Back Injury

Common Questions about Accident-Related Back Injury

What Is Considered a Major Back Injury?

Major back injuries are painful, long-lasting, and can often result in severe complications that can last your entire lifetime. When you go through an accident that causes a major back injury, you can pursue financial compensation from the at-fault party.

You can recover compensation for various types of damages such as medical or assisted living expenses, prescriptions, and more.

There are several ways to tell what constitutes a major back injury. Back injuries are only major if:

• You have extreme chronic pain that impairs your ability to move or function normally.
• The injuries resulted from serious accidents such as falls from high places or from a car accident.
• Your back injury does not improve with rest or over-the-counter pain relief medications.
• The pain also spread to your groin, glutes, or other places.

There are many other signs. These are only just a few. Treatment for back injuries can not only be physically and emotionally draining, but they can also severely impact your financial health. You deserve compensation after your accident.

Do not let the at-fault party get away with not paying you a fair settlement. Learn more about major back injuries and what your rights are under the law to file a claim.

How Much Should I Settle for a Back Injury in an Accident Claim?

When it comes to knowing how much you should settle for, you need to consider all of your economic and non-economic damages. For economic damages, all you need to do is retain all the financial documents relative to the expenses you had to pay for after your accident. Our lawyers can help reimburse whatever you lost.

Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and other damages that do not have a fixed value attached to them. These damages typically have no caps.

While these damages may be a bit harder to prove, you must factor them into your settlement. Calculating these requires a specific formula tailored to your unique situation.

In addition, you can also recover punitive damages as awarded by a court. These damages exist to punish the at-fault party if they were extremely negligent or malicious in their actions.

Also, remember that your settlement will depend on how much you were responsible for your accident. If you get found partially liable, then the percentage you were at fault for gets deducted from your final settlement amount.

Find out more about how much compensation you should seek for your back injury claim. Since every case is different, there is no general way to tell how much you can recover without consulting with a lawyer.

How Long Does a Back Injury Take to Heal?

Back injuries are particularly nasty injuries because of how long they can take to heal. Sometimes, back injuries can be so severe that healing from them completely is impossible.

Many people in the U.S. suffer from chronic back problems for the rest of their lives. This is why it is essential to hold the parties responsible for your back injury accountable for their negligent actions.

For muscle pulls and strains, healing time varies depending on the severity. If the pull wasn't too bad, then a week's rest coupled with basic self-medication can often remedy the problem. However, surgery may be necessary for more severe pulls or strains, and that can take months to recover from properly.

Spinal cord injuries are the most severe of back injuries. Often healing for back injuries dealing with the spine can take several months and even years to recover from. Damage to the spinal cord can lead to paralysis and other forms of disability that permanently affect you. More often than not, spinal cord injuries often result in lasting physical damages that cannot heal.

The human body can be very resilient, and healing times also vary significantly from person to person. Read more about back injuries and the general time frame you can expect to heal from one.

How Do You Know if Your Back Injury Is Serious?

Never take back injuries lightly. Until you know for sure that the back injuries you sustained are minor, treat all of them seriously. Back pain is a common issue in many Americans. So much so in fact that many think that pain from back injuries is no big deal and that medical attention isn't necessary.

Suffering from back pain due to an injury is not the same as suffering back pain because of bad posture. Car accidents, slip and falls, and other types of accidents can all cause lasting permanent effects on your body. Back injuries are serious when:

• You no longer have control of your bladder or your bowels.
• Lose feeling or sensation anywhere in the body.
• Your back pain is so severe that it prevents you from moving.
• You have spasms in your back and are generally always uncomfortable.

These are just a few of the basic signs that tell you that your back injury is very bad. Contact a doctor immediately and get medical treatment fast. The longer you let back problems linger, the harder it will be to heal from your injuries. If left untreated for too long, the effects can become permanent.

You can learn more about how serious your back injuries are and find out how we can help you compensate for your damages.