Trauma from accidents often causes spinal injuries. The most common cause of such spinal injuries is trauma.
A spinal injury often results in loss of mobility, pain, and inability to move your arms and legs effectively.
The spinal cord does not have to be cut to cause symptoms. In fact, most spinal cord injuries just involve blunt trauma to the spine.
In this article, you will discover:
- The different types of spinal injury common to accident victims.
- The significance legally of these various injuries.
TYPES OF INJURY
There are four sections to the spinal cord. These are called cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral. The cervical spine consists of vertebrae in the neck region.
- Trauma to the cervical spine commonly affects the arms, shoulders, and hands as nerves from the cervical area reach those areas.
- Thoracic injuries affect the spinal column in the upper back area.
- Lumbar injuries are below the thoracic spine and the nerves from the lumbar spine affect the hips and legs.
- The sacral spine is below the lumbar spine.
The bones that make up the spinal column are separated by discs, which act as shock absorbers. Discs have a hard outer surface that surrounds a spongy material. They can bulge out of their anatomical positions when trauma occurs.
- Such injuries are called “bulging discs” and can impinge upon the adjacent nerves, causing pain to radiate.
- If this occurs to the cervical discs, the radiating pain can travel to the shoulders and down the arms and into the hands.
- If they occur to the lumbar area, the pain can radiate to the hip and legs.
More serious trauma can cause these discs to break and the spongy disc material can spill out causing more severe pressure then found with bulging disc.
- Such injuries are called “herniated discs” and can lead to a lifetime of neck, arm, and hand pain.
- If lumbar discs are herniated a lifetime of disability and pain to the hips and legs can result.
- In sum, a herniated disc is a much more significant injury that a bulging disc.
- Thoracic and sacral discs are much less frequently injured.
Bulging and herniated discs cannot be detected by x-ray. MRI tests are used to detect them.
TREATMENT
Bulging and herniated discs are usually treated with rest, pain medication, spinal injections, and physical therapy. Frequently, people find only temporary relief from these therapies. Bulging discs, being less severe, often respond much better to these therapies.
Some people with herniated discs require surgery. Such surgery may be recommended if a patient has poorly controlled pain, numbness, weakness, difficulty in walking, and loss of full bladder control.
In most cases, only the protruding part of a disc is removed. However, if the injury to the disc is more severe, it may be removed and a bone graft inserted with metal hardware inserted to increase stability.
Frequently such surgery while improving a patient’s condition leads to a lifetime of ongoing painful traumatic arthritis. These spinal cord injuries are serious and can result in lifelong problems.
LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS
- If you are unfortunate and suffer a spinal disc injury due to trauma caused by the negligence of another, you may be entitled to make a claim in court for damages.
- Such lawsuits are brought frequently and are designed to compensate you for your pain, suffering, disability, impairment, as well as your loss of the enjoyment of life.
- In addition, such injuries frequently result in lost wages or loss of the ability to continue with manual labor.
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If you have sustained what you believe to be a spinal injury, please call or text us immediately at (973) 204-6573 to discuss your case.
There is no cost or obligation and we will be glad to discuss your case with you free of charge.
The Kronberg Law Firm has successfully handled many cases involving disc injuries and we have the knowledge and experience to bring such cases to a successful conclusion.
