Soft Tissue Injuries and Car Accidents
Menu
Call Toll-Free 24 Hours:

Soft Tissue Injuries and Car Accidents

Legally Reviewed and Edited by: Terry Cochran

Soft tissue injuries are common in car accidents, even if the accident seemed minor at the time. The human body has many muscles, tendons, and ligaments that are more fragile than they seem, even if you’re healthy and in good shape.

If you’re in pain after an auto accident, it’s important to seek medical care and then consult with a Michigan car accident lawyer at our law firm as soon as possible. Some soft tissue injuries are slow to heal and may have significant impacts on your ability to work. You’ll need to recover compensation for medical bills to help keep your family financially sound.

What Causes Soft Tissue Injuries?

Soft tissue injuries include injuries caused by the stretch or tear of a ligament or muscle. These can be caused by direct impacts, but can also be caused by sudden jerking motions. Airbags are a common cause of injuries, but even minor accidents where the airbags didn’t deploy can cause injuries.

It’s important to remember that an injury caused by a car crash might not be immediately obvious. Just because you didn’t notice an injury right away does not mean that the accident didn’t cause it. The adrenaline flowing through victims after accidents can drown out the pain, causing injuries not to be noticed until later.

Common Soft Tissue Injuries

Whiplash is the most common injury, but depending on your body’s position at the time of the accident, shoulder or other muscle strains can occur as well. Whiplash is a type of hyperextension that can cause pain in the neck and shoulders for weeks or months. This often happens because of the force of the accident jerking your body around.

Other sprains and strains are very common, especially in the neck, shoulders, and back resulting in a limited range of motion. Contusions, also known as bruises, can occur on any part of the body that makes contact with an airbag or the inside of the car. Contusions can take hours to be fully noticeable, so victims often wake up the next day feeling much sorer than before.

In severe cases, muscles and ligaments can even be torn, which often requires surgery. This is less common than sprains and strains, but can still happen in violent accidents. These injuries can force the victim to go through months of physical therapy in order to regain full motor function.

Do Soft Tissue Injuries Heal on Their Own?

Although some soft tissue injuries heal with rest and elevation, others can persist for a long time. Some may need extensive therapy or medical procedures in order to heal properly.

An accurate diagnosis and treatment plan are imperative in making sure injuries heal correctly. It can seem tempting to just bandage an injury and take medication to reduce the pain, but this does not necessarily promote healing. It’s important to seek proper medical care after an accident instead of waiting for the injury to heal on its own.

Soft tissue injuries can also be aggravated if you fail to get adequate rest after your accident. Failure to care for back and neck injuries can even result in permanent damage to spinal discs.

Soft Tissue Injuries

How to Get Compensation After Soft Tissue Injuries

Michigan is a No-Fault state, which means that your own car insurance will cover your injuries. However, getting your insurance company to pay up can be surprisingly difficult. If you didn’t notice your injury immediately after your accident, your insurance company may try to claim it wasn’t from the accident.

You may need expert medical testimony and assistance from a personal injury attorney to win compensation for medical bills, lost wages, physical therapy, and other expenses associated with your injury. Since soft tissue injuries are difficult to prove, accident victims need to talk to an attorney as soon as possible to make sure everything is documented appropriately.

Getting the Right Team

The right team of attorneys can provide legal advice and make a huge difference in the outcome of your case, especially if you’re dealing with an invisible injury. At Cochran, Kroll & Associates, P.C., we’ve worked tirelessly to support our clients as they recover from their injuries. We specialize in car accident injuries and other medical matters and have a track record of success across the Metro Detroit area.

We can help you succeed in your personal injury claim with our team of medical and legal experts. Contact us at 866-MICH-LAW for your free consultation so we can start on your case, and get you the compensation and justice you deserve.

Disclaimer : The information provided is general and not for legal advice. The blogs are not intended to provide legal counsel and no attorney-client relationship is created nor intended.

Hannah Johnson has her Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs with a specialization in civic engagement. Her career has focused on labor-related research, including unions, workers' compensation, and contract law. She is now broadening her career to include research and policy analysis in East Asia, specifically in countries like South Korea and Japan where the aging population is creating a new frontier in economic trends and public policy innovation.

CALL TOLL-FREE | 24 HOURS

RESULTS-DRIVEN TRACK RECORD

Testimonial Image

FREE CONSULTATION NO FEES UNTIL WE WIN

There is no obligation for a case evaluation & no fee is charged unless a recovery is made.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Your privacy is important to us. Cochran, Kroll & Associates, P.C. does not share, sell, rent, or trade personally identifiable or confidential information with third parties for any purpose.
Call Now Button