There are many different types of neck injuries. If you have been in a car accident learn what you must know and why the distinctions are vitally important to your automobile accident case.
After a person injures their neck in an automobile accident, a variety of symptoms could appear immediately or even days after the accident. Identifying these symptoms and receiving timely accurate medical treatment is drastically important to an automobile accident case. The neck is an extremely complicated area of the body which consists mainly of the spinal cord, muscles, ligaments, disks and nerves. Symptoms could include neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain, numbness and tingling in the arms and hands as well as soreness. These symptoms could be representative of many different types of neck injuries. Learning the different types of neck injuries that could potentially produce the symptoms is extremely important to your automobile accident case.
The underlying symptoms could be representative of a muscle strain. Muscle strain is an injury to a muscle that causes inflammation in response to the injury. That inflammation is usually the cause of a muscle strain pain symptoms. It is important to know that a muscle strain or sprain is drastically different than a nerve or disk injury. Muscle strains or sprains usually resolve with conservative medical treatment. It is important to note that neck sprains are injuries to ligaments rather that muscles. A sprain occurs when an injury over loads or over stretches the tendon. It is quite easy to mistake a sprain with a subluxation but it is important to note they are not the same. Subluxation of the neck is when the vertebrae becomes misaligned or out of position. A sprain occurs when the ligaments that hold the bones together are injured. It is important to note that strains, like sprains result in swelling that occurs in response to the injury which may cause problems such as decreased range of motion and pain.
The same symptoms discussed previously could also be representative of injuries to nerves and/or spinal cord. Neck injuries that affect the nervous system are far more complicated and potentially dangerous that could result in lifelong disability, paralysis or even death. Nervous system injuries in the neck range from a disk protrusion to disk herniation which compresses the spinal column. Depending on the severity of the disk injury and how it affects the surrounding nerves and spinal column, a variety of treatments could be recommended ranging from exercising, conservative care all the way through invasive surgery. The surgeries range from minimally invasive all the way to a diskectomy and fusions.
If you are experiencing any neck related symptoms following an automobile accident, it is extremely important that you seek medical treatment early and with the appropriate physician in order to take all of the necessary steps to recover from your injury as well as document your automobile accident case. If you have any questions concerning automobile accidents and neck injuries, please contact us at (386) 255-6400. The Attorneys at Zimmet & Zimmet represent automobile accident victims in Daytona Beach, Florida.
