Back Injuries From Accidents

Your back is made up of bones, muscles and other tissues extending from your neck to your pelvis. Back injuries can be incurred from sports injuries, work around the house or garden, a sudden jolt such as a car accident. Furthermore, back injuries can be caused from all different types of crashes and due to negligence of other individuals in either the workforce or another person driving a vehicle. Common back injuries include:

  1. Sprains and strains;
  2. Herniated discs; and
  3. Fractured vertebrae.

These injuries can cause substantial pain and limit your movement. Treatment may vary, but might include the use of medication, icing, bed rest, physical therapy or surgery. You may be able to prevent some back injuries buy retaining a healthy weight, lifting objects using your legs and using back support when you sit.

One type of back injury is called a compression fracture. A compression fracture of the back is broken vertebrae which are the bones of the spine. The causes of compression fractures can be one of the following:

  1. Osteoporosis;
  2. Trauma to the back;
  3. Tumors which start in the bone; and
  4. Tumors which start in the spine.

In accidents, compression fractures can occur suddenly, which can cause severe back pain which is most likely felt in the mid to lower part of the spine. It can also be brought on the sides or in the front of the spine. The feeling is often disability, taking weeks to months to go away if at all. The condition is using treated with medications and calcium supplements, pain medication and bed rest. Other treatments may include back braces, physical therapy and surgery. Surgery may be done if you have a severe and disability pain for more than two months which does not get better with other treatment.

Surgery can include balloon Kyphoplasty or spinal fusion. Other surgery may be done to remove bone if the fracture is due to a tumor. After surgery, you may need a brace for 6-10 weeks of the fracture if the fracture was due to an injury.

Most compression fractures due to injury will heal in 8-10 weeks with substantial rest, wearing a brace and taking pain medication. However, recovery can take much longer if you have surgery. You should contact a medical professional if you have back pain and you think you may have a compression fracture, or if you have worsening symptoms or difficulty controlling your bladder or bowel functions.

When conservative treatment does not work, back surgery may offer relief but does not help every type of back pain. If your back was injured due to an accident, you may need back surgery:

  1. If you have a condition which compresses your spinal nerves causing depilatory back pain or numbness along the back of your leg;
  2. If you have bulging or ruptured (herniated) discs;
  3. If you have broken bones or other damage to your spinal column,;
  4. If you have a vertebrae fracture in an unstable spine; and
  5. If you first tried conservative measures and they failed to relief your back pain or other symptoms.

To relieve the pressure from the pain due to a trauma, the back surgery may relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves. Surgeons can remove portions of the bone to widen the narrow area in the bones of your spine. Removing the gel-like middle portion of a ruptured disc may also help to relieve pressure on pinched nerves. Sometimes your doctor has to remove the entire disc and fuse together the adjoining vertebrae.

There are several types of back surgeries:

  1. Diskectomy;
  2. Laminectomy;
  3. Fusion;
  4. Vertebroplasty; and
  5. Artificial discs.

When to Approach our Back Injury Lawyer?

Back injuries may be caused from a vehicular accident, a slip and fall, a construction accident or a number of various other types of accidents which may cause trauma to your back. Many of these accidents are caused by the negligence of a third-party. If someone was negligent and cause your injury, you will require the need of an attorney to represent you in bringing a personal injury claim. We at David K. Kremin & Associates and its affiliated law firms can represent you against the individual or entity that may have caused your back injury.

It is imperative you contact our law firm immediately for several reasons. The first reason is that we need to collect evidence to prove your case. People’s memories fade over time and evidence gets lost. Furthermore, we need to hire expert witnesses who may need to see the instruments, such as the vehicle which caused the accident and an expert to interview and reconstruct the accident to prove the case. The most important reason to contact our law firm immediately is because the statute of limitation requires a lawsuit be filed within a certain period of time. There are also instances where Notices must be filed or tendered within a short period of time from the accident.

