Soft-tissue injuries are the most common physical consequences of a car accident. The crash force of an accident places the body under tremendous stress, even when it occurs at relatively low speeds. A 130-pound person becomes a 4,550-pound force propelled forward against the seatbelt during an accident and then snapped backward against the seat—all while the structures of the car collapse inward on the motorist. Some accidents result in fractures and head injuries, but soft-tissue injuries are also serious and can have lasting negative consequences on a personal injury victim in Cherry Hill.
What Is a Soft-Tissue Injury?
There is a wide range of bodily injuries that occur in a car accident. Soft-tissue injuries are those that impact the parts of the body that aren’t skeletal. Soft tissue injuries can occur to skin, internal organs, or any soft part of the body, but the medical term most commonly describes injuries to the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the body, often causing pain, loss of the full range of motion, and immobility.
Common Types of Soft-Tissue Injuries
Soft-tissue injuries can occur in slip-and-fall accidents, at the workplace, or from sports and recreational activities, but they are also a common result of car accidents. The most common serious soft-tissue injuries include the following:
- Whiplash: this occurs when the weight of the head and crash force of an accident whips the head rapidly back and forth overextending the neck and damaging the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the cervical spine
- Rotator cuff tears: damage to the soft-tissue structures that connect the arm to the shoulder joint and are responsible for arm and shoulder movement
- ACL and MCL tears: a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament or medial collateral ligament, the bands of tissue on the inner and outer sides of the knee connecting the bones and joints in the knee
- Herniated discs: the soft tissue cushion separating the vertebrae in the spinal column may bulge, slip, or burst resulting in pain and pressure in the back
- Bursitis: inflammation and swelling in the bursae, the fluid-filled sacs cushioning the joints throughout the musculoskeletal system
- Sprains: the stretching and tearing of ligaments connecting the bone, often occurring in wrists and ankles during a car accident
- Strains: Stretching or other damage to the tendons in parts of the body under stress in the car accident, such as the back, neck, and limbs
- Contusions: bruises are common in car accidents, including from the pressure against the seatbelt during the crash
Soft tissue injuries are sometimes masked in the immediate aftermath of an accident, due to the rush of adrenaline that occurs during a car accident. They may become more noticeable after the accident as adrenaline dissipates and inflammation and stiffness develop.
What Makes Soft-Tissue Injuries Difficult to Prove
Despite being among the most common types of car accident injuries, insurance companies commonly dispute soft-tissue injury damages in car accident claims. Because these injuries don’t always show symptoms immediately after an accident, the injury victim may not seek medical treatment until days or even weeks later, giving the insurance company a reason to dispute that the injury is real, the extent of the treatment needed for the injury, or that the injury occurred in the accident and not elsewhere. Soft-tissue injuries do not show clearly on X-rays the way bone fractures do. Some soft-tissue injuries such as herniated discs occur naturally over time due to aging so the insurance company may dispute a claim even if a car accident worsened the degeneration of the disc or the severity of the problem.
How Can an Injury Attorney Help?
Insurance companies routinely dispute or undervalue car accident injury claims for soft-tissue injuries. It often takes a skilled investigation and testimony from medical experts to make a compelling claim for compensation. Call Cuneo & Leonetti, the Cherry Hill car accident injury lawyers who get results for injury victims, including those with damages like medical expenses and lost wages from soft-tissue injuries.