Knee injuries following a car accident
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento personal injury lawyer. The trauma and blunt force of a truck or car accident can cause some serious health risks. Items within and from the vehicle are thrown about the vehicle during a car crash including parts of the windshield, unsecured objects in the car, parts of the steering column and others. In addition, the force of the spin or sudden stop can put stress on your entire body and that of your passengers – especially children.
Car accidents can affect many parts of the body; however, the knee is consistently affected in vehicle crashes. Symptoms and issues occur following an accident and are sometimes difficult to identify.
Symptoms of a knee injury
If you are concerned about knee injuries, you should monitor them closely following an accident. Some indications of problems include discoloration, temperature changes, reduction in strength, range of motion limitations, and loss of sensation.
Discoloration – bruising, shades of red, yellow, and green are all things to look out for.
Temperature changes – if your injury feels warm, it is probably healing, but could also be a sign of infection; conversely, if it is cold, you may have reduced circulation.
Reduction in strength – if you have an injury, you may notice less strength. It is important to give you knee time to heal and recover.
Range of motion limitation – the ability to move your knee may become limited as result of an injury.
Loss of sensation – knee injury may lead to tenderness and depending on the injury, loss of feeling.
Types of knee injuries
There are many types of injuries that can occur following a car accident. Those include a severe knee fracture, a knee dislocation, a knee sprain, a knee strain, torn cartilage, ACL injury (anterior cruciate ligament injury), PCL injury (posterior cruciate ligament), and MCL injury (medial collateral ligament injury.
Knee injuries in children
Pediatric knee injuries tend to be tougher to identify. Common injuries in children following a car accident are knee fractures or sprains. Knee fractures, commonly known as a broken knee, usually result from an impact that occurs during a crash. Knee sprains are another possible injury. They usually occur because of the twist and pull of the car accident. There may be a pulled ligament or the patella, or kneecap, is dislocated completely. Unfortunately, they are difficult to diagnose in children.
Diagnosing a knee injury
When a knee injury occurs, there is usually a loud snap or pop. Pain is immediate and extreme. You will also notice swelling of the injury, possibly looseness. In addition to visual representations during a physical exam, your doctor will use diagnostic imaging to help to diagnose your injury. Occasionally that diagnosis is found with an X-ray, but most often, knee injuries are found with the use of an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
Resources for knee injuries
If you or your child needs help with a knee injury after a car accident, these resources may be of assistance:
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/knee-injuries.html
https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bonerad
Sacramento Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyers
I’m Ed Smith, and I’m a Sacramento personal injury lawyer. If you’ve been hurt in a car crash, please call me in Sacramento at (916) 921-6400 for free and friendly advice. Or, if calling outside of Sacramento, call me on my toll-free number at (800) 404-5400.
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Image Attribution: Public Domain Images via Wikimedia Commons.
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