A whiplash injury can affect you or a loved one after almost any type of accident involving a violent impact. Whiplash injuries can produce severe pain and long-lasting disabilities.
If you have suffered such an injury in Houston, Texas, a whiplash injury attorney can fight for personal injury compensation. The attorneys at Hernandez Sunosky, LLP have over 40 years of combined legal experience representing injured clients against at-fault parties and their insurers. Contact us to learn about your right to pursue compensation under Texas law.
Causes of Whiplash
Whiplash, a term describing both the injury and its cause, occurs when the body undergoes rapid acceleration or deceleration, particularly affecting the neck. The neck’s complex structure, including vertebrae, ligaments, and muscles, is crucial for supporting and moving the head.
But these injuries can also arise in other types of violent incidents, including:
- Assaults
- Falls
- Impacts on the head from falling or moving objects
For example, in a slip-and-fall accident, your feet slip forward, causing you to fall backward. When your back and shoulders hit the ground, your head snaps back and stresses your neck.
You may suffer significant losses, such as medical bills for treatment and physical therapy. You might miss several days or even weeks from work while you recuperate. In some cases, whiplash might even cause long-term disabilities that diminish your future earning capacity.
Common Whiplash Injuries
Whiplash injuries can affect many of the tissues in your head and neck. Some types of whiplash injuries include the following:
Neck Strain
Tendons hold your neck muscles to your skull, shoulder blades, collar bones, and spine. When your neck hyperextends, the tendons and muscles deform and tear. A mild strain might involve only a pulled muscle or tendon. A severe strain happens when the muscle or tendon tears completely.
Neck strain can cause the following symptoms:
- Muscle pain
- Swelling
- Weakness
- Stiff neck
- Muscle spasms
A severe strain might need several months to fully heal while a mild strain might heal in four to six weeks. In both cases, you may miss work and require physical therapy to recover at least some of your strength and flexibility.
Neck Sprain
Ligaments hold bones together at joints. In your neck, they hold vertebrae together. Hyperextension of your neck can stretch and tear ligaments. Ligament damage in the neck can cause:
- Spine pain
- Inflammation
- Limited range of movement
- Neck instability
- Bruises
A sprained neck can take weeks or even months to heal, depending on the severity of the injury. In the meantime, you need to rest your neck and avoid re-injury.
Disc Injury
Collagen discs sit between your vertebrae. These discs cushion the spine by absorbing jolts and shocks. This shock absorption prevents vertebrae from grinding against each other.
When your neck compresses during whiplash, the discs get crushed. They can deform in two main ways. First, the inner nucleus can protrude through an opening in the outer annulus, producing a herniation on the disc’s surface. Second, the outer annulus can lose its structural integrity. The entire disc can squash down and bulge from between the vertebrae.
The deformation in the disc can destabilize your spine. The shortened spine pulls everything out of place, causing neck pain and limiting your strength and movement. Worse yet, the deformed disc can press on nerve roots, producing pain that radiates into your shoulders and arms as well as numbness and tingling in your upper limbs.
Vertebral Fracture
With enough force, whiplash can fracture a vertebra. When a vertebra breaks, the pieces can dislocate into the spinal canal and damage the spinal cord. A spinal cord injury in the neck can produce paralysis and loss of sensation in all four limbs.
Contact Our Houston Personal Injury Attorneys to Pursue Compensation for a Whiplash Injury
Your whiplash injury attorney can pursue compensation from anyone whose negligent or wrongful actions caused your injury. Although whiplash injures your neck, the resulting symptoms can affect your entire body.
After a traumatic incident, a whiplash injury attorney identifies the party responsible for your injuries and helps you pursue injury compensation. Contact Hernandez Sunosky, LLP for a free consultation with a Houston whiplash injury attorney. Learn how we can help you recover compensation for your losses.
Based in Kingwood, Hernandez Sunosky LLP serves clients in Houston, Atascocita, Humble, New Caney, Porter, Pearland, and across Texas. Our experienced personal injury attorneys are here to support you in your time of need, providing the legal expertise and guidance you require to seek justice and compensation.