Accordingly, if you fail to secure an attorney and file a lawsuit before the statute of limitation expires, you will be forever barred from bringing a claim or being compensated. We promise you a free consultation and we never charge, unless we collect money for you. You will talk with an attorney with 20-30 years of experience, so please call us at 1(800) ASK-A-LAWYER or 1(800) 275-2529.

The human back is delicate and a complex structure of bones, muscles, nerves and other tissues. While a healthy back is easy to take for granted, a back injury can have severe and long lasting consequences that affect every aspect of one’s life. The most common traumatic back injury is a herniated disc, also known as a slipped or ruptured disc. The discs are small spongy cushions within the spinal column and protect the vertebrae from one another and give the spine flexibility.

The impact from an accident can damage a disc causing it to break or deform thereby destroying its ability to cushion the bones of the spine. A damaged disc may also put direct pressure on nearby nerves, which can cause pain, numbness in any part of the body and affect various nerves.

A spinal cord injury is a back injury that can be caused by impact in an accident. Spinal cord injuries stop the brain’s ability to communicate with the body resulting in paralysis and lack of sensation to some or all parts of the body. A spinal cord injury may be complete, resulting in total numbness of the body, or a spinal cord injury may be incomplete, resulting in loss of some sensation or movement of the body.

Accidents can cause compression fractures. A compression fracture is tiny cracks in the bones of the spine which can eventually cause the vertebrae to collapse and deform. Symptoms of a compression fracture may include pain and breathing difficulties. Back injuries can be very expensive, and for this reason it is important to secure an attorney immediately. The medical costs involved in back injuries can be very high. Medical care can be a major expense, especially when you are hospitalized or require rehabilitation. Most likely, you will not be able to work and will loss income due to a back injury.

A person who has been injured can file a lawsuit and ask the Court for compensation from the party responsible for the accident. Money damages are called compensatory damages and they are rendered to restore the injured person to the same position or as close as possible as the person was before the accident. To calculate compensatory damages, you would include out of pocket economic factors, such as medical expenses, lost wages as well as non-economic factors such as pain and suffering.

In some cases where a person was reckless or intentionally caused a person injury, punitive damages may be available. This is damages awarded to punish the defendant who acted in such a reckless and irresponsible manner.

Hiring a lawyer and securing compensation is extremely important to help you with your medical care costs and to foster a recovery from your injury. People who have a personal injury claim usually want to know what kind of back injury settlement or other accident insurance settlement amounts they can expect to get. We have been working on these types of cases for years and have settled all kinds of back injury cases. There is no one amount of compensation you can get for a certain type of case, it depends on many factors. The most important factor is what type of injury you have and if it has disabled you from working or continuing your everyday routine and how much pain and suffering you incurred as a result of the accident.

A very important part of an accident claim is determining how much insurance coverage is available to pay for you for compensation for your injury. How much a case is worth is often determined when the insurance company adjuster and the attorney try to predict what an imaginary jury would award the client. The attorney and adjuster do this after all evidence is in and they have determined what type of witness a client may make in court. The two of them come to some agreement with the permission from the client as to what the settlement amount will be. It is our opinion that without an attorney, the insurance company will try to convince the accident victim that their claim is not worth much and will often give a take it or leave it offer of a small amount of money.

A personal injury attorney knows from significant experience how much a case is worth and from looking at what juries have rendered historically in the county where the accident occurred. It is important you have an attorney with much experience and negotiation skills and someone who knows how to prosecute a lawsuit.

A client will seek money in a back injury settlement depending on so many factors including the severity of the injury, how bad the impact of the crash was, the length of treatment for the injury, the amount of permanent tissue damage done, how much work was missed, how much pay was lost, how it affected the lifestyle and the ability to work of the individual, what kind of job they had and if it was permanently lost due to the injuries.

We have secured millions of dollars for clients with serious back injuries. Many other factors are also taken into consideration, such as who was at fault for the accident.

