Did a car accident injure your spine?

The human body is remarkably resilient to harm, if it receives the right treatment and has time to rest and recover properly. However, when an injury affects the spine, it is not time to sit around ignoring it and hoping that your body will heal itself over time.

This is especially true after some trauma event, such as a car accident. The impressive healing powers of the body often are not enough to counteract the violent experience of a car accident if you suffer damage to your spine, among other very serious injuries. Injuries affecting the spinal column may not only produce agonizing pain, but may also leave you unable to control your body, or portions of it.

Injuries suffered in car accidents often justify a personal injury claim seeking fair compensation for your medical expenses and lost income. Consider all of the legal options that you have to keep yourself safe and protect your rights during your long road to recovery.

The importance of the spinal column

Many systems within our bodies are interconnected, so that when one part of the body suffers an injury other parts may suffer as well. Rarely is this more true than in the case of spinal injuries. Your spine is the structure that quite literally holds your body together, providing the support for the rest of your skeleton. In addition, all of the nerves that connect to the stem of the brain and travel throughout every part of your body travel through the spinal column as they spread out to your arms, legs, fingers, toes and everywhere else in your body that you can feel pain or sensation.

When you suffer an injury to the spinal column, you risk not only suffering the effects of the injured column itself, you may also pinch or sever nerves that travel with the column, much like fiberoptic cable traveling through a pipeline. If the pipeline breaks, everything within the pipeline is also vulnerable to damage.

You know how frustrating it is when the phone service in your home goes down, or when electricity goes out because a transformer blew or a branch fell on the power lines. Spinal injuries are much like this for the body. Your nerves are very fragile, and any damage to them can disrupt their ability to transmit information.

Of course, in this case, failing to transmit information means failing to properly allow a portion of your body to feel sensation. This may mean you feel only tingling in in some part of your body, or may lose feeling altogether. In other cases, you may feel sharp pain or radiating pain. Without proper treatment and ongoing care, you may suffer with these effects for months or even years, including partial or total paralysis.

Protect your future now

If you have any reason to believe that some other party bears responsibility for your injury, then you should consider building a strong personal injury claim. A well-assembled claim allows you to put your time and energy towards your own recovery while it seeks full compensation for your injuries and losses and protects your rights and priorities. Take great care to use all the resources that you have to address this difficulty fully and avoid unnecessary long-term suffering and discomfort.