Body Parts Vulnerable to Car Accident Injuries

People involved in car accidents are highly susceptible to injuries or bodily damages. Body parts that are often affected by car accident injuries include but are not limited to the following:

This will include the neck, face, and possibly, the brain. The most common neck injury is whiplash, which is also a form of back injury. People involved in rear end collisions are often the victims of this injury. Whiplash is sustained when a victim's head is thrown forward (hyperextension) and backward (hyperflexion). Such movement can cause damage to the joints, discs, muscles, nerves, and ligaments of the neck. It can get more serious if a victim's head is turned on its side during impact.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), meanwhile, is the common injury to the brain and normally happens in side impact accidents. This occurs when the impact of the car accident shocks the brain, which can lead to temporary impairment of its functions. Skull fractures, hematoma, and nerve damage are also related to TBI. Temporalmandibular joint (TMJ) injury is damage to jaw and its joint and ligaments that allow it move. TMJ injury is also related to acceleration and deceleration in a car accident. Such injuries have effects to a person’s mouth functions like chewing or speaking.

Other injuries that the head may suffer during a car accident are scrapes, bruises, lacerations, dental injuries, concussion, closed head injury sprain, strain, cervical radiculopathy, and disc injuries.

Like what was mentioned earlier, whiplash is also considered a back injury because it affects discs in the spinal cord. Other injuries to the back include contusion, thoracic spine injury, lumbar radiculopathy, lumbar spine injury, and specific damages to corticospinal tracts in the cervical spinal cord area. Compression fractures may also cause permanent disability, while herniations cause spinal cord compression. Back nerves, ligaments, and muscles may be affected in a car accident, causing pain and inflammation.

The upper limbs compose of the hands, forearms, arms, shoulders, wrists, and fingers. Fractures are the typical injuries to these parts during a car accident and can be treated generally with the help of splints and casts. Surgery and therapy may also be used. Rotator cuff tears and injuries are also damages to these areas which can be diagnosed through MRI scans.

The lower limbs meanwhile include the hips, legs, knees, heels, ankles, and feet. Achilles tendon injuries, ankle sprains, and collateral ligament injuries are the common injuries to these parts, as well as lacerations, sprain, strain, fracture, and dislocation. Both limbs are also susceptible to amputation.