What You Should Know About Delayed Injuries and Car Accidents

If you’ve been involved in a car accident, there are lots of things you need to do immediately afterward. You’ll need to note exactly where and when the accident occurred. You’ll need to get the information of the other driver involved in the crash. You’ll need to take pictures of the scene. And, of course, you’ll need to make sure that you, your passengers, and the occupants of the other vehicle are okay. But even if you think you haven’t been injured, is it really necessary to get medical treatment after a car accident?

People often think that if you’ve been injured in a car crash, it’s going to be obvious right away, but this isn’t always the case. Just because you don’t have an injury like a broken bone or large cuts, that doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t been injured. In fact, many common types of injuries caused by car accidents can have delayed symptoms.

When a car accident occurs, even a relatively minor one, people very often have their adrenaline and endorphins kick into high gear, which can make it difficult to accurately judge pain levels. Even if you feel fine immediately after an accident, there’s a chance that you might start feeling some pain later on after you begin to calm down again.

There’s also the fact that in some cases, pain that might not seem like a very big deal at first ends up being a symptom of a larger issue. Maybe you’ll have a slightly stiff neck, some soreness in the back, or a little bit of a headache after your crash, but these could potentially be the sign of a soft-tissue injury such as whiplash or a concussion, which aren’t going to be physically visible in the ways that some types of injuries are. As time goes by, more soft-tissue injury symptoms can begin to show. For example, if a person has a concussion or another type of brain injury, they might later start experiencing dizziness, nausea, memory problems, changes in sleeping patterns, or blurred vision in the days following a car accident.

Another very important thing to remember is that car accidents don’t even need to happen at a particularly high rate of speed to be able to cause serious injuries. If a car accident happens on a side street at 25 MPH or less and you feel okay initially, it can be easy to assume that no harm is done. But whiplash has been known to occur in crashes that happened at speeds as low as 5-10 miles per hour.

Since so many serious injuries have delayed symptoms, it’s a very good idea to see a doctor right away after a car accident, even if you think you’re fine. Not only does it ensure that you get any treatment you need right away, it starts a record tying any injuries or potential injuries to the accident. If you later begin to suspect that you have an injury but you didn’t see a doctor right away, there’s a chance that the other party involved could try to say your injury wasn’t related to the accident.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, it’s very important to get in touch with a car accident lawyer as soon as possible. You’ll have a lot of questions about your case and a lawyer will be able to help answer them for you. Even if it took some time for symptoms of your injury to show, a lawyer may still be able to help. At The Law Offices of Goodwin & Scieszka, we’ve helped many Michigan car accident victims get the compensation they need. Contact us today for help with your case.