When a car accident occurs, it's no surprise that there can be severe consequences if a person is not paying attention to safety or is driving recklessly. Most people are lucky that they don't have to leave the scene in an ambulance or, in a worst-case scenario, dead. Chest pain after a car accident is no joke, as an individual may have a life-threatening injury or damage to the aorta without knowing it.
Generally, after a motor vehicle collision, it's advised to visit a medical professional who can assess any present injuries or other symptoms. In most cases, people experience delayed pain or symptoms, sometimes weeks after a typical minor motor car accident.
The first thing someone should do after an automobile crash is seek medical attention. Second, the individual should ask themselves a few questions: How long do they have to go to the hospital after the accident? Have they had trouble sleeping? Are they experiencing memory problems?
If the answer is yes to either of the above questions, the person may open an injury claim against the guilty party. Lastly, victims should contact The Keating Firm for a free consultation to determine if they deserve compensation for their severe injuries.
What to Expect After a Car Accident
It's not unusual to have psychological and physical symptoms after a car accident, and most people experience shock symptoms that range from nausea to dilated pupils. If someone is diagnosed with these symptoms at the accident scene, they may require immediate medical attention.
Some people may be overwhelmed by legal, physical, and emotional consequences directly after an accident. Depression can set in, and anxiety is common after an injury with this pain threshold. Some individuals even develop PTSD after chest treatment of an automobile accident.
These are serious ailments that can lead to further complications down the line. It is recommended to seek treatment if the driver is experiencing any symptoms of PTSD, depression, or anxiety after the collision. After car accidents, there may be additional physical symptoms, such as abdominal pain, internal bleeding, hurt lungs, bruised torso, a fractured sternum, weak muscles, and severe chest pain.
In most car accidents, chest pain symptoms don't appear immediately after the incident. Typically, it takes around two to three days for these issues to develop, but even these delayed symptoms require that a person visits the doctor immediately.
What Symptoms to Look out for After a Car Accident
Car accidents vary in severity, making it challenging to predict what could physically be wrong with a person. After a car crash, the individual should be aware of several mental and physical problems that may not appear right away, such as soft tissue damage, chest/rib injury, spastic muscles, and difficulty breathing.
If these symptoms are ignored, the person can expect high medical costs in a few days. Below are some of the issues that must not be overlooked after a car accident.
Abdominal Pain
After an auto accident, stomach pain can be felt from soft tissue injuries, such as damage to internal organs, sore ribs, bones, or even internal bleeding. If someone has pain in the stomach, develops large bruises, chest pain, or dizziness, they should seek medical assistance right away.
Neck Pain
This is a common symptom of whiplash during a car accident, which regularly occurs after rear-end impacts. The impact shifts the head back and forward, leading to strains, sprains, spinal injury, chest pain, and herniated disks.
It may take days or hours for the symptoms to appear, and in most instances, the pain lasts for several days to months, but in the worst scenario, these issues could be permanent.
Back Pain
Back pain can restrict someone's mobility after a car accident, it stops people from performing everyday activities such as running, sitting at a desk, or taking a walk in the mall.
A problem like back pain can stem from soft tissue injuries, whiplash, herniated disk, or other injuries. If an issue like this is not resolved immediately, it can cause the individual's overall health to decline no matter their age.
It's recommended to consult with a medical practice to schedule an appointment to examine any present serious injuries.
Tingling and Numbness
If a person's head is hit during an auto accident and they experience pins and needles in various places around their body, it may signify traumatic brain injury. Tingling and numbness can also represent a pinched nerve or a slipped disk, but the individual may be much worse off without seeing a doctor right away.
Lack of Concentration or Memory Loss
After a car accident, people often struggle to concentrate or remember recent events. There is a long list of physiological and emotional problems caused by car crashes, such as bruised ribs plus arms, chest pain, confusion, chest wall pain, or other very serious injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries are among the worst problems when an individual has sustained damage through a car crash. The sooner the individual visits the doctor, the quicker they can begin their recovery.
Constant Headache and Nausea
In most cases, a person gets a headache after a car crash, or they may even feel nauseous. On the other hand, there can be a more very serious injury causing the headaches such as blood clots, neck injuries, chest pain, or whiplash. The combination of nausea and headaches can make an individual worry and point to a more extreme brain injury or a concussion.
