A very common injury that you can suffer in a Florida car accident is whiplash. This is a soft tissue injury that causes pain and stiffness, which most people assume is just a minor problem. While mild cases may only require home care, more serious cases can call for medical assistance to deal with the discomfort and prevent the development of chronic pain.
If you’ve been in a crash and sustained a whiplash injury, it may be time to consider whether you can begin a claim. Learn more about these injuries and what you can expect from the personal injury claim process if you’re eligible to pursue one.
What Is Whiplash?
Whiplash is a soft tissue injury that occurs as a result of the rapid acceleration and deceleration associated with a collision. Your head moves backward and forward with significant force, which places a lot of stress on your neck muscles and impacts your tendons, ligaments, and nerves.
Rear-end crashes are perhaps the collisions most likely to lead to these injuries, but head-on crashes can also be a cause.
Common whiplash symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Neck pain
- Neck stiffness
- Headaches
- Pain that gets worse with movement
- Numbness or tingling in the arms
- Ringing in the ears
- Memory problems
- Concentration issues
Although most of these symptoms will be mild when dealing with a minor collision, they can be much more severe if you’re in a speeding accident. Such crashes can cause serious damage to your neck area.
Treating Whiplash Injuries
To determine the severity of the injury, your healthcare provider will perform a physical examination. They may check your range of motion, the tenderness in your neck, your reflexes, and a variety of other factors.
Whiplash injuries won’t typically show up on imaging studies, but if you have significant pain, your doctor may order these assessments to rule out other potential issues. Once your doctor has determined the level of your injury, they can decide on the most appropriate treatment option.
For mild injuries, you will probably need rest and either hot or cold therapy. This alleviates the pain and can bring down the swelling that could be causing stiffness. Over-the-counter painkillers are another way to manage pain.
When dealing with more serious whiplash injuries, your doctor may prescribe muscle relaxants or even numbing shots. The latter are especially useful if you need to do physical therapy but find it too painful. For those struggling with range of motion issues, physical therapy may be helpful.
Personal Injury Claims After Suffering Whiplash in Florida
If the whiplash injury you sustained in a car accident was the result of another party’s misconduct, you may be entitled to file a personal injury claim. You would need to be able to prove that your injuries allow you to go beyond Florida’s no-fault laws. This means that your injury is serious enough that your personal injury protection insurance can’t cover all of your losses.
Keep in mind that Florida has modified comparative negligence laws. You can be partially responsible for the accident that caused the whiplash, but you must not hold the majority of the fault. Your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of liability.
This process can require gathering a significant amount of evidence to demonstrate that your injuries surpass the serious injury threshold. If the whiplash is not severe, you can still file a claim against your own insurance to address your medical expenses and lost wages.
Recovering Compensation After a Whiplash Injury
If you’re able to pursue a personal injury claim against the other party, you can seek compensation for your medical expenses, including future ones, as well as for the wages you may have lost while getting treated.
In the most serious cases, you may not be able to perform physical work, which could mean not being able to earn a living. That will also be considered.
Vitally, pursuing a personal injury claim allows you to file for non-economic damages. These include pain and suffering, which address the physical and emotional distress you may have experienced. If you can no longer participate in some of the activities you love because of the injury, you can obtain compensation for your loss of enjoyment of life as well.
Contact the Pensacola Personal Injury Attorneys at Gross & Schuster Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
Whiplash can be painful and disrupt your life in many ways. You may need to take time off from work or struggle to manage daily tasks because of weakness, stiffness, and pain. If the accident that caused your whiplash occurred because of another party’s misconduct, you may be able to take legal action against them.
Because of Florida’s complex no-fault laws, it’s best that you hire an attorney to assist you through this process. At Gross & Schuster Injury Lawyers, our experienced team can offer the trusted guidance you deserve. We have protected the rights of the injured in Pensacola and beyond for decades. Contact our team at (850) 434-3333 to schedule a free consultation with a Pensacola personal injury lawyer today.