Nerve Damage After a Car Accident: What to Know and How a Lawyer Can Help

Car accidents cause a wide variety of accidents, from minor cuts and bruises that heal quickly to life-threatening brain trauma that requires a lifetime's worth of physical therapy. The most common types of injuries resulting from vehicle collisions include fractured bones, spinal cord damage, and compromised internal organs such as the lungs and kidneys. Can car accidents cause nerve damage? The answer is yes, as three common types of injuries can result in neuropathy, which represents damage to the nerves that produce symptoms like numbness, acute pain, and/or muscle weakness.

If you sustained nerve damage or any type of injury caused by an auto crash, you should contact an experienced car accident lawyer to determine the best course of legal action. After a car accident, you file a claim with an insurance company. Depending on the state where you live, the insurance company that receives a claim can be your own or the insurer representing another party. Another way to recover from the financial losses generated by a vehicle collision is to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Since 1988, the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan have earned the reputation for providing the best legal representation for clients recovering from the physical and emotional pain produced by the aftermath of a vehicle collision. We have recovered more than $14 billion in monetary damages for our clients that filed personal injury lawsuits. A large percentage of the monetary damages awarded to our clients concerned the outcome of car accident cases. To file a successful civil lawsuit that results in receiving compensation, the car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan who handles your case must prove the other party committed one or more acts of negligence.

Schedule a free case evaluation today with a car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan to determine whether you have enough evidence to submit a persuasive civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

What Is Nerve Damage?

Neuropathy, which healthcare professionals also refer to as peripheral neuropathy, represents a medical condition that damages or compromises the performance of one or more nerves. The result of neuropathy can be a long list of symptoms, with the most common symptoms being tingling, numbness, acute pain, and muscle weakness. You should start feeling the impact of damaged nerves in your hands and feet, but other parts of the body might indicate the presence of peripheral neuropathy as well.

The peripheral nervous system represents a network of nerves that run outside of your brain and spinal cord. Nerves running through the brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system. Think of the central nervous system as the command center for sending nerve signals, while the peripheral nervous system receives biological messages. Neuropathy develops when peripheral neurons become damaged or destroyed. Just a few damaged nerves disrupt the way the rest of the peripheral nerves communicate with each other.

Can car accidents cause nerve damage? Because of the often strong impact of vehicle collisions, the peripheral nervous system is highly vulnerable to sustaining significant damage.

What Are the Common Causes of Nerve Damage From a Car Accident?

Auto crashes can cause the peripheral nerves to compress and/or inflame, with serious nerve damage the result of a strong impact. Although peripheral nerve damage can result from several different types of injuries, three types of injuries generate nerve damage more often than other types of injuries.

• Whiplash

When you suddenly apply pressure to the brakes, your body, including your head and neck, lurches forward. The faster the speed of travel at the time of applying the brakes, the more violent the head and neck movement. Although a safety restraint prevents most of the body from moving back and forth violently, the head and neck do not have anything holding them back. Whiplash to the head and neck forces the muscles in the neck to stretch well beyond the normal range of motion. Any damage to neck muscles can trigger distress for the nerves running between the neck and head.

Whiplash often pinches and compresses the peripheral nerves to trigger the most common nerve damage symptoms.

• Pinched Nerve

Although a pinched nerve in the neck is one outcome of whiplash, the injury also can occur in other areas of the body. One of the most common places for a pinched nerve to develop after a car accident is located between the elbow and shoulder in one or both arms. Strong-impact vehicle collisions can pin one or both arms to the dashboard or steering wheel. The longer and stronger the pressure applied to both arms, the more damage caused to the nerves running up and down each arm. Pinched nerves typically trigger inflammation, which left untreated for a few hours can cause an incredible amount of pain.

• Herniated Disc

You can sustain a herniated disc that causes nerve damage after a serious car accident. The violent twisting of the body places pressure on the discs that provide the cushion between vertebrae. Herniated discs also go by the name of slipped discs, which describes one or more discs forced out of their normal locations. The movement of a disc applies pressure to nearby nerves. If the pressure maintains strength for a considerable amount of time, the damaged nerves can produce acute pain and significant muscle weakness.

