Back Injuries Related to Car Accidents

What do you have in common with the tasty catfish on your plate, the alligator lurking in the bayou, the deer you are looking forward to hunting as soon as the season begins, the sloth chilling in a tree in the South American rainforest, and the giraffe towering over the plains in Africa? All of you are vertebrates; your backbone and spinal cord are what you have in common.  Of course, the human spine is different from any of these. Your spine is built for walking on two legs and performing a range of human occupations, whereas alligators and fish have spines built for swimming, and sloths have spines built for supporting their weight as they lounge in the forest canopy. You never think about your spine until something goes wrong with it, which can happen for a variety of reasons. Chronic back pain is a common symptom in adults, and its prevalence increases with age. Despite this, many back-related health problems are preventable. While ordinary age-related wear and tear makes symptoms worse, any sufferers of chronic back pain can pinpoint the beginning of the trouble to a traumatic injury, such as a car accident. If you have been suffering from back pain since you were involved in a car accident, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.

Trouble With Intervertebral Discs

You might not think much about your spine until the back pain starts, but at least you knew it existed. Intervertebral discs are another story; most people do not even know that they have them until they start causing trouble. Separating each vertebra from the vertebrae above and below it is a disc made of cartilage. The outer layer of cartilage of each disc is hard and dense, and the cartilage on the inner layer is softer and more sensitive. A herniated disc is when some of the inner cartilage bulges out and causes pain. It is also known as a slipped disc or bulged disc.

The slipped disc puts pressure on spinal nerves, so you might feel the pain in parts of your body other than your back, such as your hips or legs. A car accident can be the beginning of chronic back pain from a slipped disc, or if you were already feeling symptoms of degeneration of your intervertebral discs, a traumatic injury like a car accident can make the pain even worse. Unfortunately, managing the symptoms of a slipped disc is often a matter of trial and error. Your doctor may recommend medications, physical therapy, or even surgery. None of this is cheap, so you should contact a personal injury lawyer if your back pain is the result of a preventable accident.

Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Car Accident Cases

A car accident lawyer can help you if a car accident has left you with chronic back pain and a mountain of medical bills. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.

Sources

https://alexanderorthopaedics.com/blog/common-back-injuries-from-a-car-accident/