A car accident has the potential to affect your life in many different ways. In an instant, you could find yourself with significant and painful injuries, damage to your personal property and other complications that may continue to negatively affect you and your family. One of the most common issues people face after an accident is due to whiplash, which is a common car accident injury.
Whiplash may be a common injury, but it can also be a severe one. This type of injury may not seem like a debilitating injury, but you may become aware of discomfort, limited range of motion and other problems in the days and weeks following your accident. Whiplash can affect the quality of your everyday life, leaving you unable to work as before and do the things you had the ability to do before the accident.
Don’t underestimate whiplash
Whiplash is an injury caused by the rapid whipping, back-and-forth motion of the body during an impact. Rapidly moving the head forward and back again can lead to damage to the neck. Even though it is a neck injury, you can experience an impact in other parts of your body as well. Some of the side effects of this type of injury include:
- Stiffness and pain in the neck
- Dizziness and headaches
- Loss of range of motion in the neck
- Tingling or numbness in the arms
- Fatigue and memory problems
Depending on the severity of the injury, you may also experience difficulty concentrating, trouble doing everyday tasks and difficulty sleeping. Those with severe whiplash injuries could fall into depression, and others may have permanent changes to how they can work, do physical activities and live normally.
How long will you have whiplash?
Whiplash is an injury that can impact a person for weeks, months or years. While most whiplash injuries resolve within a few weeks, you may have severe damage that requires long-term medical care and rehabilitation. This is why it is critical to seek medical support as soon as possible after a crash.
If you are suffering from whiplash due to the actions of another Colorado driver, you may have grounds to seek compensation for your losses and continued physical duress. You may benefit from seeking an evaluation of your case in order to determine the specific legal options that may be available to you, including the possibility of filing a civil claim.