A motorcycle accident can change your life. These accidents can cause unimaginable damage to your body, including serious back and spinal injuries. Back pain after motorcycle accident can be severe and debilitating.
When you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, back pain can affect your quality of life, ability to work, and much more. If your accident was caused by another party’s negligence, you have the right to seek compensation for your injuries through a personal injury claim.
Understanding your injuries will help you take the best steps toward seeking damages for your losses.
Types of Back Injuries From a Motorcycle Accident
Your motorcycle accident could cause one or more of these types of injuries.
Fractured vertebrae
Your back is made up of 33 vertebrae. When one or more are fractured, the long-term effects can be pain, numbness, and limited mobility.
An accident can damage the soft, fibrous cartilage discs between each vertebra. These discs soften the shock between your vertebrae and aid in flexibility. When a disc is injured or herniated, you may be left with numbness, nerve pain, severe body pain, an uncomfortable tingling sensation, and muscle weakness.
Spinal cord injuries
A spinal cord injury is one of the most serious back injuries that you can experience. When the spinal cord is severed or otherwise damaged, it can lead to partial or complete paralysis, as the brain’s ability to communicate with the rest of the body is interrupted.
Torn ligaments
Spinal ligaments are strong bands of flexible tissue that protect your vertebrae, discs, and spine. Symptoms of a torn ligament include unusual sounds at the moment of injury (snapping, popping, or cracking), bruising, swelling that does not subside within 72 hours, pain that continues past 24-72 hours, limited movement, inability to bear weight, and symptoms that progressively get worse over time.
Spinal stenosis
Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal. Can an accident cause spinal stenosis? Accidents can cause spinal stenosis because fractured vertebrae can damage the spinal canal. Displaced bone reshapes the spinal canal and puts painful pressure on your nerves.
The Importance of Seeking Medical Care After a Motorcycle Accident
Even minor motorcycle accidents can lead to long-term damage. Some back injuries don’t hurt right away, especially if you are in shock.
It is essential to seek medical treatment immediately after your accident, especially if you experience any of the following symptoms:
- Back pain
- Muscle spasms in your back
- Numbness or tingling
- Paralysis of any part of the body
- Difficulty breathing
- Headache
- Severe bruising
- Reduced ability to sense temperature or pressure
You also need to seek medical care so that you can establish a record of all of your injuries at the point of the accident. This record will be important in any legal action you pursue because you need to be able to create a record of your injuries.
What Makes Back Injuries So Common from Motorcycle Accidents?
Back pain after a motorcycle accident is common because of the severity of most bike crashes.
You may crash hard onto the pavement or gravel, collide with another vehicle, get thrown from the bike, or get hit hard from behind, and each of those injuries has the potential to severely damage your back.
Even if your head is protected by a helmet, and even if you are wearing durable protective gear like a motorcycle jacket, your back is exposed to extreme physical forces in a crash. The muscles, cartilage, bones, and nerves in your back simply aren’t designed to handle these intense forces.
Common Treatments After a Motorcycle Crash Injury
Treatment for back pain can be expensive, painful, and long-lasting. Depending on the type of severity of your injury, your doctors may need to prescribe the following treatments:
- Rest and immobilization
- Pain medication
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Surgery
- Mobility aids
The costs of these things can be recovered by pursuing legal action against the negligent party who caused your accident.
What kind of damages can I get covered by filing a personal injury claim?
In addition to the costs associated with the above treatments, you may also be able to receive compensation for:
- All other medical expenses
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering
- Lost wages
- Loss of ability to work
- Permanent disability
Additionally, if your loved one was killed in a motorcycle accident by a negligent person or entity, you may be able to receive compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit.
How to Get Compensation for Your Losses
Back injuries are often life-changing. Serious injuries can be permanently disabling, and even less serious injuries can still cause pain, stiffness, and lifelong disability.
You deserve to have someone fight for your rights after your accident. You should not have to be worried about how to pay for your medical expenses when your body is trying to heal.
In Kentucky, you have only one year from the date of the accident to file a personal injury claim, so it is important to contact a motorcycle accident attorney as soon as possible to discuss your injury from a motorcycle accident.
McCoy & Sparks – Supporting Kentucky’s Accident Victims & Survivors Through Exceptional Legal Services
Our team at McCoy & Sparks can help you navigate the complexities of a personal injury claim so that you don’t have to try to do it on your own.
We assist with the following – and more:
- Gathering evidence
- Negotiating with insurance
- Documenting costs and expenses
- Proving liability
- Filing a lawsuit
- Hiring expert witnesses
- Answering your questions throughout the legal journey
- Negotiating a settlement or pursuing the case to a jury or bench trial
- Supporting you through the lengthy process
Contact the motorcycle accident attorneys at McCoy & Sparks for a free consultation about your case. We don’t get paid unless we get you a settlement or court award, so there is no risk to you when working with us!
We help Kentucky’s motorcycle accident victims get the compensation that will put them on the path to recovery. Schedule a free consultation today.