The Most Common Car Accident Injuries

The NHTSA shows us that there are over 3 million people that are injured in vehicle accidents every single year. With such a volume, we simply cannot neglect the possibility that we might end up being injured. Being aware of the most common car accident injuries helps us protect ourselves from whatever will happen. With this in mind, here are the most common car accidents that happen right now, according to Washington DC car accident lawyers.

Soft Tissue Injuries

This is practically any injury that affects connective tissues, like tendons, ligaments, and muscles. We are talking about the most common car accident injury type and it can come in various forms.

A very common and dangerous example is whiplash. This means ligaments and muscles in your upper back and neck area are stretched out because of the sudden movements of your neck and head during the collision. Besides this, we can also mention muscle sprains in the back as being very common.

Cuts And Scrapes

Loose objects inside your vehicle can become projectiles that will hurt you during car collisions. This does include things like coffee mugs, books, purses, eyeglasses, and smartphones. When such items hit the body, they will cut skin and can easily cause other injuries, including some that could be more serious, like concussions. You might also need stitches and lose blood because of scrapes and cuts.

Head Injuries

Many types of head injuries can appear in car accidents. Some of them are minor but severe injuries can also appear. Also, such injuries often also involve strains in the back and neck, as we already highlighted above.

When the head is injured, it is usually because of some sort of impact. Your head can hit the steering wheel or side window. This would cause bruising, scrapes, and even deep lacerations.

In severe collisions, closed head injuries can appear. This would require immediate medical attention since severe impacts could cause the appearance of brain damage.

Chest Injuries

These are also quite common in car accidents. Usually, you are affected by bruising or contusions. But, in more severe cases, you can end up with internal injuries or broken ribs.

Chest injuries often appear because of the position of the driver behind a steering wheel. This does not give this part of the body too much room to move during collisions. Even if the dashboard or steering wheel is not hit, some type of chest injury can still appear because of the force put against the seat belt or shoulder harness. Fortunately, in most cases, just bruising appears.

Leg And Arm Injuries

In a collision, several forces appear, and literally any part of your body can be affected, including legs and arms. For instance, during a side impact, both of these can hit the door. When you are a passenger, your legs (especially your knees) will end up hitting something. While in most cases we are just talking about scrapes or bruises, it is easy to end up with breaks and sprains in more serious cases.