Spinal injuries are among the most common and also the most serious that car crash victims tend to suffer from.
What are the effects of injuries to the spine? What should victims expect as they recover?
Spinal cord injuries
Mayo Clinic discusses injuries to the spine. Many different injuries can occur to the spinal area, both in terms of the bone itself and in terms of the nerves and spinal cord.
Injuries to the spinal cord typically cause greater concern due to the fact that this can permanently affect a person’s mobility. In most incidents where someone loses the use of their legs or arms, i.e. quadriplegia or paraplegia, it occurs because of spinal cord damage.
Injuries to bone or tissue
However, other damages to the spine can still affect a person’s life. For example, swelling or bulging of the discs can cause extreme levels of pain or discomfort that make everything from sitting to standing difficult.
Back injuries also have a notoriously long healing period. Even relatively mild back injuries often result in long stretches of recovery in which a person’s mobility ends up severely limited.
In turn, this can affect a person’s ability to complete their usual tasks at their job, which may eventually put their employment in jeopardy. This can create a gnarly financial situation in which a person has many medical bills to pay and may risk losing their job as they heal.
This is why it is important for spinal injury victims to get quick medical care, as it reduces the complications that lead to these problems.