Back and Neck Injuries
Neck and back injuries are among some of the most common injuries caused by all sorts of accidents, from auto accidents to slip and falls. Proving neck and back injuries in a personal injury claim or lawsuit, however, is the victim’s responsibility––not the at-fault party’s responsibility. A working understanding of back and neck injuries and how they factor into compensation in personal injury cases is key to a successful claim or lawsuit. Here’s an overview of what you should know in Los Angeles.
Common Back & Neck Injuries
Back and neck injuries are common consequences of many different types of accidents. These types of injuries, however, are varied and mixed. Some can be life-threatening or lead to death while others quickly heal, allowing the victim to continue life as usual.
Common back and neck injuries include:
- Soft tissue injuries to the ligaments, tendons, and muscles
- Whiplash, strained muscles in the neck resulting from a sudden and severe jerk of the head.
- Facet joint injuries, muscle spasms in or around facet joint areas
- Arthritis of the neck, more accurately called cervical spondylosis, mild to severe pain and stiffness in the neck
- Herniated or slipped discs, a bulge or ruptured tissue separating the vertebral bone of the spinal column pushed out of its natural position
- Pinched nerve, pressure applied to a nerve by a bone, muscle, or tendon
- Spinal cord compression, serious pressure on the spinal cord caused by trauma
- Sciatica, pain from the sciatic nerve typically affecting one side of the body
- Cervical fracture, or neck fracture, a break in a cervical bone
- Myelopathy, gradual loss of nerve function due to spinal/neck injury
There are other back and neck injuries, but these are the most common in personal injury cases.
Common Causes of Back & Neck Injuries
Back and neck injuries can be caused by a number of things. The first of which is merely due to a person’s own activities, like:
- Standing or sitting in one position for too long
- Poor sleeping position
- Carrying heavy objects
- Poor posture
- Work conditions
- Other.
Any of the above-mentioned back and neck injuries can also be caused when a person is in an accident, particularly:
- Auto accidents––particularly rear-end accidents
- Bike accidents
- Pedestrian-car accidents
- Slip and fall accidents.
The impact caused by these types of accidents can put severe pressure on the neck and back. The extent of the injury corresponds with the severity of the accident.
Diagnosis & Common Treatment of Back & Neck Injuries
The human neck and back is critical to a person’s quality of life. The back and neck are made of up tendons, muscles, and ligaments that surround the vertebrae and spinal cord. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves connecting most parts of the body to the brain, so this is a significant part of a person’s body. Damage to the neck and back can be painful as much as it can be debilitating. Diagnosis can be made through an initial exam and subsequent test, like:
- X-rays
- Computer axial tomography (CT scan)
- Electromyography (EMG)
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Treatment is necessary to help any victim of an injury get back to some kind of normalcy. But treatment for back and neck injuries is varied in its application as well as in its efficacy. Treatment in most cases is about relieving or managing pain and can include any of the following:
- Physical therapy
- Interventional treatments used especially for chronic, persistent, and disabling pain, which can include:
- Epidural steroid injections
- Fluoroscopically guided hip injection
- Sacroiliac joint steroid injection
- Microdiscectomy
- Minimally invasive surgery, like:
- Cervical posterior foraminotomy
- Lumbar disc microsurgery
- Lumbar laminectomy
- Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF)
- Artificial disk replacement (ADR)
- Spinal surgery
- Spinal fusion
These treatments can be costly and may not completely cure or address the injury and pain. How you and your doctor or medical team approaches medical treatment will have a direct impact on settlement negotiations if your injury was caused by another person or entity.
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The Nature of Your Back or Neck Injury & Valuing Compensation
The extent of your back and neck injury will impact the value of any compensation because it reflects the sum of all your medical expenses, time off work, the extent and duration of pain and suffering, and overall quality of life, among other economic and non-economic damages. These types of injuries can be complicated, too, and carry with them certain challenges that may affect compensation. These challenges will factor into the settlement or award of your respective personal injury claim or lawsuit.
