I Am Suffering from Spinal Injuries: What You Need to Know
Experiencing a spinal injury is one of the most devastating and traumatic occurrences that can make you change the course of your life, your routine and to some extent, even the way you carry yourself. Spinal injuries are common whether from a vehicular accident, sports injury, winter slip and falls, and workplace accidents which because of chronic pain that restricts movement leading to a lot of repercussions in the long term. If you are suffering from a specific type of injury like Spinal cord injuries, it’s imperative that you know how serious the effects of this condition can be as well as what measures you can take for treatment and potentially seek compensation and other legal actions if require.
What Are Spinal Injuries?
Spinal injury is a broad term that’s usually associated with injuries sustained to the spine or surrounding structures including but not limited to the vertebra, spinal discs, connective tissues, and interneuron muscles. The spine has vertebrates protecting it and is a connective structure that joins the upper and lower body to transmit signals from the brain to other parts of the body as well as transmit nerve signals in reverse order. Therefore, it is evident that a single injury to the spine can impact the essential functions of the human body, with severe cases leading to paralysis.
There are different types of spinal cord injuries and they can be grouped into two categories:
Complete Spinal Cord Injury: This is a consequence of a spinal cord injury where the cord is considered completely intact or completely damaged and there will be no feeling or movement below the point where the spinal cord was damaged; the affected sites can be the leg, the arms or even both lage and arms which qualifies as paraplegia and quadriplegia respectively.
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: Partial spinal cord injury in which there is still some provision for nerve impulse to be transmitted across the site of spinal cord injury. This can lead to weakness, pain and numbness and scant even lead to loss of function.
Common Causes of Spinal Injuries
There are a good number of conditions along with accidents that can bring about spinal injuries. Some of the more common ones are:
Car Accidents: Drivers tend to collide or be knocked down and this has been shown to be a major factor for causing spinal injuries; in instances when a great force is exerted on the spine, it can either shatter, dislocate or rupture the spinal disc causing it to be damaged.
Slip and Fall Accidents: Falling straight from a high place or missing something while you fall can lift you up from the ground on your back causing enough damage to your back to break vertebrae while also destroying discs and ligaments.
Sports Injuries: Sports with impacts such as football, hockey and gymnastics have been shown to injure the spine some of those tactics for the sport tend to include crashing, falling or pushing through exceeding limits.
Workplace Accidents: For instance, Some industries like construction, manufacturing, and warehousing have workers prone to a lot of risks due to heavy lifting, height or equipment which can incur spinal injury. “To begin with, some industries like construction, manufacturing and warehousing employ structures that facilitate easy heavy lifting. By doing so, however, they expose their workers to a lot of risks due to a lot of risks due to falling from height or malfunctioning of equipment that could result in a spinal injury.”
Medical Conditions: With Osteoarthritis, scoliosis or osteoporosis, even the strongest backbone has a risk of being injured. medical conditions like the above make any backbone weak enough to fall under more risk of being injured.
Symptoms of Spinal Injuries.
Management of spinal injuries is mainly dependent on the injury mainly the line of treatment is generalized but would be dependent on the type of injury or its severity. Below are some common ones.
Pain or tenderness in the back or neck
Numbness or tingling in the extremities- The patient’s hand or foot may feel as though it has fallen asleep, causing numbness and tingling.
in some cases emotional disturbances such as cooperating or feeling paranoia – a result of muscle weakness or paralysis
Taking longer than normal to notice something or do it, or sensation loss overall.
In efforts of Strongle by trying to move a leg or hand or even both, moderate cases occur.
Need to use the toilet now is a situation indicating severe cases.
It’s crucial to reach out to a healthcare expert to understand if the symptoms were triggered by the trauma ranging anywhere from major to minor. Otherwise, Neglecting it would lead to complications and deteriorate any possibilities of a long-term healing.
Treatment for Spinal Injuries
Depending on the level of traumatisms sustained my neck or back, below are some treatment approaches that may be prescribed.
Emergency Care: Apply Sticks Instead of Bandages. Placing Neck braces to fixate that area. Or Back braces temporarily fixes the area. If required, apply the above alongside medication bandages, pins to encapsulate that section, helping hold the spine in position and allowing it to heal.
Surgical Treatment: Along With restoring mobility, in certain circumstances, the pain a person suffers on their shoulders or neck can be reduced through surgical interventions.
Rehabilitation: Physical Rehabilitation, occupational rehabilitation and Pain reduction protocols may assist the patient in regaining strength, mobility and independence. Rehabilitation medicine is important in function recovery after a partial spinal cord injury.
Long-term care: For some patients who are permanently paralyzed, ongoing care may be required to help them cope with their activities of daily living, sustain their health, and be productive.
Legal Issues for Victims of Spinal Injury
In case a spinal injury has been caused to you due to negligence on the part of others then you can get reimbursement for your medical bills, lost earnings, physical sufferings and other losses. I am a personal injury lawyer practicing in Alberta, and I know how one’s life change in case of a spinal injury. The law is very tricky and sadly many contractors know this and do everything possible to get away with negligence.
This section gives a brief overview of what you can do legally.
Personal Injury Cases: If the injury was sustained in the course of an accident like a car crash, slip and fall, or for that matter any workplace accident, then a victim may sue the negligent party in a personal injury claim.
Insurance Claims: It may be possible to obtain reimbursement for one’s medical expenses as well as missed wages owing to medical condition if the patient is insured for an injury, be it auto insurance or employees compensation insurance.
Disability Benefits: A patient suffering from any spinal injury could be eligible for disability benefits in case he or she becomes totally disabled because of that condition.
Wrongful Death: On some occasions, an individual might die after suffering from a spinal injury and in such cases, his family may be able to file a wrongful death claim.
Seeking Legal Help
A spinal injury case can be intricate and complicated and thus having hired a personal injury lawyer would help the patient in making sure that he or she gets the appropriate compensation. The population of spinal cords victims in Alberta that I represent is amazing. I can assist you through the legal process, collect the necessary materials, and seek an appropriate settlement or verdict.
Conclusion
Spinal injuries can have an overwhelming effect on an individual’s life, and therefore seeking medical assistance coupled with obtaining the necessary legal representation can enable one feel more in control as they live their life. If you find yourself dealing with the repercussions of a spinal injury, speaking with a personal injury lawyer would be a wise move. You do not have to face this challenge alone.