Nerve Damage from Tennessee Car Accidents

After a car accident, you might think about the injuries that are easy to see, such as broken bones, cuts, lacerations, scrapes, and bruises. However, one of the most common injuries that often occurs but is frequently overlooked after a car accident is nerve damage.

Nerve damage is a type of injury that may not present any symptoms right away, causing car accident victims to think that they are completely fine, but within a few hours or days, they may quickly realize that something is seriously wrong.

What is nerve damage?

According to Harvard Health, nerve damage occurs when the nerves within the body become irritated or injured. In severe cases, the nerves may be irreparable and never fully function again. Muscle weakness often occurs along with atrophy, affecting the individual’s quality of life for the foreseeable future.

Although there are billions of nerves in the human body, the most common nerves that can become damaged in an accident are in your hands, feet, and arms. However, nerve damage can occur anywhere throughout the body, leading to serious consequences.

What are the symptoms of nerve damage?

Since our bodies can react to accidents and injuries in various ways, each person may experience nerve damage symptoms differently. Therefore, it is important to know the various symptoms that may emerge when you have nerve damage. These symptoms include:

• Excessive sweating or little sweating
• Feeling lightheaded
• Bladder dysfunction
• Constipation
• Dry mouth or eyes
• Sexual dysfunction
• Muscle weakness
• Muscle atrophy
• Paralysis
• Twitching
• Numbness
• Tingling
• Prickling or feelings of pins and needles
• Pain
• Sensitive to touch
• Burning

Individuals have three different types of nerves: autonomic, motor, and sensory. These nerves are responsible for different functions within the human body. For example, autonomic nerves control your heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and digestion. Your motor nerves help your brain, spinal cord, and muscles communicate, and your sensory nerves ensure that you are aware of your senses. Therefore, depending on which nerve is damaged, you may experience different symptoms. In some cases, you may find out that multiple types of nerves are damaged, affecting you in multiple ways.

How do you get nerve damage in a Nashville car accident?

There are various ways that a person can get nerve damage in a Nashville car accident. However, this typically happens due to the impact or force that the accident inflicts on a person’s body. For example, if your vehicle collides with another vehicle at high speeds, your neck, head, arms, and back may become injured. When these injuries occur, the nerves may stretch, twist, and even tear, resulting in temporary or permanent nerve damage.

Another example of how your nerves can become damaged in a car accident is if a sharp piece of glass or metal enters the vehicle and leaves a deep cut or laceration on your leg; the nerves within your leg may become divided or completely severed. Lastly, it is not uncommon for accident victims to become stuck between the steering wheel, dashboard, or floorboard area during a crash. When this happens, they may feel intense pressure on certain body parts or even experience crushing injuries, which can cause the nerves to become pinched, squeezed, or severely compressed. As a result, the individual may have long-term nerve damage that affects them for the rest of their life.

What are the most common injuries that affect the nerves in a crash?

It is crucial to realize that regardless of what type of car crash you are involved in, you are at risk of nerve damage. This means that an accident victim involved in a high-speed T-bone crash is at risk, but so is a person involved in a low-speed rear-end accident in a parking lot.

Even if you think that your accident is minor and you feel fine afterward, you should still seek medical attention to ensure that you do not have nerve injuries that could become worse over time. You may have whiplash when your head or neck moves forward and backward suddenly and forcibly if left untreated. The following are three of the most common injuries that affect nerves in a crash.

Whiplash

When your head or neck moves forward and backward suddenly and forcibly, you may have whiplash. This usually results from the muscles in the neck stretching, causing nerve damage in the area between the head and neck. While a seat belt is responsible for holding your body in place in the event of an accident, your head and neck usually do not have anything holding them in place, allowing serious whiplash injuries to occur. Whiplash can cause pain, stiffness, numbness, and tenderness in your neck, shoulders, arms, hands, back, and head.

Herniated disks

When your body moves, twists, and turns in abnormal ways in an accident, you may suffer a herniated disk. This usually results in the center of your spinal disk rupturing or slipping out of its normal position, which places extreme pressure on the nerves in the area. Most individuals who have herniated disks experience excruciating pain, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness in the arms or legs.

Pinched nerves

Pinched nerves usually emerge when your body experiences too much pressure in one area. For example, if your leg becomes lodged between the steering wheel and dashboard, your bones, muscles, and tendons may experience too much pressure for a long time, causing pinched nerves within the leg. Those diagnosed with a pinched nerve usually experience pain, swelling, muscle weakness, tingling, and burning.

Can nerve damage be treated?

Depending on how severe the nerve damage is, it may be able to be treated. While the nerves will never be able to return to their original state, medical professionals usually recommend undergoing some type of treatment to ensure that the damage does not become permanent. Some of the types of treatment medical professionals often recommend include:

• Medications
• Physical therapy
• Exercises and movements
• Surgery
• Nerve block injections
• Desensitization
• Acupuncture
• Electrical nerve stimulation
• Changes in diet

At Rocky McElhaney Law Firm, we have decades of experience helping car accident victims with nerve damage. Therefore, we understand how challenging it can be to receive a diagnosis for these types of injuries and learn how to cope with your new reality. If you need help protecting your rights and advocating for the compensation you deserve, the knowledgeable and skilled car accident attorneys at our firm can help. Please call our office or submit our contact form to schedule a free, no-obligation case evaluation today. We have office locations in Nashville, East Nashville, Hendersonville, Clarksville, and Murfreesboro for your convenience.