Whiplash, Swelling, and Muscle Strain: How Lesser Injuries Can Become Chronic

Car accidents aren’t always cut and dry when it comes to injuries. In the immediate aftermath, with your adrenaline pumping, you might think you haven’t been injured. Not every injury will present itself immediately following an accident. Delayed onset of pain is a serious medical issue that can cause problems for accident victims days and even weeks after the crash.

Lesser injuries like whiplash, swelling, and muscle strain might not present a lot of problems immediately after your car accident, but these injuries can become chronic if you don’t seek medical care or don’t receive the proper treatment.

Whiplash

For the most part, many car accident victims who suffer whiplash are able to fully recover after a period of rest and treatment. This can include pain medication, physical therapy, massages, and other treatment options. However, there are some who see their whiplash condition develop into chronic pain and other problems, so much so that they are unable to go to work.

So, why how does whiplash become chronic?

For starters, there’s no correlation found in any research that the severity of the accident leads to chronic whiplash. A minor fender-bender can cause chronic whiplash, while a head-on accident that left both vehicles totaled does not. There are other factors that go into chronic whiplash developing and they can include the following:

• Muscular problems prior to the accident
• Skeletal problems prior to the crash
• Car accident victims who used medications heavily prior to the crash

Swelling

When the body swells, it does so because of the buildup of fluid or inflammation after suffering an injury. There are three types of swelling a car accident victim can suffer:

• Edema: swelling that is present in the tissue outside of the joint
• Effusion: swelling that is inside of a joint
• Hemarthrosis: a condition where swelling and blood are present inside a joint

Swelling is a serious injury when left untreated, however, it can be easy to treat with rest, ice, compression, and elevation. If you ignore swelling following an accident, you could do serious, long-term damage to your muscles, ligaments, and joints that could require surgery to repair. Swelling can be acute, which develops within 24 hours following an accident, or chronic. Chronic swelling develops over time and can be difficult for you to detect.

Muscle strain

A muscle strain occurs when the force placed on a muscle causes the tissue to tear. There are three places in which this can happen:

• Inside the muscle
• At the junction between the tendon and the muscle
• Inside the tendon, where the muscle attaches to the bone

A muscle strain that is left untreated can lead to chronic pain. If the pain becomes too serious to handle you could require surgery to repair the problem.

Suffering an injury in a car accident is never easy, especially if you don’t seem to be injured immediately following the crash. After seeking medical treatment, it is in your best interest to speak with an experienced Nashville personal injury attorney. Call the office of the Rocky McElhaney Law firm at 615-425-2500 or complete a contact form to schedule a consultation. We operate offices in Nashville, Hendersonville, Knoxville, and Clarksville.