Type of Pain
The pain from back and neck injuries fall into two categories:
1. Acute pain comes on suddenly and lasts for up to two or three weeks. Acute neck pain can be debilitating and can spread from the neck to the head, shoulders, and back. Acute back pain is also just as debilitating and can spread from the back to buttocks, thighs, and knees.
2. Chronic pain is pain that endures for more than four or six weeks. The persistent nature of this type of pain can be devastating to a person’s quality of life. The pain is most often associated with discs, spinal joints, and supporting muscles. Victims can often recover more damages when the pain is chronic given its long-term impact on the victim’s quality of life.
Delayed Pain
Many back and neck injuries caused by auto accidents and slips and falls do not materialize immediately. It may be a day or even a week before the pain settles in. Because neck and back injuries can be the result of so many different things, many of which are caused by your own way of living, insurance adjusters will aggressively fight any injury claim related to delayed pain. It is critical to seek medical attention right away, preferably immediately after the accident so you can establish a link between any future pain and the accident, but if not directly after the accident then as soon as you experience it. The doctor can document the pain and provide reasonable cause for its materialization. Delayed symptoms of neck or back injuries include:
- Headaches
- Blurred vision
- Body pain
- Numbness
- Stiffness
- Dizziness
- Swelling
- Tingling
- Weakness.
Type of Treatment
As mentioned above, there are different types of treatment. The more extensive and expensive the treatment, the more this will affect the settlement or award. Surgery, for example, will lead to more expenses and possible complications than physical therapy will, and so compensation will reflect that. It’s important to note that alternative forms of treatment are quite popular for neck and back injuries. These treatments can include:
- Chiropractic treatment
- Physical therapy
- Pain management
- Massage
- Aquatic therapy, etc.
Keep in mind that though some treatments may provide pain relief, they may or may not always be compensable in personal injury claims or lawsuits.
Delayed Treatment
When you have experienced an accident and later experience pain due to a potential back or neck injury, it’s critical to get treatment. You don’t want to wait to see if you can get compensated for the treatment first. Waiting puts you at risk of injuring yourself further and complicating the settlement process. It opens the door for the insurance adjuster or defendant to claim that the injury was not caused by the alleged at-fault party. It can also, among other things, be used to reduce a claim by showing that the pain related to the injury is less significant since treatment wasn’t sought immediately.
Long-Term Impact of Neck & Back Injury
A common neck and back injury is whiplash. Whiplash can be mild or severely debilitating. What’s more, a recent study published by BMC Public Health shows that even five years after a whiplash injury, victims presented “with deteriorated quality of life in the physical domain” and “pain play[ed] a predominant intermediate role.” The same study followed up on previous studies and confirmed whiplash is correlated with post-traumatic stress disorder and can have a significant impact on a person’s psychological wellness. These things matter to things like quality of life and non-economic damages, but may also be hard to prove.
The Importance of Evidence & Proving Back and Neck Injuries
Evidence is paramount when proving injuries to the back and neck. Given that these injuries may not materialize immediately and that the causes of the injuries are many, including non-accident related causes, evidence will be key to link the injury to the at-fault party’s negligence or otherwise wrongful act. You can’t recover damages if you can’t directly connect the cause of the neck and back injury to the at-fault party’s action or inaction.
Evidence that will help your claim or lawsuit include:
- Police reports documenting the accident and any noticeable injury
- Witness statements (expert and lay witnesses) confirming the accident and the nature of your injury
- Videos and photographs of the accident and your injury
- Medial records outlining the diagnosis, treatment plan, prognosis, etc. of the back or neck injury
- Notes or journal entries of the accident and your pain and suffering.
Get Fair & Just Compensation for Back & Neck Injuries in Los Angeles
If you have suffered a back or neck injury and another party is responsible for it, contact us. We will help you find a seasoned personal injury attorney in Los Angeles who has the insight and knowledge to maximize compensation for all the damages you have suffered. Some of these cases can be complex while other less complicated cases must still be filed before the statute of limitations expires. Having an attorney experienced in your specific area of personal injury law is in your best interests.