When someone hits their head during a car accident, it can cause serious damage to the brainstem and brain.
Excessive Sleeping and Feeling Tired
Once the adrenaline has worn off from the car accident, car crash victims often feel drained and exhausted. When the body is healing, it only makes sense that the driver may feel slow and sluggish. However, if exhaustion plus pain persists and someone sleeps a lot after car collisions, they might have a more significant issue.
Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD can lead to other ailments plus affect a person's sleep and wake cycle. These two injuries are significant issues that require a visit to the doctor's office for assistance and advice.
What if Car Accident Chest Pain Is Delayed?
Delayed symptoms are common even though many people experience chest pain directly after a car accident. Individuals may start to have abdominal pain, get headaches, encounter chest pain, weakness of the left side of the body, struggle to hear, or notice soreness in the shoulders and neck.
If someone has been in a car wreck, it's crucial to get examined by a professional doctor, especially if they have unusual pain symptoms or bruises. It's vital to know how long someone has to go to the doctor after an accident if they plan to claim from their insurance company. The insurance company that covers the individual can inform them of the required time limit for visiting a doctor. Most states give people one to two years from the crash to open a car accident injury claim.
Furthermore, if the wait before professional medical treatment is too long, the more challenging it becomes to file a claim. Other painful symptoms and delayed pain after a car accident are common, but it can be arduous to prove to insurance companies that the same wreck caused the recent rib cage or chest injury.
Even if the insurance company agrees to cover medical expenses (that is, if your car insurance did not lapse when the car accident happened), the hurt party must speak with a personal injury attorney before they sign any documents. This protects individuals from giving away their right to file a lawsuit if they have suffered and their healing situation worsens.
A solid recommendation is to contact a lawyer at Keating Firm LTD for legal counsel and advice. Over the last decade, the company's motor vehicle accident lawyers have assisted countless car accident victims to recover compensation for their treatment. The only thing to do is make sure that the lawsuit is filed within the statute of limitations set out by the state in which the person resides.
How Can Someone Know Broken Ribs Are Not Going to Cause Anymore Symptoms
After a car accident, symptoms can be relatively harmless and short-lived, but some can be life-threatening. Before getting examined by a medical professional, people may not understand what's causing the symptom they are experiencing. Some chest pain signals go away after a couple of days, and some injuries may last forever.
The sooner severe injuries are identified, the greater chance the person has to correct their overall health. A chest, neck, lung, fractured sternum, and rib injury are critical as they can lead to shortness of breath and hinder deep breathing.
If someone sustains a chest injury due to late airbag deployment, the swelling, bruising, and trauma may affect other parts of the anatomy, including the chest, neck, and muscles in the arms.
Don't Settle Immediately and Get Help from a Professional Lawyer at The Keating Firm LTD
When someone goes through a motorcycle, truck, or automobile accident, it's understood that they may want to move on with their everyday lives quickly. It is good to remember not to accept a settlement from the insurance company straight away without chatting to a lawyer.
Insurance companies are a business and don't make money by handing out liberal settlements; these businesses make their profits by limited compensation payouts. People need to be sure that the amount they are receiving is going to be enough to cover medical expenses, lost wages, chest pain, and suffering.
A legal practitioner at the Keating Firm LTD offers car accident victims a free consultation to determine their case's circumstances. People love using the firm because it maintains a 100% confidential attorney-client relationship and treats all patrons with compassion plus understanding.
What Type of Injuries Get Worse Over Time and Have a Delayed Onset?
Chest pain and injuries from a vehicle accident can be delayed for weeks or days at a time. That can cause the accident victim to suffer for longer than expected and put them at risk concerning other long-term effects, such as personality changes, heart attack, trouble breathing, a blood clot, stiffness, or a collapsed lung.
The other injuries below have a delayed onset after someone is in an automobile accident.
Whiplash
When someone gets into a car wreck, the automobile forces the passenger's head to rush back and forth due to it stopping suddenly. These injuries are known as whiplash and can cause all kinds of damages from a pinched nerve, broken ribs, internal bleeding, torn ligaments, or rib and chest trauma.
