Most Common Car Accident Injuries
Living Healthy | June 27, 2021
Living Healthy | June 27, 2021
Make sure you’re prepared if you ever find yourself in one by knowing the most common injuries that occur.
Whether you were in one yourself or know someone who was, car accidents are scary for anyone involved. The number of possible injuries that a victim can sustain is nearly endless. Because of this, we made a list of the most common car accident injuries and how to determine if you’re experiencing one.
Injuries involving the head or neck are some of the most dangerous and most common. This is because a person’s head is one of the freest moving body parts when seat belted in a car. Two of the most likely injuries to occur are concussions and whiplash: while concussions are more severe, you won’t want to suffer either. It’s often difficult to tell the difference between them, so check with a medical professional if you’re unsure.
Broken ribs are standard in more extreme car accidents. If the seat belt did its job during a hard stop, it would have put a lot of pressure on your ribs, feasibly causing a break. Other broken bones are a possibility as well: arms, wrists, and shoulders are frequent bones to break. Certain leg bones can break, too, depending on where you got hit. Broken bones are easy to identify due to the pain they cause and how they can misshape your body.
Most of the time, when sharp objects break your skin in a car crash, the wounds aren’t too bad. They’re often caused by shattered glass and jagged pieces of metal. However, the potential to get cut deeply by an object is always present. It’s best not to remove any sharp parts of the car until paramedics show up, so they can better handle the situation.
If you received a heavy amount of blunt force trauma from the impact, you might look fine, but you could have internal bleeding below the surface. If you seem to be having a lot of pain or discomfort after an accident but can’t find the source of it, you should seek medical attention immediately so that they can confirm if you are bleeding internally or not.
While not one of the most common car accident injuries, mental problems post-crash are some of the most untreated issues that may affect you. PTSD is a common concern of people who were in a car crash. This problem can cause a person to have terrifying nightmares or flashbacks to the event, which affects their everyday life. They can also have higher levels of stress and depression than they did before the accident.
Another frequent issue is survivor’s guilt. Whether you were the cause of the accident or one of the victims, surviving when someone else didn’t could haunt you for the rest of your life. You can identify both problems and treat them with a trained therapist, so make sure you seek help if you’re experiencing either
