When you get in a car accident, you may not feel back pain right away, but you may have still injured your back. Sometimes your endorphins and adrenaline will prevent you from feeling pain right away. Once the endorphins wear off, the pain can set in. Putting off treatment can be dangerous, even when you may not feel the pain of an injury. This is why you may want to follow the advice below if you are involved in a car accident.
Go to the doctor right away
If you are involved in a car accident, you want to seek treatment right away. You can't judge whether or not you are going to end up with a back injury by how minor or severe an accident is. Even a little fender bender can cause an injury depending on many factors such as how you were sitting, the angle of the accident, etc.
Putting off going to the doctor can lead to a worsening of an injury, more pain when the pain does set in, the onset of new injuries caused by the untreated one and the possibility of messing up a potential claim. Most insurance companies consider 72 hours a fair amount of time to seek treatment. If you don't see a doctor within this time frame and you do end up having an injury, your case will not look as strong.
Put yourself on light duty
Even if you feel like you are fine, you want to act as if you are inured. Take it easy and don't do anything strenuous such as exercising, participating in sports and/or doing any heavy lifting and bending. You want to avoid anything that may worsen an unknown injury. You can take anti-inflammatories and over the counter-pain-relievers to get relief. You can also use cold compresses for 20 minutes every couple of hours.
Keep a journal
If you start to feel pain or any other sensation that's not normal for you, write down what you were doing when the feeling occurred and what date and time the onset became noticeable. This will help you explain things properly when you go to see your doctor. This journal may also prove to be helpful when you go see a lawyer.
Contact an auto accident lawyer
The minute it becomes evident that you may have suffered a back injury in an automobile accident, you want to contact an auto accident lawyer from a firm such as McLaughlin & Lauricella, P.C. They will give you advice, and if they take your case, they will handle all legal happenings from that point forward.
Share