It can be challenging to know what is wrong as adrenaline is still pumping through the individual's anatomy to mask the painful experience. Other issues like depression and memory problems may take a few days to occur. Typically, the above can happen after the victim has been treated and recovered from the other driver's negligence.
If the victim's rib bones, skin, chest cavity, or cartilage are damaged from hitting the steering wheel during the crash, they may require surgery. Suppose the trauma sustained by the injured party occurs inside the abdomen or behind the rib cage it may require doctors to operate under the chest wall.
Concussion
A blow to the head is known as a concussion, a form of traumatic brain injury resulting in major blood vessels getting damaged. Taking a significant blow to the head causes the brain to shake violently inside the skull, essentially knocking the individual out.
Concussions can result in visible bleeding and internal swelling that can lead to death if not cared for by a healthcare professional. Even seemingly minor concussion injuries can have an extended adverse effect on vital organs, vision, and the individual's rest plus recovery time.
Internal Bleeding
If a doctor doesn't diagnose internal bleeding, it may go unnoticed until the victim starts to feel a sensation of discomfort in their abdomen. Liver pain, unexplained bruising, chest pain, and dizziness can be signs that the individual is bleeding inside. Injuries like this require immediate attention because a range of tissues can rupture, meaning the injured party should go straight to the emergency room.
Blood Clot
When injuries are sustained to various body parts, significant internal bleeding can lead to blood clots over time. A condition known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is one of the most dangerous kinds of clots that form in the legs, but depending on the injuries, these clots may be the beginning sign of sepsis or other factors, such as pneumonia.
It can break loose and travel to the lungs causing more complications for the car accident victim. Blood clots in the lungs can lead to chest pain, faintness, and even fatalities if not cared for straight away.
If the lung is filled with erythrocytes, surgery behind the breastbone and ribcage is inevitable. Other clots form in the cerebrum, which places pressure on the brain and can be deadly or lead to permanent brain damage.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injuries can vary from severe to mild, depending on the damage sustained to the individual's skull. A TBI can result in multiple subtle symptoms that go undetected for months, weeks, or days. If someone is exhausted, has personality changes, altered sense of smell or taste, vision issues, and memory problems are evidence of traumatic brain damage. Treatment involved in the above injuries includes CT scans and X-rays to determine the severity of the fractured region.
Spinal Injury
Injuries to the spinal cord nerves are severe and can lead to death or paralysis. Even if the injury is minor, it can worsen over time and can even be fatal or damage other organs if left unchanged. Loss of sensitivity, bruising, pressure, swelling, chest pain, torn ligaments, tingling, tenderness of muscles, lack of balance plus movement, weakness, difficulty breathing, and loss of bowel and bladder control indicates a spinal column injury.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
It's crucial not to forget the influence of a car crash incident on an individual's mental health and well-being. PTSD is a mental ailment that people develop after a scary or highly stressful event outside of everyday experiences.
Studies have shown that millions of Americans have post-traumatic stress disorder due to vehicle accidents. It is challenging to diagnose because guilt, disbelief, fear, and anger are all common emotions after a crash. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms often don't go away or get worse, changing or limiting the victim's behavior. Anyone with signs of PTSD should discuss treatment options with their doctor, as they don't need to suffer in silence.
The Keating Firm LTD
People who have suffered from injuries and car accident chest pain must contact Keating Firm LTD. The firm has been helping car accident victims fight for a fair settlement during their recovery time.
What's great about using a personal injury attorney for claims involving car accidents is that they handle the entire process and are persistent. That allows the individual to heal from their injuries plus tenderness and continue with the rest of their life.
Columbus motor vehicle accident lawyers at The Keating Firm LTD treat each client with dignity and understand the difficulties the injuries have caused them. Whether it's a broken rib, chest cavity damage, a ruptured spleen, sternum fractures, exacerbated kidneys, or any other complications, Keating Firm's attorneys can get injured parties compensated.
Another fantastic thing about the firm is that it offers a free consultation for validation purposes. Once the attorney has received the details, the injured party can return to treatment and everyday life.