Whiplash is among one of the rear-end collision injuries you, I, or a loved one might suffer in a motor vehicle accident (often the result of doing something hastily). Rear-end collision injuries are not restricted to whiplash.
Common Rear-End Collision Injuries
Other types of rear-end accident injuries include trauma to the brain, back, neck, head, wrist and arm in addition to spinal cord paralysis and facial disfigurement. Seat belt and airbag injuries may also result from a sudden impact from behind.
When the body is thrown forward, the seat belt does its job effectively, but it can also cut the skin or cause bruising to the chest, neck, and torso. Airbags, while life-saving, may cause burns to the face or scalp or fracture the nose or a rib or two.
Rear-End Collision Injuries That Require Rehab
Some rear-end accident injuries are so severe they require rehabilitation for months or even years after the incident that produced them.
Among these are:
- Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD III & WAD IV)
In Canada, whiplash injuries are referred to as Whiplash Associated Disorders and graded according to the severity from I to IV. These are the most common rear-end collision injuries that may necessitate neurorehabilitation. In addition to the effects of the less serious WAD I And WAD II, WAD III can produce muscle weakness, sensory deficits and can diminish or even eliminate deep tendon reflexes. The most serious whiplash variant, WAD IV, may involve dislocation or even complete fracture of the neck.
- Spinal Cord Paralysis
Paralysis of the spinal cord is a reflection of nerve damage, rather than direct trauma to the bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the neck and back. The severity of the injury is related to the extent of the nerve damage and the level of the spine where it occurs. Serious nerve damage at the level of the neck can cause paralysis to the rest of the body from the neck down, including the arms, hands, and fingers; an impact at a lower level will only affect those limbs and functions supplied by the nerves to that level of the spinal cord.
- Traumatic Brain Injury
According to Brain Injury Canada, there are 1.5 million Canadians currently living with the consequences of a traumatic brain injury, with another 160,000 new TBIs occurring every year. Often, they coincide with the whiplash injury but may not present themselves, and therefore be overlooked by the diagnostician, at the time of the whiplash. Certain treatments for WAD, both physical and medical, can aggravate the TBI.
Rear-End Collision Injury Settlements
Personal injury claims in Canada are legislated according to that branch of the legal system known as tort law. Tort law was established to provide relief for damages suffered because of the negligence of another party and to serve as a deterrent to others against causing harm to others.
Under Canadian tort law, if you have suffered an injury through the negligence of another and you suffer physically and/or mentally and lose money, you have a right to seek compensation and justice. Such claims are almost always subject to statutes of limitations, which means you have a limited time period to submit your claim.
Why You Should Get a Lawyer
However, the full extent of these types of injuries is not always immediately known. Some injuries cannot be diagnosed properly while there is swelling from the impact, and others, like whiplash, tend to percolate over time and get steadily worse. An experienced personal injury lawyer should know when and how to prepare a claim and the optimum time to file it in order to accommodate such delays.
Sometimes, when people agree to rear-end collision injury settlements out of court, they are awarded a higher amount of damages than if the case went to trial. Obtaining a settlement under tort law is highly complicated, and nobody can expect smooth sailing without the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer.