What Are the Signs of Nerve Damage?

After an auto crash, you might see visible signs of injuries such as bruises and bleeding. However, detecting nerve damage requires you to understand the more subtle signs of the injury.

• Numbness

If you experience numbness in an area of the body after a car accident, you might suffer from some degree of nerve damage. Severely damaged nerves no longer function, which means the area of the body impacted becomes numb. Numbness is a difficult sign to detect because it does not generate acute pain. Nonetheless, if you apply pressure to an area of the body and you feel nothing, you might have sustained nerve damage.

• Cannot Move a Body Part

Some car accidents pin victims against two objects. The longer the victim remains pinned against two objects, the more likely one or more areas of the body sustain a serious injury. Prolonged pressure on the body can compress the nerves enough to make it difficult to move a body part. This is an especially serious health issue for the arms and legs. If you cannot move one or more limbs, you most likely have sustained severe damage to the peripheral nervous system.

• Loss of Coordination

Getting involved in an auto collision can produce symptoms that include loss of balance and lack of coordination. Although the two signs are often associated with brain trauma, they also can indicate nerve damage, especially nerve damage in the neck. If you notice a lack of coordination after a vehicle accident, you should undergo diagnostic tests to determine whether the signs are associated with brain trauma or peripheral nerve damage.

How Will a Car Accident Lawyer From Morgan and Morgan Provide Legal Support?

We now know the answer to the question, “Can a car accident cause nerve damage?” The next step involves learning how a car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan provides legal support for a client.

• Conducts an Extensive Investigation

With a nationwide presence, Morgan and Morgan retains the professional services of more than 150 investigators. Our investigators team up with experienced car accident lawyers to conduct thorough investigations after car accidents. The personal injury attorney assigned to your case reviews the official police report to discover the cause of the crash, as well as whether any party should assume responsibility for causing the accident. Our investigations also involve gathering additional evidence, as well as interviewing every witness listed on the police report.

• Ensures You Meet Every Deadline

Timing is everything when you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. You must follow the deadlines established by your insurance company for filing a claim. If your car accident lawyer files a civil lawsuit, you must file your lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Depending on where you live, you have between one and six years to meet the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. The attorney you hire from Morgan and Morgan ensures you meet every filing deadline.

• Provides a Buffer Between You and Your Insurance Company

Insurance companies love it when a policyholder files a vehicle collision claim without the legal support of a car accident lawyer. It makes it easier for an insurer to deny your claim or submit an offer that is well below the value of your financial losses. Hiring one of the highly-rated car accident lawyers from Morgan and Morgan means you do not have to interact with the insurance adjuster reviewing your claim. Your car accident lawyer acts as an intermediary, which frees up more time for you to address other obligations.

• Negotiate a Settlement

Most civil lawsuits do not reach the trial phase of the litigation process. Instead, the attorneys representing both parties try to negotiate a reasonable settlement. The attorney providing you with legal support submits an offer, which the other party’s lawyer either accepts, rejects, or sends back with a counteroffer. You might go through several rounds of counteroffers before both parties agree to a favorable settlement or decide to take the case to the trial phase of the litigation process. Negotiating a settlement allows you to avoid a costly and time-consuming trial.

Learn How to Recover the Financial Losses Caused by a Car Accident

The goal of your car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan is to recover the financial losses that are associated with a vehicle collision. You have the right to ask for compensation to cover the costs of diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. Your attorney also requests monetary damages to pay for health care expenses such as prescription medications and the use of an assistive device. The other two common types of compensation are non-economic and punitive damages. Non-economic damages cover emotional distress issues, while punitive damages penalize the defendant for committing one or more acts of negligence.

Learn more about recovering the financial losses caused by a car accident that produced nerve damage by scheduling a free case evaluation with a car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan.