Different Treatments for Back Pains
Treatment for back pain depends on the type of pain and injury. To treat acute back pains, your doctor may recommend over-the-counter analgesics such as ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, and naproxen sodium.
If you’re suffering from chronic back pains, you may have to undergo surgery and physical therapy to strengthen your injured muscles and bones.
Act Accordingly: Seek Legal Help
Pain arising from the impact of a car crash can interfere with your physical sensation, career, mood, family life, and movement. It can also result in irritability and depressions. You may be entitled to compensation that can help you cater for your treatment and bills.
If you have suffered injuries that have left you with pain after a car accident, you may want to consult a reputable law firm. Contact Ponton Law today to speak to an experienced Atlanta car accident attorney.