Sore Neck: Soft Tissue Injuries Explained

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Sore Neck Soft Tissue Injuries Explained
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What are soft tissue injuries and how do you know
if you have one?Scenario 1 You are stopped at
a red light when the driver coming up behind you
isnt paying attention and rear ends your vehicle
at a fairly high velocity, knocking you
forward.Scenario 2 You are walking up a
driveway of a business and slip and fall on an
enormous piece of ice that formed under a
dripping eavestrough.
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cenario 3 You are riding your bicycle with
your child and someone opens their car door right
in front of you, sending you flying over the
handlebars. All three of these scenarios are
perfectly plausible and happen all the time.
Lets ignore the more serious injuries that can
result from these incidents for the moment and
focus on the majority of them. In most cases, you
fix your car, wipe off the ice from your backside
or pick some asphalt out of your elbows.
Basically though, youre none the worse for wear.
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Or so you assume.The thing is you should never
assume. Soft tissue injuries can come up days
after an accident, sometimes taking even longer
to appear. If you havent taken steps to protect
yourself and your interests, you could end up
with financial, to say nothing of physical,
distress.
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What Is A Soft Tissue Injury?A soft tissue
injury is Soft-tissue injuries include bumps
and bruises (contusions) and small tears of
muscles (minor strains) or of ligaments and
tendons near joints (minor sprains). (Source).
In the case of accidents, car or otherwise, the
most common injury is whiplash.Whiplash is a
neck injury that results from head being suddenly
and violently thrown into a backward (or side)
movement, as a result of an impact.
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You can see how being rear ended while at a total
stop by a vehicle going a good clip could cause
whiplash! Whiplash and whiplash associated
disorders (WAD) affects variable areas of the
cervical spine, depending on the force and
direction of impact as well as many other
factors.  (Source)In other words, it can be
quite serious. There are levels of whiplash
defined by the severity of symptoms ranging from
level one (no pain) to level 4 (fracture or
dislocation.)
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Soft tissue injuries dont come up on an x-ray
and so they have to be diagnosed via the symptoms
exhibited, including the level of pain and / or
tenderness in the affected area, headache or
other pain, and the ability of the injured person
to maintain a certain range of motion of the
affected area.When the pain is severe, an x-ray
could be warranted as a Level 4 whiplash, for
example, involves not only a strain of the
ligaments and tendons but can involve a fracture
of the cervical spine.
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The same can be said for an soft tissue slip and
fall ankle injury, which could be as simple as a
pulled ligament or as serious as a fracture.What
To Do If Youve Been In An Accident?Whether an
accident related to a vehicle or a slip and fall,
there are steps you should take right away. I
wrote about the three things you should if youve
been in a car accident in my recent post  Do
These Things if You Have Been in a Car Accident.
Right now.
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hey arent all that different for other types of
accidents Call your doctor, call a lawyer and
keep your receipts.Whether you are in severe
pain or perhaps just sore, you should seek
medical attention. The longer term effects of
soft tissue injury often dont materialize in the
aftermath of an accident because your body is
still under shock.While whiplash levels go from
0 (no pain) to 4 (fracture and / or dislocation),
you arent a doctor and arent in a position to
self-diagnose the situation.
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Like all things related to your health, the
sooner you attend to them rather than leaving
them to fester, the better and more consistent
your treatment will be.Can I Sue If I Have A
Soft Tissue Injury?That depends on the
circumstances of the accident vehicle related
or slip and fall / personal injury and issues of
fault determination. Regardless, you should make
sure that you have seen a doctor and at least
talked to a lawyer, in that order.
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A minor injury may just need a few sessions of
physiotherapy and a standard period to heal (8-12
weeks, on average). The injury may not in fact
cause an essential element for lawsuits of this
nature to proceed chronic pain. In a case like
this, your lawyer may shadow your case for a few
months to see if there is a longer term (ie
chronic) pain issue to deal with.A major injury
should be documented and reviewed from the get go.
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When in doubt, inform yourself! Knowledge and
documentation are never bad things to have in
your back pocket. http//derekwilsonlaw.ca/