4 of the Most Common Car Accident Injuries

In the US, a car accident occurs once every 60 seconds. That adds up to over 5 million accidents a year. Most of these accidents are usually minor and do not lead to injuries, but not everyone is so lucky.

Some car accident injuries are more common than others. It’s important to know the signs and treatments for some of the most common injuries that people sustain during accidents.

Here are four of the most common ways people get injured in a car accident.

1. Contusion

One of the most common car accident injuries is contusion or bruising. Even a minor bump or scrape can cause a contusion.

An impact or sudden slam of the brakes can cause you to propel forward into your seat belt. Your seat belt will do its job of preventing you from sustaining serious injuries, but it can leave uncomfortable bruises around your torso for a few days after the accident.

Your bruises will likely be minor, and they will heal on their own within a few weeks.

2. Whiplash

When you are involved in a car accident, the movement and speed of the vehicle cause your body to move in ways that it’s not supposed to. This unnatural movement is what causes whiplash injuries.

If you’ve noticed that you have pain in your neck or back after a car accident, then it’s likely that you’re suffering from whiplash. Whiplash is painful, and more severe cases can take a few weeks to heal, but it’s unlikely that you’ll suffer any serious health problems from whiplash.

3. Concussion

The inside of your car is covered with hard materials that you wouldn’t want to hit your head on. Unfortunately, when you get into a car accident, there’s a chance that your head could slam into one of these surfaces.

If you hit your head hard enough, you could suffer from a concussion. Concussions can affect your short-term memory or leave you feeling like your brain is not working to its full capacity.

You should never take any chances with a head injury, and if you sustain one, you should be treated for it as soon as possible. Most concussions are easily treatable and will heal in time, but you need to get it looked at to rule out the development of more serious brain injuries and conditions.

Medical professionals and paramedics are incredibly well trained and experienced in car accident treatment and they’ll be able to properly assess your head injury.

4. Broken Bones

Bones break when your skeleton experiences stress that it can no longer handle, there are several ways this can happen in a car accident. The most likely causes of broken bones in a car accident are the seatbelt slamming into your collar bones or your arm or leg cooling with a hard surface within the vehicle.

Broken bones are rarely life-threatening but, depending on how severe the break is, may require surgery to pop the bone back into the correct place. When seeking car accident help, you should always make a medical professional aware of any pains in your body that you suspect could be broken bones.

Car Accident Injuries Need Time to Heal

The important thing to remember is that most car accident injuries are, thankfully, relatively minor. These injuries just need some time and some rest to heal fully.

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