One of the most catastrophic injuries that can occur in a car crash is damage to the spinal cord. Many people who have this type of injury deal with lifelong changes that make life much more different.
Not all spinal cord injuries are the same. There are many factors that determine how a spinal cord injury will affect the victim. Let’s look at two.
Location of the injury
The area of the body that’s affected by the injury is always below the damaged place. This means an injury on the upper spine will affect more of the body than ones that are lower on the spine. A cervical injury can take away the ability to move the limbs and to breathe. A lower back injury would affect the lower limbs, but not the upper ones. A lower back injury wouldn’t affect the person’s ability to breathe.
Severity of the damage
The severity of the damage is another aspect that can determine how the person is affected. An injury that involves a complete severing of the nerves in the area isn’t as likely to heal fully as one that involves a partial severing of those nerves.
The quality of the medical care and rehabilitation the person receives can also play a role in the recovery. This can be costly, which may be prohibitive to some. Individuals who were injured due to the negligence of another driver may choose to seek compensation to help get the costs associated with the injury covered by that driver. The time to do this is limited, so victims need to get their case moving quickly.