The Risks of Nerve Injuries After a Car Accident
Motor vehicle accidents can cause grievous injuries and life-altering disabilities, upsetting a victim’s financial, mental, and emotional state in more ways than one. While a car accident may lead to unexpected severe injuries, we will discuss below the risk of nerve injuries and their impact on a car accident victim’s life.
Types of Nerves and Their Role in a Human Body
Nerves function as the nervous system receptors in your body, helping in a number of functions like sensation, automatic bodily functions, and voluntary movement control. Nerve injuries, and the resultant damage caused by them, has the potential to play havoc with these functions, posing a serious threat to a person’s ability to carry on with a normal life. A human body has the following three types of nerves:
- Autonomic Nerves
Autonomic nerves are responsible for these involuntary bodily functions which include heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, and temperature regulation. Most automatic functions in our bodies involve the autonomic nerves.
- Motor Nerves
These nerves relay the commands they receive from your brain to your muscles using your spinal cord as the communication highway. The motor nerves are responsible for all premeditated movement in your body.
- Sensory Nerves
These nerves are responsible for carrying all complex sensory communication from your skin and tissues to your brain and then relaying commands related to everything from temperature to pain.
How Do Nerve Injuries Cause Debilitation?
Nerves are present throughout the human body, forming an intricate network that permeates our flesh and tissue just underneath the skin surface. These complex and delicate organs are susceptible to severe damage due to the physical trauma in a car accident.
Nerves may suffer scrapes and cuts, leading to increased damage over time. Certain other conditions in an injured human body also weaken and jeopardize our nerves through constant pressure. Nerve injuries typically affect a few areas of our bodies much more than others, like:
- Neck
- Lower back
- Feet
- Hands
Our nerves use the spine and the spinal cord structure to relay commands and information to and from the brain to all parts of the human body. Since the neck and back are the areas where our spine is located, any physical trauma to these locations can have a devastating effect on the nerves and their functioning.
Similarly, the feet and hands also have a large cluster of nerves located at a greater distance from the epicenter of our central nervous system. In a car accident, the hands and feet are among the body parts that suffer the most injuries.
Common Nerve Injuries in a Car Accident
Because there are many types of nerves, with varied functions and different areas of influence, nerve injuries and the subsequent damage caused by them vary significantly in each case. The nature and extent of each nerve injury are unique, resulting in varying degrees of severity and symptoms, and demanding different treatments.
Nerve damage rarely surfaces on its own and is usually accompanied by other injuries or arises out of damage caused by other injuries. Here are some of the common types of nerve injuries sustained in car accidents:
- Whiplash
- Neuropathy
- Pinched Nerves
- Radiculopathy
Common Symptoms of Nerve Injuries
One of the major problems with nerve injuries is that these are not as readily visible as other injuries, such as fractures or broken bones. Watching out and identifying the correct symptoms thus becomes very crucial in order for the nerve damage to be diagnosed and treated promptly and properly, before the damage becomes permanent or gives rise to further complications. Here are some common nerve injury symptoms:
- Numbness
- Dizziness
- Tingling
- Incontinence
- Constipation
- Chronic pain
- Dry eyes
- Sexual dysfunction
- Muscular atrophy
- Paralysis
Settlement for Nerve Damage in MS
Several factors determine the amount of compensation you may be entitled to after a nerve injury. In general, more serious injuries result in larger settlements. The settlement you achieve could be in the six figures or higher if you have suffered a severe nerve injury in a car accident that was due to the negligence of another party.
You should be careful of what you say on social media and in other places following your accident. An experienced attorney can play a vital role in helping you sidestep these hurdles.
They can also negotiate with insurance adjusters or take the claim to trial to seek damages for:
- Medical bills
- Property damage
- Lost wages because of the time spent recovering
- Lost future wages because of reduced earning potential
- Noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering
Choose an Experienced Car Accident Injury Attorney in Mississippi
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in a car accident due to someone else’s negligence or misconduct, speak to a skilled and knowledgeable car accident injury attorney regarding your case. An attorney with experience in car accident cases can not only guide you through the insurance claims process but can also help in assessing the fair value of your damages and initiate settlement negotiations with the insurance company on your behalf.
At Gardner Law Firm, our attorneys are aggressive during negotiation and trial, and compassionate when discussing the case with you. We can investigate crash scenes and collect evidence with due diligence to determine liability, pursue liable parties, and secure the rightful compensation needed to cover your medical bills, lost wages, and your pain and suffering.
Learn more about the legal options available to you through a complimentary, no-obligation case review with our skilled accident attorneys today. To schedule a consultation, call today at 228-900-9618 or contact us online.
