You’ve Been in a Car Accident—What Should You Do Now?

Your alarm clock echoes in the early morning hour as you begin your daily routine of flipping on the TV to listen to the traffic report. The last thing you want is to be late for work. But you might be very late for work if you’re in a car accident. Becoming a statistic should not be on your workday agenda–sitting at your desk checking your emails should be on your workday agenda.  But, unfortunately, it could happen and does happen. Just read those newspaper headlines over that cup of coffee.

What precisely happens when you’re a victim of a car crash?  You will be experiencing whiplash. According to the Mayo Clinic, this occurs when your head is forcefully and rapidly thrown first backward and then forward. This type of injury can injure bones in the spine, discs between the bones, ligaments, muscles, nerves, and other tissues of the head. Rear end collisions are a major contributing factor.

According to Utah Pain and Rehab, whiplash affects different people differently. Your age, physical condition, and gender play a role.  As you age your body changes and you start to lose strength and flexibility in your neck. As a result, your neck cannot handle the strain from a car mishap as it could in the past.  Women experience whiplash more frequently than men since the latter have stronger neck muscles and women, furthermore, have smaller neck bones. Most of its sufferers will recover in a mere few weeks provided of course that they adhere to a treatment plan which incorporates pain medication and exercise.  Some people, however, will experience chronic pain on their neck and experience as well, long-lasting complications.

The Mayo Clinic delineates its symptoms which can be quite painful indeed:

• Neck pain and stiffening
• Worsening of pain with neck movement
• Loss of range of motion in the neck
• Headaches
• Tenderness or pain in the shoulder, upper back or arms
• Numbness in the arms
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Blurred vision
• Ringing in the ears
• Irritability
• Sleep disturbances
• Difficulty concentrating
• Depression
• Memory problems

That is quite an unpleasant smorgasbord of symptoms.  

You wonder, when should you make an appointment with your family physician? The answer– ASAP. The symptoms may not be manifested for months, so it’s imperative that you seek professional medical care immediately to see if whiplash has occurred. Your doctor will first move your head, neck, and arms and will ask you to perform a series of relatively simple tasks to determine your range of motion. He’ll recommend a set of treatment options to alleviate the pain. Rest may be beneficial during the first 24 hours but don’t hibernate for the winter; too much rest can delay your recovery.  Over –the- counter medication with such familiar names as Tylenol, Advil and Motrin are the drugs of choice that can control mild to moderate pain. Prescription medicine is recommended for more severe pain. Muscle relaxants may be prescribed for short -term use.

Your doctor won’t just be scribbling medicine on his prescription pad–  another beneficial treatment option is exercise—you’re certainly not going to lace up your running shoes and enter the marathon but doing stretching exercises specifically designed by your doctor to treat your condition.  The goal is to get you back to your normal activities. Physical therapy prescribed by a therapist will strengthen your muscles, improve posture and restore normal movement. Interestingly, according to Web MD, in the past whiplash was often treated with immobilization whereby the patient would wear a cervical collar– today movement is the recommended course of action.  

Are car crashes with such devastating side effects avoidable?  According to the Street Directory, the following is recommended:

Follow traffic regulations

• Buckle up with that seat belt –it’s there to protect you—it’s not just decoration for your car
• Don’t drink and drive—put a cork in that bottle hours before driving or have a designated driver do you a favor
• Don’t speed down an isolated highway
• Avoid distractions—like that cell phone that’s in everyone’s hands these days–that conversation can wait
• Your body is suffering. Your quality of life is suffering. Your bank account is suffering due to the enormous cost that’s necessary to get you back on your feet. So the inevitable question is– can you sue? By hiring a personal injury attorney that can become a reality.

According to Quora, you shouldn’t delay hiring a personal injury attorney since the medical costs can be thousands of dollars.  The decision to sue after a car accident is a legal means of getting compensation for the damage that another person caused. That attorney will need:

• Accident reports
• Witness names and contact information
• Property damage estimates
• Medical costs

This compensation can be a reality if you contact an experienced attorney such as the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates, a team of knowledgeable, compassionate legal experts who have successfully won huge damages for their roster of clients over many years who will help you be the beneficiaries of substantial monetary damages for your devastating injuries. Get a free consultation by calling 855-768-8845. You can also visit www.311personalinjury.com

It’s bad enough that you’re compelled to suffer such traumatic injury; you should be confident that financially you will not be suffering.