Automobile accidents occur every day and those accidents cause many different types of back injuries. Even a minor accident can cause serious back injuries. This is due to how the human body absorbs the jarring impact of a car accident, even a low speed collision.

The spine can be divided into three distinct areas:

  1. Cervical vertebrae;
  2. Thoracic vertebrae; and
  3. Lumbar vertebrae.

Each section of the spinal cord and its vertebrae are surrounded by discs, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves, which if injured can cause varying degrees of pain.

After any accident and back injury has been diagnosed, the severity is determined through the use of x-rays, CAT scans, MRI’s, milagrams and bone scans. Once the diagnosis is made, treatment varies according to the type of severity of the injury sustained. Many back injuries require one short-term temporary treatment such as pain medication or injections for inflammation. Also physical therapy and chiropractic care is a possibility.

Serious back injuries may require a surgical procedure to alleviate the pressure on the spinal cord itself or the surrounding nerves.

If you or your loved one has been involved in an auto accident, you should do the following:

  1. Stop your vehicle;
  2. Never leave the scene of accident;
  3. Call the police;
  4. Gather and write down each driver’s information;
  5. Be careful what you say at the scene of the accident in that statements are powerful evidence of fault;
  6. Make no agreement at a car accident scene; and
  7. Seek medical care immediately; and
  8. Seek an attorney immediately.

You should be aware that back injuries sometimes do not manifest for several months, and if you feel any pain, you should seek medical attention immediately.

Often the impact of a collision causes a whiplash, forcing the spine, neck or back to get jolted out of position. Sometimes a disc that gets moved as a result of the whiplash doesn’t return to its original state leaving a misaligned body.

If you have been involved in a car accident or any accident, the first step is to call an ambulance for medical care and advice. The next step is to contact an attorney as they will work with you to help get the outcome you deserve for your injuries. Any injury lawyer will be able to go through the case and decide if you or other parties were negligent in causing the injury. If the other party is negligent, you can file a claim against the other party’s insurance company seeking compensation for your injuries. If you are responsible for the accident, chances are no compensation will be awarded.

Neck and back injuries can arise from motor vehicle accidents, high impact sports, during a slip and fall accident, at work or nearly any other place or situation. Strains, sprains, whiplash, a slipped disc, compressed fractures, spinal cord injuries are some of the most common neck and back injuries, unfortunately some of these injuries may cause permanent, partial or total disability.

Following an accident, it is often too difficult to retain information of the specific facts that occurred at the time of the accident. For this reason, contacting a personal injury lawyer to assist you is important and necessary to obtain necessary witness statements, photographs and retaining expert reconstruction individuals to prove who is responsible for the accident.

Our personal injury lawyers have devoted their entire professional career in handling personal injury cases. They can effectively take you through the often difficult tasks of dealing with insurance companies. A personal injury lawyer can help clients recover the compensation they need to pay for medical treatment, lost wages, costs associated with disabilities, and future costs as a result of the injury. From the beginning of your case until the end, a personal injury lawyer will work for you to ensure your rights are being protected and help return a sense of normalcy to your life.

Personal injury lawyers are familiar with requirements needed to prove a personal injury claim. They will utilize on staff investigators to validate the facts of the accident. They consult with medical specialists to document the extent of your injuries. They build a compelling representation of your need for compensation after a neck or back injury.

An injury lawyer can offer a free initial consultation to discuss your claim and need for compensation. They can also guide you through the process of filing a claim, appearing in court or mediation and receiving the benefits owed to you.

If you were involved in an accident and your back is injured, it is imperative you contact our offices, David K. Kremin & Associates and its affiliates to represent you on a personal injury claim. If you fail to file a lawsuit or Notice within the required period of time, you will be forever barred from bringing a claim or being compensated. The most important statute is the statute of limitation which is different in each State. It sets forth what period of time you have to file a lawsuit or Notice.

Accordingly, please contact us for a free consultation. We never charge, unless we collect money for you. Please call us at 1(800) ASK-A-LAWYER or 1(800) 275-2529.