August 14, 2024
Back and neck injuries can affect every aspect of your life. You might be entitled to significant compensation. If you suffered a back and neck injury after a car accident that was not your fault, for example, you might have a valid claim for personal injury compensation. Back/neck injury symptoms can be difficult to prove, however, without the help of a skilled personal injury lawyer.
Why Are Neck Injuries Important?
Neck injuries are important because your neck joins your head to the rest of your body. Your neck is a complex, fragile, and easily injured collection of muscles, bones, and nerves. Neck injuries vary in seriousness from strained muscles to serious spinal cord injuries.
Neck injury car accidents frequently result in permanent impairment and chronic pain.
Permanent neck injuries often don’t seem very serious at first, however. The experienced neck and back injury lawyers at Stracci Law Group enjoy decades of combined experience resolving claims arising from neck & back injuries. This experience shows in our successful track record both at the settlement table and in court, and the thousands of personal injury cases we have won..
Common Neck and Back Injuries
Common neck injuries and back injuries include:
- Sprains and strains: Sprains and strains result from damage to ligaments, tendons, and muscles. These injuries can take months to heal.
- Broken bones: Your neck and spine contain many small bones. Fractures may require surgery and physical therapy.
- Whiplash: A whiplash neck injury is one of the most common types of neck injuries. The severity of a whiplash injury is notoriously difficult to prove through medical imaging.
- Herniated or ruptured discs: These types of injuries cause legal problems because they may show few symptoms at first, and yet they might still lead to a lifetime of chronic pain and limited mobility.
- Spinal cord injuries: These injuries can cause paralysis, including paraplegia and quadriplegia.
- A broken neck: A broken neck can cause severe pain and drastic physical limitations. Broken necks frequently lead to death.
This list is not exhaustive – many more types of injuries are possible.
Signs And Symptoms of Neck & Back Injuries
What are the signs of a head, neck, or back injury? Neck and back injury symptoms include:
- Difficulty turning your head;
- Neck stiffness;
- Tenderness in your neck or back;
- Extreme back pain;
- Breathing difficulties;
- Headaches and dizziness;
- Muscle spasms in your head or neck;
- Weakness in your hands, fingers, arms, or legs;
- Paralysis.
Seek immediate medical attention if you encounter these symptoms. If you suffer an accident, seek medical treatment even if you do not think you are injured.
Common Causes of Neck Injuries
Just a few types of accidents cause most neck injury claims. These accidents include:
- Traffic accidents, including bicycle accidents and pedestrian accidents;
- Workplace accidents, especially accidents involving construction and machinery;
- Slip and fall accidents;
- Sporting accidents, especially in gymnastics and cheerleading.
Among these, neck and back injuries from car accidents are probably the most common type of neck and back injury claim. At Stracci Law, we can perform an investigation designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between your accident and your neck injury. We can also gather evidence to help prove the severity of your injury.
Damages You Can Claim in a Neck Injury Case
Neck and back injury compensation can be immense if your injuries are severe enough. Following are some of the components of a typical compensation claim.
- Medical expenses, including estimated future medical expenses. If your injury is permanent, you may need an expert to estimate your future medical expenses. We frequently work with experts who are skilled at this type of calculation.
- Loss of income. If your injuries are severe and permanent, you might have to quit your job. Your lost earnings could be immense, especially if your accident renders you totally disabled (you cannot work at all).
- Pain and suffering. Severe chronic pain could justify a large amount of compensation. Pain and suffering damages are not available for a workers’ compensation claim. In ordinary personal injury claims, however, they often account for over 50% of total compensation.
- Out-of-pocket expenses (child care, etc.). You can claim any expense that arose directly from your injury.
- Other intangible damages, such as mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Property damage (damage to your vehicle, for example). Property damage is not a personal injury claim.
- Wrongful death damages. These damages, such as funeral and burial expenses and loss of love and companionship, differ from personal injury claims. Who receives compensation depends on whether the victim was a child or an adult.
Unfortunately, because the severity of the above-described damages varies so dramatically, the average settlement for car accident back and neck injury is a nearly meaningless number.
Conclusion
Neck and back injury claims can be complex and difficult to prove, but they can also result in very high compensation. Remember — you'll owe us nothing unless we win your case. That’s our no-fee guarantee.
Your claim will almost certainly weaken, however, as time passes. Call Stracci Law Group immediately at (219) 525-1000 or contact us online. We serve clients in Crown Point, Gary, Valparaiso, Hammond, Merrillville, and elsewhere in Northwest Indiana.
