The car accident statistics are alarming and the number of injuries and deaths is rising these days. Catastrophic accidents are more common than ever, probably because of heavy traffic and poor driver behavior. It makes sense to educate people to be more proactive about road safety because awareness can save lives. At the same time, victims should be more conscious about injuries and never ignore them, no matter how trivial they appear.

While some injuries are apparently serious, others may not be visible immediately but can be life-threatening. The danger is compounded because of the delay in treatment. Since everyone who steps out on the road is at risk, knowing all about the serious injuries that can happen as a result of car accidents is important. Here are the ones you should be aware of and address quickly with the right treatment.

Spinal Cord Injuries

The spinal cord is a part of the central nervous system and plays the crucial role of transmitting signals from the brain to the body parts and back again. Its key function is to maintain cognitive and physical functioning, which ensures both mental well-being and physical mobility. Major car accidents can result in serious injuries to multiple areas of the spine of the victim. The ligaments, vertebrae, and discs can be damaged or affected due to the impact of the accident. These injuries can be critical enough to permanently affect your strength, mobility, and even sensation. Other serious implications of spinal cord injury include muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, and sexual dysfunction. In more dangerous accidents, it can even lead to paralysis or death of the victim.

Head and Brain Injuries

As spinal cord injury, another serious form of damage in a car accident is head and brain injuries. These can vary significantly in severity, depending on the impact of the crash. While they can be extremely traumatic and dangerous, you may escape with relatively less long-term damage if you are lucky enough. Still, these injuries can end up having a lifelong impact on the patient and sometimes even causing death. Traumatic brain injuries are the most critical ones as they often require surgery along with intensive, long-term rehabilitation. There are mental and behavioral implications in some patients. Also, people suffering from brain injuries may lose their mental balance and ability to live and work normally.

Amputation

Another serious injury that victims may sustain in major car accidents is amputation or the loss of a limb. You may lose a smaller part such as the fingers or toes but they can be equally traumatic and life-altering. There are often extensive physical effects associated with amputation, from losing your work capabilities to requiring rehabilitation and home modifications and being debilitated for a lifetime. Moreover, highly experienced car accident lawyers would also bring up the issues of psychiatric disorders associated with limb loss as they fight for compensation. Limb loss is more than a trauma for the victim but brings suffering for the entire family as they see a loved one struggling physically and mentally. So you deserve to be compensated optimally for all the damage sustained.

Orthopedic injuries

While amputation is a permanent situation, you may also sustain orthopedic injuries that may heal over time but often have lasting repercussions. Broken bones in the legs, feet, shoulders, arms, hands, and pelvic area are common in car accidents because of the exposure of these body parts to the impact. Although the fractures heal eventually, the pain may never go away. You can expect to be incapacitated for months and may even require surgery in case of multiple fractures. So the expenses can be substantial and so should be the compensation value.

Burns and lacerations

The victim is also likely to experience burn injuries and lacerations, specifically on the face and the upper half of the body. Speed and impact with steel and glass result in lacerations while the risk of burn injuries runs high because of the chances of burning fuel when a crash occurs. Although these damages may not be life-threatening, they can leave you scarred for a lifetime. The impact can go beyond physical deformities and you may end up struggling with emotional issues as well. Treatment is often expensive as you may require multiple surgeries to look more normal.

Serious injuries are hard to deal with, as the damages they cause are beyond physical ones. There are emotional and financial impacts that can make things challenging for the victim. Fortunately, getting a rightful compensation claim can put your life back on track.