Although an accident can leave victims with serious injuries, such as broken bones or internal injuries, soft-tissue injuries are also quite common, but often dismissed as minor and not treated properly.
Failure to seek immediate medical care for these injuries could not only harm your chances of a full recovery, it could also be used against you if you are looking to pursue compensation in a personal injury claim.
Greg Monforton & Partners discuss how soft-tissue injuries are evaluated to help determine the value of damages these injuries cause. If you have suffered a soft-tissue injury due another’s negligence, we encourage you to reach out to learn about your rights and your eligibility for compensation in a risk-free consultation.
Soft-Tissue Injuries From an Accident
Soft-tissue injuries are injuries that damage muscles, ligaments and tendons throughout the body, such as the back, neck, knees, shoulders or elbows. These body parts can cause sprains, stretches, tears and strains, resulting in severe pain for a long time after an accident. Some of these soft-tissue injuries include:
- Strains – A strain can happen when soft tissue is stretched. The damage to a muscle or tendon may not be visible or cause a partial or complete tear of the affected soft tissue. Sprains often happen in rear-end accidents and symptoms may include pain, weakness and swelling.
- Sprains – A sprain can happen when a ligament is twisted or the joint goes beyond its functional range of motion. Rear-end accidents often result in a combination of strains and sprains.
- Contusions – A contusion can happen when the affected muscles or connective tissue are crushed. Severe swelling and bruising is the result of a body part hitting an object in an accident.
- Whiplash – This injury happens most often during rear-end accidents resulting from forceful, rapid back-and-forth neck movement. Whiplash also involves both a whip forward and a lash back of the head, straining the neck muscles and causing severe pain, headaches and dizziness.
Proving the Severity of a Soft-Tissue Injury
Being able to prove the severity of a soft-tissue injury will depend on several different factors, such as:
- The extent of soft tissue that was injured in an accident. Multiple soft-tissue injuries are often more disabling and may require extensive treatment to make a recovery.
- The intensity, duration, and frequency of pain due to the soft-tissue injury.
- Any restrictions caused by the soft-tissue injury. One’s strength, posture and range of motion tolerances could be significantly affected by these injuries.
- The impact a soft-tissue injury has on daily life, like the ability to do certain tasks or activities.
Our legal team is prepared to evaluate the circumstances of your accident in a free consultation.
Determining the Value of Soft-Tissue Injuries
It can be difficult to calculate damages for soft-tissue injuries because they are often invisible and may not appear on X-rays, CT scans or MRIs.
To determine a fair value of the losses you have suffered, your economic damages will need to be added up. These damages could include medical bills, loss of wages, loss of earning capacity and any damage to property. A multiplier is often used to multiply noneconomic damages by a factor typically ranging between one and five based on the severity of the injury.
The next step would be adding up your non-economic damages, such as the physical pain and mental suffering you may have endured due to your soft-tissue injury. There is no set value for these damages since every accident victim’s pain and suffering is different. However, you could multiple noneconomic damages by the number of days of pain you will likely experience on a daily basis.
This is why it is important to seek the services of an experienced lawyer who has the knowledge and resources to accurately evaluate your damages. He or she may consult with a medical expert on your behalf to find out the effective treatment you may need and for how long.
You may be required to see a physical therapist or chiropractor to help regain mobility, strength and function in the affected area. Your lawyer will also need to consider whether your condition will get better or worsen over time.
Call Our Lawyers for Help With Your Claim
If you have been in an accident and suffered a soft-tissue injury caused by negligence, you may be able to pursue compensation in a claim to help cover medical expenses and lost wages from missed work, among other damages. To date, our firm has successfully recovered $300 million for our clients.
Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with a Windsor personal injury lawyer today. There are zero costs to utilize our services. You only pay us at the end of the legal process if we help you obtain a recovery.
Greg Monforton & Partners. No Upfront Fees. Ph: (866) 320-4770.