The neck is extremely vulnerable to injury. Despite the important role the neck plays in supporting critical physical and neurological functioning, it has less protection from physical trauma than other parts of the body. When the neck sustains damage, the effects can range from temporary pain to lifelong disability. A neck injury lawyer in San Jose, CA from Suits Litigation, Inc. can help you fight back if someone else’s negligence caused your debilitating injury.
You can trust our South Bay neck injury lawyer to handle every aspect of your injury claim with care and insight, exceptional skill, and informed experience. Our legal team is here to support and protect your rights while working to get you the justice you deserve.
Neck Sprains and Strains Can Have Long-Term Consequences
Any neck injury demands medical attention, even those considered moderate. A moderate neck injury, if not treated or rested properly, can become a chronic injury, leaving you in significant pain and with limited mobility, potentially for the long run. Neck strains, sprains, and soft-tissue injuries are generally classified as moderate injuries, but they can have lasting consequences.
- A neck sprain occurs when the ligaments in the neck are torn or stretched. Ligaments are the connective tissue holding bones together.
- A neck strain occurs when the muscles or tendons in the neck sustain injury. Tendons connect muscles to bones. Muscles and tendons can be stretched or “pulled” too far, resulting in a strain.
Treatment for these soft-tissue neck injuries typically includes rest, cold compresses, and over-the-counter pain medicines. Sometimes, victims may need to do neck exercises, wear a cervical collar, or take prescription medicines to relieve pain and relax muscles.
More Serious Effects of Soft Tissue Injuries
Potential permanent effects of injuries to the soft tissue in the neck include:
- Weakened neck muscles
- Diminished mobility
- Heightened risk of additional injuries
- Nerve damage
- Chronic pain
These effects can lead to psychological conditions, such as anxiety and depression, as victims struggle to adjust to life with pain and new limitations. In worst-case scenarios, these injuries can ultimately contribute to spine degeneration. You deserve compensation for your pain, suffering, and other damages, and a neck injury attorney from Suits Litigation can help you fight for it.
Whiplash Injuries Can Cause Substantial Pain and Damage
Whiplash is one of the more common neck injuries that lawyers often talk about. Whiplash is a specific type of neck strain. It occurs “when sudden force or movement strains your neck and spine, damaging bone, muscle, ligaments, and nerves.” The neck moves back and forth, like a whip, hyperextending and then compressing.
Though usually treatable, the effects of whiplash injuries can fall into the “severe” range depending on the extent of the hyperextension and compression. Injury severity is categorized by grades. A person with a grade 1 injury has pain but no other symptoms. A person with grade 4 whiplash has significant pain and indications of “dangerous neurological effects.”
- Grade 1 Symptoms: The stage at which neck pain is apparent, often involving stiffness while moving the neck and tenderness while touching part of the neck.
- Grade 2 Symptoms: Pain radiating to the head, face, back, and shoulder, muscle spasms, and physical indication of injury such as swelling or bruising.
- Grade 3 Symptoms: Muscle weakness, numbness, headaches, a burning or tingling sensation, problems with vision, loss of voice, problems swallowing, and dizziness.
- Grade 4 Symptoms: All grade 3 symptoms at a more severe level, with neurological effects indicating a fracture, shifting, or misalignment of at least one neck vertebrae that puts pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.
In its more severe forms, whiplash can lead to spinal injuries, causing continuing pain and possible permanent disability. Prompt, appropriate medical care reduces the likelihood of complications significantly.
Treating Whiplash Injuries
Immediate interventions include immobilization through neck braces, medications to relieve pain and inflammation and relax the muscles, and applications of cold and heat according to the doctor’s instructions.
Some whiplash victims may need physical therapy and benefit from electrical nerve stimulation therapies. Those with more serious whiplash may require nerve ablation, and in cases where whiplash leads to more severe conditions, spinal surgery.
Disc Herniations and Pinched Nerves in the Neck
Cervical disc herniations are another type of painful neck injury. Sometimes discs can herniate over time from general wear and tear or unfortunate genetics, but the injury can also result from a traumatic event, such as an auto accident or a major fall.
Vertebral discs are the spongy tissue between each vertebra in the spine. These vertebral discs act as shock absorber cushions that protect against stress put on the spine, and in this case, the neck area. Discs of the cervical vertebrae also help with neck movement, specifically flexing and rotation.
Cervical herniated discs occur when the soft core of a cervical disc pushes out of its harder outer shell. Pain results when the herniated area and disc material compresses nearby nerves. This can result in a pinched nerve. With a cervical disc herniation, you can experience:
- Muscle weakness in the biceps, triceps, or hands
- Pain radiating from the herniation site down the arm
- Numbness or tingling down the arm
Symptoms can vary depending on the specific disc injured, but in most cases, any cervical disc herniation and pinched nerve is extremely painful and debilitating.
Treating Cervical Disc Herniations
Non-surgical treatment of cervical disc herniations is available, but not always successful. These treatments take time and commitment. While pain medications may provide temporary relief, most victims require physical therapy, activity modification, neck bracing, and pain-relieving shots. Chiropractic care may help.
