When Should You Worry About Pain After a Car Accident?

Have you been hurt in a car wreck recently? If you have, rest assured that a certain amount of car accident pain is not necessarily anything to worry about. You shouldn’t be surprised if you feel sore after a car accident–after all, soreness after a car accident is exceedingly common. When two or three tons of metal collide with another two or three tons of metal, your body of flesh and bones is likely to suffer some trauma.

Don’t panic. But if your body has suffered any impact, seek immediate medical treatment. Medical records can serve as authoritative evidence of the nature of your injuries, when they occurred, and what type of medical treatment you received. All of this information can be critical to resolving your claim. Medical treatment can also prevent your condition from worsening.

How long does it take to recover from a car accident?

How long after a car accident do you feel pain? That depends on the nature of your injuries. Body pain after a car accident comes in many different forms. Muscle pain after a car accident, for example, often resolves in as little as three weeks, even though it takes some people much longer to heal. At the other end of the spectrum, some car accident victims suffer permanent disability. In other words, the length of time it takes is highly fact-dependent.

How long can it take for symptoms to appear after a car accident?

Most car accident symptoms appear immediately. Nevertheless, symptoms for certain types of injuries might take time to manifest. Soft tissue injuries such as whiplash, for example, might take hours or days to manifest symptoms. The same is true for head injuries such as traumatic brain injury (TBI).

If your after-accident pain doesn’t begin until later, you might have suffered an injury that your healthcare provider has not yet diagnosed. This is particularly likely if you failed to seek medical treatment after the accident because you didn’t think you were hurt. Worrying won’t help; contacting your healthcare provider is a must.

Common car accident injury symptoms

A car accident can generate more forms of pain than it is possible to list in a short article. Following is a list of some of the most common forms of pain.

Neck pain and stiffness

Neck pain and stiffness can indicate that you suffered whiplash or some other soft tissue injury. Your pain might increase over the next few days. Seek medical treatment because this injury can become chronic if untreated.

Shoulder pain

Shoulder pain after a car accident typically indicates the presence of a seat belt injury. If combined with shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat, however, you might have suffered heart damage, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Numbness or tingling in your extremities

You might have something serious to worry about if you experience numbness or tingling. This symptom might indicate that you suffered a herniated disc. If numbness and tingling occur in your extremities (arms and legs, hands and feet), it is possible that you suffered spinal cord damage, which can lead to paralysis.

Headaches

A headache that begins after a car accident can indicate that you suffered a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Both of these conditions are dangerous, especially TBI.

Vertigo and dizziness

Vertigo and dizziness are also symptoms of head trauma. Head trauma is especially likely to be the culprit if the onset of this symptom is delayed until hours after your accident.

Disorientation and confusion

Disorientation and confusion, especially if persistent, are obvious signs of a serious head injury. You need to seek medical attention immediately if you encounter this symptom.

Behavioral abnormalities

Behavioral abnormalities that indicate the presence of a head injury include anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and changes in eating or sleeping habits. All of these are possible symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You might even develop a phobia of driving or riding in a car. Even though this malady is not physical, in some circumstances, it may still entitle you to compensation.

Amnesia

If you suffer a head injury, you might not remember the accident. You might also suffer from retrograde amnesia, which can cause you to lose memories of events that occurred before the accident.

Unconsciousness

Unconsciousness after a car accident is a very serious head injury symptom. The longer you blacked out, the more serious your head injury is likely to be. Do not delay medical treatment if you black out. Ignoring a blackout could have deadly consequences.

Pain management

You can use a variety of resources to help manage your pain, both in the short run and the long run. Remedies include:

• Physical therapy,
• Chiropractic care,
• Massage therapy, or
• Prescription medication.

Many other methods of pain management are available, but be careful–some are of dubious utility, and some are downright dangerous. Never buy anything off the street or ask to use a friend’s medication because this could put your life in danger.

Seeking compensation: Claim vs. lawsuit

South Carolina, like most other states, is a “fault” auto insurance state. Every driver with a car registered in South Carolina must purchase liability insurance to drive legally on public roads. South Carolina’s minimum liability insurance is abbreviated “25/50/25”:

• $25,000 in bodily injury liability insurance per victim;
• $50,000 in bodily injury liability insurance per accident; and
• $25,000 in property damage liability insurance per accident.

When seeking compensation, South Carolina law allows you two options.

Option 1: Third-party insurance claims

The first and most common option is to file a third-party claim against the at-fault driver’s liability insurance company. If you select this option, you (or, preferably, your lawyer) will have to negotiate with the insurance adjuster.

Option 2: Filing a lawsuit

In a no-fault auto insurance state such as Kentucky, you cannot file a lawsuit against an at-fault driver unless you can prove serious injury. You have to rely on your own no-fault insurance. South Carolina, by contrast, allows you to sue the at-fault driver immediately. Most car accident victims start out trying to negotiate and resort to filing a lawsuit only if these efforts fail.

Comparative negligence

South Carolina applies the concept of comparative negligence when two or more parties share blame for an accident. If your case goes to court, the court will apportion blame on a percentage basis–20% your fault and 80% the other driver’s fault, for example. You will lose the percentage of your compensation that equals your percentage of fault–20% if your fault is 20%. If your fault exceeds 50%, however, you will recover nothing.

You can expect an insurance company to use this against you in settlement negotiations and in court. Nevertheless, a skilled lawyer will know exactly how to counter an insurance company’s abusive attribution of fault.

A personal injury attorney can improve your chances of victory

In personal injury law, it’s not just whether you win or lose–it’s how much you win. Will you receive the fair value of your claim? Your odds are much better with a seasoned South Carolina personal injury law firm on your side.

The McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips LLC trial attorneys have recovered over two billion dollars in compensation for their clients. You need not pay a dime up front, and your attorney’s fees will total precisely $0.00 unless they win your case. Call us or fill out our contact form for a free initial consultation.