Personal Injury Lawyers offering No Win No Fee Services to Queenslanders, with offices in Brisbane & Gold Coast, explain the importance of reporting & not ignoring minor accident injuries.
As personal injury lawyers we often see cases where what are considered minor injuries sustained in an accident, becoming long term problems later on, interfering with everyday living activities and employment and in some cases, even requiring surgery down the track.
Whiplash & Strain Injuries Can Become Long Term Problems
A prime example of this are whiplash or strain injuries from motor vehicle accidents. Often victims of these types of injuries are told their injuries will improve over a short period of time, leaving them with no long term problems. However, although these types of injuries can improve initially in the weeks or months following an accident, they can tend to “hang around”, flaring up with certain activity and becoming long term problems for their sufferers.
Whiplash injuries can result in ongoing headaches, neck pain & stiffness & can restrict everyday living and employment activities. Often sufferers will find prolonged periods of sitting, standing or walking can aggravate their injuries. Working at a computer for long periods or undertaking repetitive tasks can also be a problem, as too can physically exertive activities that tend to flare up pain & restriction. These injuries can also deteriorate over time, resulting in disc protrusions & nerve impingement, causing radiating pain & altered sensation into the shoulders, upper back and arms.
Strain & Jarring Injuries Can Result in Permanent Impairment
Strain & jarring injuries can result in permanent issues with joint pain and restriction. For example, jarring or strain to the lower back can appear as minor twinges of pain or some stiffness following an accident, but later on, can result in disc protrusions and sciatica. As we age, we all naturally degenerate and this includes natural degeneration of the spine. Trauma to the spine, such as in a car accident or from a fall incident, can accelerate that natural degenerative process, resulting in prolapsed discs and nerve impingement, causing radiating pain & altered sensation into the buttocks, legs and feet. This can result in the need for back surgery.
The writer has experienced a case where minor episodes of lower back pain in the initial weeks following a motor vehicle accident, resulted in the need for spinal surgery within 18 months of the accident occurring. And this was even though the back injury was not considered a primary injury in the initial period following the accident. Indeed the back injury was considered to be a minor injury that would resolve in a few weeks of the accident.
Similarly, jarring or strain injuries to shoulders, knees, wrists and elbows can also result in increasing problems in these areas months after the accident, and these injuries can also deteriorate over time.
Don’t Assess Your Own Case – Speak To An Expert Personal Injury Lawyer
It’s therefore very important you don’t ignore minor injuries. What you’re being told are just minor injuries that will resolve in the near future, may cause you permanent impairment and problems with your everyday living activities, recreational interests, domestic duties and your employment in the future. And because time limits apply to personal injury claims, by the time you take action, it may be too late to claim the compensation you need. You could lose your right to significant compensation.
It’s Also Important to Report All Injuries As Soon As Possible No Matter How Minor
Reporting all your injuries as soon as possible following an accident or incident is also very important. Often primary injuries take precedence following an accident and less serious injuries are overlooked by attending doctors. It is imperative you report all areas where you are suffering any pain or altered sensation, even twinges of pain, to your treating doctors and medical providers.
Those twinges of pain could become serious injuries later on. A lack of reporting of pain or injury in the days or weeks following your accident, could result in difficulty associating those injuries with the accident and obtaining compensation for them later on.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers are Personal Injury Claim Experts and Can Advise You
Don’t assess your own situation – speak to expert personal injury lawyers. No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers are experts in all forms of accident and injury compensation claims and can advise you. Call us today on 1300 388 383, or Chat via our Livechat service on our website. You can also send us your enquiry by submitting one of our FREE Instant Case Appraisal forms on our website.
All Enquiries are FREE of any charge and we are available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no obligation and all enquiries are completely confidential.