Back Injuries

Houston Back Injury Attorney

When you are in a car accident, your body may suffer various kinds of trauma that can temporarily or permanently debilitate you. Back injuries are a type of car accident injury many individuals sustain during a collision. We take your back injury as seriously as you do.

Serious back injuries can change your life forever. The chronic pain that accompanies most serious back injuries can be debilitating and may even make you unemployable, leaving you with no income. A back injury may initially appear minor; however, even the most minor back injuries can put an individual out of work for days. A back injury that appears initially minor can reveal itself as a serious injury requiring surgery, rehabilitation, and medical assistance.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident and sustained a back injury, please get in touch with our back injury attorneys as soon as possible for a free case evaluation. We will evaluate your legal situation, answer your questions, and advise you on your legal options and rights. If we take your case, we will aggressively pursue compensation for you, even if we must argue your case to a jury.

Disabilities Caused by Back Injuries

Because of the location of your spinal cord, a back injury may be one of the most debilitating kinds of injury you can sustain, second only to a neck injury or amputation. Your back injury may make it impossible to:

• Sit for long periods
• Stand for long periods
• Lift heavy or light objects
• Drive an automobile
• Work at your regular job
• Work at any job

These inabilities can cause not only personal pain and frustration but financial hardship or even crisis. You may find it necessary to ask loved ones to do the simplest task for you, like reaching for an object on a shelf or helping yourself stand up.

How Back Injuries Occur

The most common types of accidents that cause back injuries include:

• Slip and Fall Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Construction Site Accidents
• Car Accidents
• SUV Rollovers

Types of Back Injuries

A back injury may or may not involve an injured spinal cord. The spinal vertebrae can be chipped or pushed out of alignment without the spinal cord being damaged. That is a less serious injury than a spinal cord injury, but it can still be excruciating, disabling, and expensive to treat.

Whiplash, which often occurs in an auto accident, is the most common type of back injury, injuring the backbone in the neck region. Other back injuries are compression fractures and slipped, ruptured, or herniated disks.

Back Injury Symptoms

Symptoms will be local if a back injury involves only the spinal bones. There may be bleeding, bruising, severe pain, visible bone misalignment, muscle spasms, and restricted movement. If the injury also affects the spinal cord, symptoms could involve any other part of the body, depending on where the injury is on the spinal cord:

• Memory loss
• Muscle spasms
• Back stiffness, numbness, or tingling
• Chronic headaches
• Dizziness
• Impaired vision
• Nausea and vomiting

Since many back injuries occur during an auto accident, it is essential to accept onsite medical treatment, even if you feel fine. You may be in shock as well as injured in your back. Emergency medical workers can diagnose your medical status and take appropriate measures. If you refuse treatment and later develop back injury symptoms, insurance companies will claim that your symptoms were not caused by the car accident.

Compensation for Back Injuries

If your back injury has been caused by an auto accident caused by another individual, you deserve compensation for the difficulties and lack of income you will have to endure. Even if your injury is only temporary, it can significantly affect your lifestyle during that time and may even cause you to lose your job.

You may find that your own insurance company is hesitant or refuses to compensate you for what is rightfully yours under your insurance coverage. To help prevent insurance denials after an accident, please take a moment to review our information on What to Do After a Car Accident.

Back injuries do not always make themselves immediately felt. An action as simple as refusing medical treatment at the scene of an accident may give insurance companies the leverage they feel they need to deny your insurance claim.

Compensation can provide you with payment for:

• Loss of earnings
• Diminished earning capacity
• Reduced quality of life
• Medical expenses, such as doctor visits, ambulance fees, pain medication, and physical therapy (past and future)
• Mental and physical suffering

Preventing Back Injuries

While you cannot predict when you may be in a car accident, some steps will help prevent back injuries. The most important of these is always to wear restraints while in a vehicle. This always includes a seatbelt, which can be supplemented by using your head restraint (headrest) effectively and by sitting facing forward with your feet on the floor. Sitting with your back fully against your seat will also prevent injuries caused if you lean forward during the collision.

Why You Need a Back Injury Attorney

Accurately gauging the financial and emotional burden a back injury will impose is complex and may well be contested in a trial. You can protect your rights by working with an aggressive personal injury attorney to pursue the full extent of your entitled compensation.