Injuries are the worst! Whether it’s a sprained ankle, torn ACL, broken arm, or a concussion, injuries affect your quality of life and make it harder to thrive.
Some injuries, like a papercut, get bandaged up and are good to go. Others, like breaking a bone, can require multiple surgeries and countless hours of rehab to fully recover. In some cases, you might not be able to tell just how serious your injury is.
Here are some signs that your injury might be more severe than initially anticipated:
Persistent or Worsening Pain
Pain is usually immediate following an injury. After all, pain is the body’s complex psychological response to physical injury.
If the pain you are experiencing doesn’t eventually get better, or even starts to get worse, this may be a sign that your injury is more significant than originally anticipated. Persistent and worsening pain are both indicators of something serious underlying, like tissue damage, fractures, or tears.
Limited Mobility or Loss of Function
Being stiff or sore after a traumatic accident is perfectly normal. However, if this graduates to you not being able to move or complete normal household tasks, this is a sign that something serious may be brewing underneath.
Other signs, besides not being able to move around, include a reduced range of motion and inability to bear weight with stability.
Numbness or Tingling
Experiencing numbness or tingling following a serious accident is a common indicator that you are experiencing nerve damage. Nerve damage is serious because it doesn’t just affect sensation — it can also disrupt communication between the brain and body, leading to long-term issues with movement, balance, and overall function.
You Hear or Feel a Pop at the Time of Injury
This is a classic sign that you experienced damage to a ligament. Ligaments are tough, fibrous tissues connecting bone to bone. When one tears under sudden stress, it can create a snapping or popping noise — like a thick elastic band suddenly snapping.
Such a “pop” is often accompanied with instability and inability to bear weight.
Emotional or Cognitive Changes
The final indicator worth mentioning is probably the most subtle—and the most serious. Emotional and cognitive changes are commonly caused by trauma to the head. Some examples of emotional changes one might experience following a major head trauma event:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Existential grief
Some examples of cognitive changes:
- Brain fog
- Difficulty with executive planning (planning, organizing, decision making)
- Heightened self-awareness
- Distractibility
- Hyper attentiveness
All of these factors can make your life feel like it isn’t in your control—like you’re a shell of your former self. This is something nobody realistically wants to deal with—but it happens in serious auto accidents time and time again.
Get David Get Paid
If you recently found yourself in an auto accident and need help getting your life back together, reach out to David Femminineo today. The team at Femminineo Law is one of the finest teams of Personal injury lawyers assembled in the state of Michigan. You can rest assured that if you get David, you will get paid.
Call us today at 855-65-CRASH, or visit our website at www.getdavidgetpaid.com.
