Common Delayed Symptoms After a Car Accident

Delayed Injuries After a Car Crash

In all car accidents, whether they are big or small, the common denominator is that there is an impact that usually yields a large amount of force upon a driver or passenger’s body.  Where there is force, an injury unfortunately often follows.  Sometimes injuries are minor, like cuts, scrapes, or bruises.  Other times injuries are quite serious and may not be immediately apparent.

When you are involved in a car accident, your “fight or flight” senses turn on and your body starts producing a large amount of adrenaline and endorphins.  These two things help you to fight in that specific instance, but may also act to block your pain receptors.  This could lead to you feeling initially fine or not noticing something that could be wrong.

Here are a few of the common symptoms that may occur days or even weeks after a car accident happens:

Neck Pain

Neck pain is notorious for taking a few days to set in.  Accident victims don’t always feel the soreness and stiffness in their neck and shoulders immediately after a car accident.  Neck pain after a car accident usually means you could be experiencing whiplash.  You may also be experiencing a spinal injury that needs immediate medical treatment.

Back Pain

Your back can be thought of as three separate areas.  Your lower back, your middle back, and your upper back.  Knowing these areas is important so that you can identify the source of your pain.  If the injury is isolated to some area of your back you may be experiencing a herniated disc, a soft tissue injury, or a pinched nerve.  However, if your back injury has led to a spinal injury, things could be quite serious.  Spinal injuries most prominently affect your motor functions, which include the ability to control limb function and need to be treated as quickly as possible.

Stomach Pain

Stomach pain after a car accident is often indicative of internal bleeding.  Internal bleeding can often be thought of as a “delayed” symptom because people don’t see it right away.  They only notice it once their stomach starts to hurt after a car accident or some other trauma.  Look for signs of bruising, dizziness, fainting, or nausea.

Headaches & Dizziness

Experiencing a headache after a car accident is extremely common due to the force of the impact and jolting.  Headaches very easily may go away quickly on their own, but sometimes they don’t.  You may be experiencing whiplash, which occurs you’re your head is forcibly thrown from one side to the other.  This may lead to headaches or dizziness and can cause neck pain as described above.

Chest Pain

If your chest hurts and you are experiencing lingering soreness in that area after an accident you definitely will want to see a doctor to address those symptoms.  Your chest pain could mean that you are experiencing fractured ribs, bruised ribs, muscle strain, or another type of injury to your internal organs.

Leg Pain

When you are involved in a wreck you likely slammed on your brakes pretty hard or where forcefully jolted towards your dashboard.  If this happened you may have strained your leg from breaking or jammed your knee from being thrown into one area of the car or another.  Leg pain, including knee pain, is quite common after a car accident.  Your legs have a lot of different nerves and joints that work to keep you moving and if they have been damaged then you may have a hard time recovering from the accident without medical care.

Hip Pain

For similar reasons that leg pain occurs, hip pain occurs after a car accident too.  Often time the two areas are very much related.  When your legs or even back have been injured it can cause misalignment in your entire body, which often affects the hips.  You may experience sharp pain, difficulty moving, pain in your groin, or pain in your back.  Hips don’t contain a lot of fluid so when they experience trauma the pain, inflammation, and ultimate injury can be quite serious.

Muscle Spasms

Not only can a car accident cause direct physical injuries, but sometimes those injuries themselves cause more injuries.  While it can occur on its own, a muscle spasm is a secondary injury that may occur as the result of another more prominent injury.  Muscle spasms are the involuntary contraction of a muscle caused by trauma or dehydration.  You may experience this as throbbing, twitching, or large radiating pain across large or small sections of the body.

What to Do If You Experience Soreness After a Car Accident

If you are experiencing soreness after a car accident there are a few steps you can take to help ease your recovery and set yourself up for success with your claim against the responsible party.

1. Get evaluated by a doctor and seek continual treatment to monitor injuries

It is always important to seek immediate medical attention after any type of accident.  Even when you don’t believe you are hurt and you feel fine initially, it is always in your best interest to go see a doctor.  However, even if you did not go see a doctor right after your accident and you have just now started to feel delayed symptoms it isn’t too late to seek treatment.  Have your injuries evaluated and seek continual treatment so that a doctor can monitor and most importantly keep record of how your injuries are progressing.  These records will serve as important evidence in your claim.

2. Document your injuries

While a doctor or other medical professional can document your injuries, it is always best to keep records yourself, too.  This doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  Take pictures of your injuries as they appear and as they progress.  Keep dated journal entries of how you are feeling or what has been bothering or hurting you so that you don’t forget all the little details and extent of your injuries.

3. Reach out to an experienced attorney

If your injuries are severe and you know that you will want to seek compensation for the cost of your medical bills from the responsible party, it is in your best interest to reach out to an experienced attorney.  When you sue someone for your injuries you will most likely be dealing with their insurance.

Insurance companies pay their lawyers a lot of money to make sure that they pay you as little as possible.  In order to fight them at their own level and seek the maximum compensation you may be entitled to, you should hire an attorney with experience in car accident claims.  Our lawyers at Zinda Law Group have that experience and may be able to help you today.

Tell Zinda Law Group About Your Symptoms

If you or a loved one was involved in a car accident and started to experience delayed symptoms like the ones mentioned here, you may be entitled to more compensation that the insurance company will want to offer you outright.  The experienced attorneys at Zinda Law Group may be able to investigate your claim, hire expert witnesses, and negotiate on your behalf in order to seek the maximum compensation that you may be entitled to for the severity of your injuries.

Our attorneys want to help you and invite you to speak with us today about your accident and your symptoms.  We believe that nobody should ever be prevented from receiving quality representation due to cost.  That is why we offer 100% free case evaluations for anybody and work on a contingency fee basis with our clients.  This means that unless we help you recover a settlement or judgment in your favor, you do not owe us any money.

For a free case evaluation, give us a call today at 800 853 5312 so we may discuss your claim and how our attorneys may be able to help you seek the maximum compensation you may be entitled to for your injuries.

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