Understanding Cervical Sprain Injuries

One of the most common injuries that people suffer after a car accident is cervical sprains. These injuries are commonly called whiplash and happen when major strain is put on the neck. It’s common for accident survivors to suffer cervical sprains because of the neck’s ability to move freely with no protection at the time of an injury. Cervical sprains can be overlooked but are often significant. Aside from causing chronic pain, they can also lead to further issues in the brain if they are left untreated. Because these injuries are so common in car accidents and elsewhere, it is good to know a bit more about how they happen, what symptoms are involved, and how to care for them.

What Are Cervical Sprains?

When vehicles are involved in a crash, there is usually a sudden impact that takes the body by surprise. This impact can cause a powerful back and forth motion of the neck. This doesn’t happen with every accident, but the motion can be violent. When this happens, the tendons, ligaments, and muscles that connect vertebrae in the neck can be overextended or stretched more than they should be. This can cause muscle fibers to tear, and can even make ligaments and tendons become partly detached from the spine. This is what we refer to as a cervical sprain.

Common Symptoms:

Some of the initial symptoms of a cervical sprain include:

Stiffness and/or loss of motion in the neck
Pain in the neck, back, and/or head
Numbness or tingling
Headaches
Soreness

Symptoms that can develop later on include:

Fatigue
Depression
Worsening headaches
Chronic neck pain
Sleep issues
Dizziness
Ringing in the ears

What to Do After a Cervical Sprain

If you’ve been in a car accident, it’s always a good idea to have a doctor make sure you haven’t suffered a serious injury. A doctor examining your neck sprain will ask you what hurts and inspect your ability to move. They may also use CT, X-rays, or MRI to look further into your injury. All of these methods can help doctors detect further injuries like brain bleeding, which can be a life-threatening condition.

After seeing a doctor, pain management is an important factor. This can include therapy with heat and ice as well as medications as they are needed. It’s also important to try and restore a full range of motion. This can be done through physical therapy exercises. Some people need to use foam collars for severe pain or to help with sleeping, but too much immobility can prevent proper healing.

Financial Recovery

Having an injury can seriously affect your life. Cervical sprains can make it difficult for people to finish daily tasks and can also have a major impact on your mood. Furthermore, people with cervical injuries may not be able to work. Those with chronic pain are sometimes no longer able to continue their career. These issues make it even harder to pay for physical therapy, medication, and other necessary parts of recovering.

People injured in accidents can often take care of these costs by filing personal injury claims. These types of claims attempt to provide people with the money that they need in order to fully recover for the injuries they have suffered. To learn more about recovering damages through personal injury claims, it is best to speak to a Redding injury attorney who has experience handling cases like yours.

More blogs by Ed Smith, Redding Personal Injury Attorney

Redding Personal Injury Lawyer

I’m Ed Smith, a Redding personal injury lawyer. If you have been seriously hurt because of a crash, I’d like to help you out with some free, friendly advice. You can call me using (800) 404-5400 or (530) 392-9400.

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Understanding Cervical Sprain Injuries