Can I Recover Compensation for Damages Caused by a Soft-Tissue Injury?

Accident victims who suffer soft-tissue injuries experience pain, discomfort and mobility issues. If you suffered a soft-tissue injury, you have the right to pursue compensation. Even if the insurance company tries to downplay the severity of these injuries. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to recover full compensation for a soft-tissue injury.

Friedman, Domiano and Smith’s attorneys have vast experience recovering compensation for a wide variety of injuries. We know how to prove the existence of an injury, even if it may not show up on an MRI or X-ray.

An initial consultation with one of our experienced Cleveland-based vehicle accident attorneys is free of charge and there is no obligation to hire our firm after this meeting. There is no obligation to hire our firm after this meeting. We offer our legal services on contingency. This means there are no fees before taking your case and no fees while we work to recover compensation.

Soft-Tissue Injuries Often Included in Injury Claims

The soft tissues of the body include nerves, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, fat and lymph vessels. These tissues are all over the body, including in your:

• Knees
• Ankles
• Wrists
• Fingers
• Elbows
• Shoulders
• Neck
• Back

Some examples of soft-tissue injuries that often happen in car crashes include:

Whiplash

This is a neck injury that could affect the shoulders, arms, hands and back. This occurs when the head and neck whip forward and backward in a sudden motion. These injuries are common in a rear-end crash. The muscles and tendons in the neck get stretched out, causing pain and limited mobility.

Bursitis

This refers to irritation or inflammation of a bursa sac, such as the bursa sac in the knee, shoulder or elbow. This inflammation can make movement in the joint very painful.

Sprains and Strains

A common example of this is whiplash. Sprains and strains can occur in various parts of the body, such as the neck, back, arms and legs. When muscles and tendons get stretched more than they can tolerate, it can cause debilitating pain.

Ligament Damage

The ligaments in your knees could get damaged in a car crash. For example, you could suffer a tear to the medial collateral ligament and/or the anterior cruciate ligament. This damage could occur if your knee bends in a way it is not supposed to.

Symptoms of These Injuries

There are a variety of telltale signs of a soft-tissue injury. Pain is one of the most obvious symptoms. Particularly pain when you attempt to use or move the affected area of the body. Other symptoms may include:

• Swelling of the joint
• Limited range of motion
• Weak muscles
• Trouble or inability to bear weight
• Cramps in the muscles
• Spasms in the muscles

Soft-tissue injuries are often given a grade from one to three, with a grade three soft-tissue injury being the worst. Injury victims tend to recover from grade-one injuries faster. Victims often use ice and compression. They may also take over-the-counter pain relievers to manage symptoms.

Grade two injuries are more serious, and the recovery could last a few weeks or more than a month. Some victims may need cortisone shots to deal with the pain.

Grade three injuries may need surgery because they are so severe. Most of the ligament or muscle gets damaged, which means victims will need to keep things immobilized for an extended period.

Available Treatments

There are times when surgery may be used to treat soft-tissue injuries. However, victims more often need physical therapy and rest. They may also need to keep the affected area immobilized for a time. Victims also need to use ice to help reduce swelling. There may also be a need for prescription medication to manage pain associated with the injury.

Validating a Soft-Tissue Injury Claim

You need evidence to validate a claim for a soft-tissue injury. Unfortunately, the damage will not show up on an X-ray and may not even show up on an MRI. The insurance company will scrutinize your medical records to see what the doctor said about your injuries and their severity.

That is why it is important to contact a lawyer right away so he or she can work on validating your claim. He or she can also advise you on what you can do to strengthen your claim for compensation. Your actions after the crash can go a long way toward helping or hurting your claim.

What Can You Do to Help Strengthen Your Case?

The most important thing to do after a car crash is to get medical treatment. This is important for your health, but also your claim. By getting treatment right away, you can help to link your injuries to the accident. If you go from the scene to the hospital, it will be very difficult for the insurance company to argue that your injuries are due to something else.

When you get treatment, you need to provide as much detail as possible to your doctor. Inform the doctor about all the symptoms you are experiencing, no matter how minor you may think they are. Sometimes soft-tissue injury symptoms take a few hours or a day to get worse and become impossible to ignore.

If you forget to mention a soft-tissue injury but you report it days or weeks later, the insurance company can argue that the injury was caused by something other than the crash.

You should not try to tough it out and ignore symptoms. Soft-tissue injuries can be just as bad, if not worse than broken bones. It is a myth that an injury is only severe if it involves a broken bone.

Continue your treatment plan, as this is the best move for your health and your claim. By continuing your treatment, you are demonstrating you are taking this situation seriously. This proves the seriousness of your injury and makes it harder to the insurance company to dispute your claim.

Your attorney may also recommend keeping a journal in which you document the pain and other symptoms you are dealing with each day.

Contact Friedman, Domiano and Smith Today

Soft-tissue injuries can cause significant hardship, and not just physically. Victims may be unable to work for a time and the bills for medical care can be considerable. That is why you need to strongly consider seeking help from a qualified attorney.

At Friedman, Domiano and Smith we have been advocating for the injured in Ohio for decades. We have a history of proven results and there are no upfront fees for our services.