How Do Car Accidents Cause Back and Spinal Cord Injuries?

After being involved in a car accident, you may immediately notice that your back is hurting. While it is very common to experience back pain instantly after an accident, some people also notice pain in their back a few hours or even days later.

This is usually a sign that you might have a back, spine, or spinal cord injury, which can cause permanent and life-altering consequences. As a result, you may be questioning how your major or minor car accident caused these types of injuries.

Back injuries vs. spinal cord damage

Back injuries occur when the muscles, bones, or ligaments within your back area become injured, torn, bruised, or permanently damaged. There are various types of back injuries, such as herniated discs, fractured vertebrae, and sprains and strains. When a person suffers one of these injuries, they may have excruciating pain and find it difficult to move and carry out the tasks that they used to do before their traumatic event.

A spinal cord injury is diagnosed when an individual experiences any type of damage to the spinal cord itself or the nerves within the spinal cord. This type of injury is usually very serious because most people do not ever fully heal. Instead, they only have the possibility of improving their symptoms. A spinal cord injury means that the brain cannot communicate or inform the rest of the body about what to do below the injury site. For example, the brain may be unable to communicate with the legs, informing them to move or take a step when the individual is trying to walk. As a result, a person who has a spinal cord injury may lose their strength, feelings, ability to control their bowel or bladder, and even their ability to walk or move around.

Serious spinal injuries caused by Tulsa car accidents

If you are in a car accident in Tulsa and injure your back, you should seek a medical diagnosis quickly. The sooner you are diagnosed, the more quickly you can begin a treatment plan – and with some of these injuries, fast diagnosis is the key to preventing them from getting worse. Some of the more serious spinal injuries you can sustain include:

• Herniated discs: When a car accident occurs, your discs will likely move and shift. Unfortunately, this can cause your nerves to become pinched or squeezed, leading to a herniated disc. Herniated discs form when the inner portion of your spinal disc makes its way out of the outer ring. Sometimes, doctors or specialists refer to herniated discs as slipped discs, ruptured discs, or even bulging discs. Regardless of how you refer to this injury, it can cause excruciating pain, numbness, and muscle weakness.
• Back sprains and strains: Back sprains and strains are common in any type of car accident. These types of injuries occur when the tissues in your back stretch too far, resulting in muscle and tendon damage. Individuals with back sprains and strains suffer a tremendous amount of pain.
• Spondylolisthesis: Spondylolisthesis happens when the vertebrae move suddenly out of place, colliding with the vertebrae directly below it. As a result, individuals with spondylolisthesis likely feel a lot of pain, pressure, and discomfort in their back and legs.
• Spinal fracture: Every person has 33 bones in their spine. When one or more of these bones break, you have a spinal fracture. If you are diagnosed with a spinal fracture, you will likely be required to wear a back brace for several months and may even require surgery.
• Spinal cord damage: When a person suffers any type of spinal cord damage they may lose feeling in the affected area, have impaired mobility, and possibly become paralyzed below the injured area. Spinal cord damage can occur if you have any bruising, tearing, stretching, squeezing, pinching, or bleeding on the spinal cord.

How do car accidents cause back, spine, and spinal cord injuries?

Five of the most common causes of back and spinal cord trauma include:

1. Twisting suddenly: A car accident can cause a person’s body to twist suddenly. This can happen when a vehicle shifts, rotates, or flips. No matter what type of accident you were involved in, twisting of the back or spinal cord is common, and the longer that your body is in a twisted position, the more damage that can be done.
2. Bending rapidly: Your back and spine are not meant to bend very far. However, when you are involved in a car accident, you may experience too much contortion very rapidly.
3. Blunt force trauma: Blunt force trauma can cause the cushions within the spinal column to be squeezed or compressed. This often results in swelling, pain, and (potentially) permanent nerve damage. The disks may completely rupture or slip out of place, causing intense pain.
4. Sharp objects or debris: A catastrophic accident may consist of sharp objects or debris flying through the vehicle. These objects and debris may be from a broken window, windshield, or an object that entered the vehicle from outside. When this happens, the muscles, tissues, or nerves within your back or spinal column may be deeply cut. Individuals who have lacerations that affect their spinal cord need to be transported to a hospital immediately. These are emergency injuries that likely require surgery right away.

At Biby Law Firm, our Tulsa car accident attorneys know and understand the difficulties that arise from back and spinal cord injuries. Therefore, we believe those who are suffering with these injuries due to another person’s negligent behavior or actions deserve to be heard when it comes to what they have gone through. If you need legal advice and assistance, please call our office or submit our contact form to schedule your free case evaluation today.