Car accidents happen every day in Massachusetts. Tragically, some of the accidents result in fatalities and very serious injuries to those involved. In many other cases, however, car accidents only result in vehicles being damaged. At least that’s what many people involved in these accidents believe.
While many car accidents don’t result in fatal or severe injuries, victims of car accidents may be suffering neck injuries without realizing it. Neck injuries after a car accident can be very painful, but that pain doesn’t always occur immediately after an accident. In fact, a new study claims many people suffer from neck injuries for several weeks after being in a car crash.
A study by the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that almost four million people in the country go to the emergency room after a car accident. Of those people, more than 90 percent are discharged after being evaluated. This should mean that a majority of those seen in the ER after being in a car accident didn’t suffer any injuries. However, as the results of this study show, this doesn’t seem to always be the case.
The study found that more than 70 percent of car accident victims who participated in the study had pain in one or more areas of their body six weeks after an accident. In addition, more than one-third said they had pain in four or more parts of their body six weeks after being in an accident.
The finding that many people are suffering from persistent pain six weeks after a car accident is surprising. Chronic pain after a car accident is more common than many people realize. Living with chronic pain after a car accident can be very difficult to deal with as some people feel like others don’t believe they are actually in pain, especially if the accident happened several weeks or months ago.
Suffering from chronic pain after a car accident is nothing to be ashamed of. It is important for victims of car accidents to seek medical attention as soon as they have symptoms or pain. This will not only help them get the treatment they need to reduce their pain but it can also help in any claims they file with their insurance company or against the other driver involved in the accident.
Source: Consumer Affairs, “Study: post-accident neck pain is common,” Mark Huffman, Jan. 21, 2014
