Soft tissue injuries are common after a car accident. These injuries include whiplash, tendonitis, bruising, and sprains among others.
After an accident, the body reacts through muscle splinting. This reaction involves shutting down some muscles by the body and the nervous system might also go into a fight or flee mode. Your ligaments will relax more.
The impact from the accident can result in pain, bruising, swelling, and sometimes loss of function. You might also experience reduced range of motion. Soft tissue injuries can either be acute or chronic. Acute injuries heal after a few days while chronic injuries last for a long time and affect the quality of your life.
MORE ON CAR ACCIDENT INJURIES:
- Suffered from a Car Accident Injury? Here Is What to Do!
- How Do Car Injury Doctors Help You after a Car Accident
- What to Do after a Car Accident Not Your Fault
What is soft tissue injury in a car accident?
Soft tissue injuries refer to physical harm on the body’s soft areas. These areas include the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Injuries on these areas can result in great pain and discomfort. Common soft tissue injuries include:
- Sprains: These occur when ligaments are damaged on any of the joints in your body. You can tell you have a sprain if you feel localized pain and swelling on the point of impact. Other symptoms include muscle spasms, inflammation, and cramping.
- Contusions: These are injuries caused by a blow by a blunt object. The object will crush muscle fibers under the skin and the connective tissues and might even break the skin. Contusions will appear as blood under the skin.
- Strains: When a ligament tears or stretches, you develop a strain. This damage causes laxity on the joints and can even affect your range of motion.
- Whiplash: This is one of the most common soft tissue injuries. It results when the neck moves back and forth very quickly during an impact. The injury occurs during rear-end car accidents. It causes neck stiffness and discomfort, loss of range of motion in the neck, fatigue, and dizziness. Whiplash gets better within a few days in most cases. In other cases, you need to see a doctor.
Soft tissue injuries may not show symptoms at first. This makes it challenging for the patients to get treatment and compensation. Again, the injuries may not show in an x-ray. Granted, professional medical care is needed to diagnose, treat, and write a report. If you need help, come to our car accident injury clinic in New York.
What is the average payout for soft tissue injury?
The average payout for different soft tissue injuries depends on many factors. We’ll try to give you some rough averages, but each case is different. The payouts can range from 3,000-10,000 for whiplash injuries up to 200,000-350,000 for herniated discs.
Different factors make it challenging to value the settlement for soft tissue injuries. These include:
- Failure for the patient to seek treatment immediately – this is why we recommend you see an auto accident doctor in the first 24-48 hours since the accident.
- Lack of evidence to support the injury claims – improperly documented cases won’t get you results.
- Complex treatment plans
- Direct causation (for people with pre-existing injuries)
Further, several factors determine the average settlement for car accident soft tissue injuries. Even if you suffer minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, you still need to file for compensation. Your claim will include:
- Medical Bills: This will include every penny you spend seeking treatment as a result of the injury from the accident. It should account for all medical expenses paid and unpaid. How much you receive as settlement will depend on how long you stay at the hospital, long term care, surgery, care given at the hospital, the means of transport used to take you to hospital, and cost of treatment.
- Lost Income: If you miss work as a result of the injuries, you can file for compensation. You will need to consider your income in the past few months. Each case is unique and the settlement you get will depend on the severity of the accident, impact on your livelihood, pain and suffering, and the degree of negligence that resulted in the accident.
- Pain and suffering: If the physical injury causes you pain, you can file for compensation. Damages in this case include anxiety, depression, reduced quality of life, loss of enjoyment of life, and inability to connect with spouse or those you love.
How long does it take to recover from soft tissue injury?
Most soft tissue injuries will heal within a few days or a few weeks. In the case of sprains and strains, you can perform simple first aid such a RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate). In other cases, the injuries need a doctor’s attention.
Cases of herniated discs, severe whiplash, and deep cuts on muscles can take months to heal. You need to visit the doctor immediately to ensure there are no damages to internal organs.
How do you prove soft tissue damage?
Unlike other types of injuries, soft tissue injuries are challenging to prove. After the accident, you need to see a car accident doctor, who will assess your injury and write a detailed report. You will need to present evidence which may include:
- Pictures of the scene of the accident
- Your medical records
- Imaging test results
- Pictures of the injury
- Pain journal
- Employment records
- You might also need a witness
Our NYC injury doctors will properly assess your injuries, prepare the documentation for your case and assist you through recovery. Having a team of expert Orthopedists, Chiropractors and Physical Therapists, you are in great hands.
