If you’ve been involved in a car accident, sometimes you feel like you can just walk away from the accident without any injuries.
You count yourself lucky and move on with your day. However, it is important not to get too comfortable. In some cases, an injury can be masked by the adrenaline produced during the accident, or you may have an injury with delayed symptoms. That is why it is always important to seek medical treatment any time you are in a car accident. If you don’t seek treatment immediately, you should be aware of some delayed injury symptoms that shouldn’t be ignored.
1. Headache
You may experience a headache a few hours or even days after an accident. It is important not to ignore a headache because it could be a sign of something serious. Blood clots on the brain, injury to your head or neck, or even a serious concussion can result in you experiencing a headache sometime after the accident. There is a risk of traumatic brain injury if you hit your head in the accident. This could potentially result in swelling, bruising, or bleeding in the brain. It is important to seek medical attention at any time you have a headache after an accident.
2. Neck and Shoulder Pain
Pain in the neck and shoulders can be a sign of whiplash, a common car accident injury. Whiplash occurs when there is a forceful back and forth motion of the neck. Sometimes the symptoms of whiplash can take days to set in. While whiplash is a common injury, it can sometimes be very serious and debilitating. Whiplash should always be taken seriously, and you should see a doctor who can diagnose your condition using an MRI.
3. Back Pain
If you experience back pain days after your accident, it could be signs of significant injury. Back pain can be a symptom of a herniated disc, a soft tissue injury, a spinal injury, or whiplash. Numbness or tingling in your back could also be the result of a pinched nerve. These conditions can be debilitating and cause you problems with your mobility. It is important to seek immediate medical treatment.
4. PTSD
Not all car accident injuries are physical. Sometimes the trauma of a car accident can have an impact on your psychological well-being. Think beyond your physical injuries. Post-traumatic stress disorder may appear gradually at first but can eventually have a serious impact on your ability to function. Be aware of the signs of PTSD, such as recurring nightmares or thoughts about the accident, problems sleeping, anxiety, depression, fear of getting in a car or driving, negative thoughts, and difficulty experiencing positive emotions. PTSD can be treated with therapy and sometimes medication, so you should not be afraid to seek treatment.
Many people feel like just because they did not sustain any debilitating injuries or are “just sore” that they weren’t injured badly enough to seek medical care. In response to that approach, consider walking with a pebble in your shoe. The pebble probably isn’t going to cripple you, and you can continue to walk with it, but it’s annoying, over time it can become very painful, and it’s something that just isn’t right that you shouldn’t have to walk with. So what do you do? You stop, take off your shoe, and dump the pebble out so you don’t have to continue dealing with the discomfort.
People who have been injured in accidents should approach their health no less seriously than the pebble in the shoe and seek the medical care they need, even if purely as a precaution. You only have one body and it has to last you a lifetime, so take care of it.
Our Personal Injury Team Is Here For You.
If you’ve been seriously injured in a car accident and can’t work, you need legal advice about your situation from a knowledgeable personal injury attorney. Our firm helps injured car accident victims in Texas seek damages from those responsible. The lawyers at Duke Seth, PLLC can help you learn more about your options during a free consultation. Schedule your free consultation today—fill out our contact form or call (214) 965-8100 to get started.
