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Soft tissue injuries can also affect various aspects of your daily life - they may prevent you from doing chores, exercising, or participating in many of the activities that you used to enjoy. If you sustained soft tissue injuries as a result of someone else's negligence, they may be liable for your damages.
Types of Soft Tissue Injuries
Muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves are all soft tissues that surround and protect other body parts. The impact of a car accident can damage soft tissues in all parts of the body, including the neck, shoulders, arms, hands, legs, back, and feet.
Common types of car accident soft tissue injuries can include:
•Whiplash
•Sprains and strains
•Herniations
•Disc bulges
•Bursitis
•Tendonitis, and tendinosis
•Rotator cuff tears
•Meniscal tears
•Contusions
•Muscle spasms
It's crucial to get medical help as soon as possible after a car accident. Even if you don't think you're injured, it can take a few days or weeks for soft tissue injuries to develop. Depending on the part of the body affected, they can cause physical limitations, reduced range of motion, cognitive issues, tingling, stiffness, headaches, nausea, swelling, and loss of mobilization.
Treatment such as physical therapy, acupuncture, or even surgery may be necessary to treat soft tissue injuries. Depending on the severity, a doctor may prescribe hot and cold packs, medication, rest, specific exercises, and equipment or medical devices to aid in the healing process.
Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries
If you have suffered from soft tissue damage as a result of a car crash, you may be entitled to compensation beyond what no-fault insurance reimburses, depending on the facts and circumstances of your accident.
In a personal injury action, a car accident victim must be able to demonstrate that they have incurred more than $50,000 of economic loss as a result of the accident or sustained a "serious injury" as defined by New York Insurance Law § 5102(d). Soft tissue injuries may meet the threshold requirements if they cause permanent or significant loss of use of a body part.
The injury can also qualify as "serious" under the statute if the car accident victim was prevented from participating in their "usual and customary daily activities for more than 90 of the 180 days" which followed the accident. These activities can include anything from grocery shopping, going to the gym, walking the dog, or sitting for long hours at work.
Medical records serve as crucial evidence for cases involving car accident soft tissue damage. Your injuries can be documented by your doctor's observations, through diagnostic testing, and the course of treatment recommended by your doctor. Limitations experienced as a result of the accident may also be established by your own sworn affidavit or testimony, as well as that of others who have first-hand knowledge of the limitations caused by your injuries.
Recoverable damages for soft tissue injuries can include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and emotional distress in addition to economic damages such as unreimbursed and future medical expenses, lost wages, and out-of-pocket costs related to the accident.
Contact an Experienced New York Car Accident Attorney
If you incurred soft tissue injuries in a car accident, you should contact a personal injury attorney immediately who can advise you of your legal rights and remedies. An experienced car accident attorney can help you recover the maximum compensation you deserve for your injuries, medical expenses, and time lost from work.
The Popick Law Firm has thirty years of experience in obtaining compensation for victims of car accidents. Located in Fresh Meadows, NY, The Popick Law Firm handles personal injury and auto accident cases in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties. Contact the Popick Law Firm today for a consultation.