Sometimes, the unbearable pain and weakness do not subside. Your muscles may continue to weaken and waste, and you may begin to feel the effects of the injury in your legs. In these cases, you may need surgery. Following surgery, you will likely need to keep the neck braced and immobilized for another 6-12 weeks.
Cervical Spine Trauma Is Potentially Catastrophic
There is often a poor prognosis for severe cervical spine injuries. If the spinal cord is injured in the neck area, it typically results in permanent disability or death. The severity of an injury depends on where in the cervical spine it occurs and the extent of the damage inflicted. Injuries occurring high in the cervical spine come with increased mortality rates because of their closeness to respiratory centers of the brain and other critical neurovascular structures.
Fast and appropriate treatment is critical in the effort to prevent irreversible damage to the cervical spine. Medical professionals have an obligation to immobilize the victim’s neck and perform thorough assessments to pinpoint the location of the injury and implement care.
When neurological improvement or recovery is possible, it still takes time. Often, victims begin regaining function in their lower extremities and then may regain bladder control. Upper body functioning typically comes later, if at all. Up to 8% of cervical spine injuries are not immediately diagnosed. The delay in treatment contributes to worsened conditions.
Long-Term Consequences of Cervical Spine Injuries
Cervical spine injuries can have catastrophic outcomes, leaving victims neurologically and functionally impaired. Some experience paralysis, losing voluntary motor function, and feeling below the injury site. They may be unable to breathe without artificial support and experience bladder and bowel dysfunction.
These outcomes present an increased risk for infections and other complications. They also leave victims entirely dependent on others. Both victims and caregivers can be physically and emotionally depleted by the devastating consequences of a cervical spine injury. This is why you need a San Jose neck injury lawyer to help you through this devastation to find financial relief and access to treatment.
The Effects of a Neck Injury Can Be Life-Changing and Demand Compensation
The physical consequences of a neck injury cause a ripple effect of negative outcomes. The injury itself requires medical intervention, which is always expensive. Emergency room testing alone can incur thousands of dollars in bills. Continuing treatment adds to that debt.
Pain and loss of mobility can prevent you from working. You lose wages as you recover, and perhaps permanently if you cannot go back to work or work at the same earning capacity. If you need to hire others to take care of household or other responsibilities you cannot manage any longer, those expenses destabilize your financial situation further.
The combination of physical injury and financial distress produces emotional fallout. Being in constant pain can make you depressed. If you cannot engage in your typical social or recreational activities, you feel a sense of isolation. When injuries take away your independence, you will likely grieve that independence, your pre-injury life, and the future you had planned.
This emotional turmoil is heightened by the financial turmoil incurred by the injury. Fears about how you and your family will survive can overwhelm you. Your family relationships may also change if you need constant care or simply cannot take on the roles you did before the injury. These changes present another loss for all affected, and you deserve compensation for every loss sustained.
A Variety of Negligent Acts Can Cause Neck Injuries
When someone else’s act of negligence causes your neck injury, you have the right to hold that party accountable for the damage they have caused. Common causes of cervical trauma include:
- Motor vehicle crashes
- Sports injuries
- Slips and falls
- Work incidents, especially in the construction industry
No matter who or what type of event causes you harm, our neck injury lawyer in San Jose, CA can help you fight for justice and compensation. At Suits Litigation, Inc., our team knows how to investigate accidents to determine what happened and who is ultimately responsible. We also know how to collect evidence necessary for establishing negligence and holding the at-fault party accountable.
You Have a Limited Amount of Time to File a Neck Injury Claim
In the state of California, you have a two-year deadline to file a personal injury claim. Once the two-year statute of limitations has passed, you will not be able to seek legal action and collect damages.
It’s best to speak with our San Jose neck injury lawyer as soon as possible to get the legal process started.
Legal Damages After a Serious Neck Injury
The damages you can recover in a neck injury claim include:
- Economic Damages: The financial costs of the accident, covering your medical bills and future care needs, lost income and future earnings if you cannot work again, property damage, and all other accident-related expenses.
- Non-Economic Damages: The non-tangible costs of the accident, covering your disability and physical pain, emotional trauma, and diminished enjoyment of life.
- Punitive Damages (rare): An additional monetary penalty is put on the negligent party to acknowledge their heinous actions, though punitive damages are not available in all cases.
Your attorney will take precise care when assessing the losses sustained and their collective value. We do not want you settling for less than what you deserve.
How Partial Responsibility Could Affect Damages in Your Case
The party responsible for paying you damages will work hard to minimize your losses and its own culpability. Under California’s pure comparative fault system, victims can have their compensation reduced by whatever percentage of fault they are assigned for the accident leading to their injuries.
The insurance company may claim that you were more at fault for an accident than you actually were. Your neck injury lawyer will not let accusations against you go unchallenged as we fight to secure maximum damages and keep your compensation intact.
Contact an Experienced Neck Injury Lawyer in San Jose, CA
The team at Suits Litigation, Inc. is on your side and ready to fight for your future. We will work to hold negligent parties accountable for compensating you for the damage they have caused so you can face a more secure financial future and the best quality of life possible. We believe injury victims deserve justice, and have the skills and experience needed to get it. Call or contact us online to schedule your free case review. We are ready to put our promises into action for you.