Is Neck Pain Common after a Car Crash?
March 16, 2022 | Car Accidents
The impact of a car accident can jolt your head back and forth violently, leading to considerable neck pain. In fact, neck pain is common after every kind of car accident. If another driver’s negligence leaves you with neck pain, make the call to an experienced car accident attorney for the legal guidance you need.
How Common Is Neck Pain After a Car Crash?
Neck pain is highly common after car crashes, and many people feel soreness or stiffness in their necks following accidents. While a seat belt restrains your body, your head is free while in a car, and it often snaps violently in a crash, damaging the soft tissue of your neck. This is often why so many accident victims complain of neck pain.
Whiplash
Neck pain often arises out of the soft tissue injury known as whiplash. Whiplash is a neck injury caused by the head whipping back and forth on the neck, much like a whip crack. While rear-end accidents are a common cause of whiplash, any car accident can cause this injury. Neck injuries are exceptionally painful and can be slow to heal, lead to chronic pain, and seriously decrease your range of motion. If you experience neck pain after a car accident, don’t hesitate to seek the medical attention you need.
Take the Right Steps for You
Because neck pain can lead to long-term health concerns, it’s essential to take the steps you need to take to protect your health and your legal rights in a car accident claim.
Follow Your Doctor’s Orders
While neck pain is widespread in car accidents, this doesn’t mean that it will necessarily show up immediately after the accident. These soft tissue injuries are often bedeviling and can be slow to present with symptoms, such as pain that lets you know you’ve suffered an injury in the first place. Because receiving an early diagnosis can improve your chances of reaching your fullest recovery, seeking medical attention after a car accident is always in your best interest (even if you don’t think you suffered a severe injury).
It’s not only important to seek medical attention, however, but it is also critical that you follow your doctor’s instructions and advice carefully. This course of action helps to ensure that you’re doing what you need to do for your health and well-being and sends a strong message to the insurance company handling your claim that your injuries are as severe as you claim.
Consult with a Dedicated Car Accident Attorney
The road toward recovery can be long and costly. Obtaining the compensation you deserve is essential to your ability to heal fully. The best thing you can do to protect your car accident claim from the very start is to bring a car accident attorney on board.
Car accidents claims are challenging legal matters, but your attorney will ably:
- Collect all the pertinent evidence in the creation of your most substantial claim, including eyewitness testimony, the police report, and more
- Secure expert testimony in support of your claim’s assertions
- Create claim-enhancing accident models
- Communicate with the insurance company in your stead (generally, the less interaction you have with the insurance company, the better)
- Negotiate with the insurance company for a settlement that fairly addresses your complete physical, financial, and emotional losses (or damages in legal terms)
- Help you move forward in the claims process, making the right decisions for you along the way
Working closely with a seasoned car accident attorney can significantly improve your chances of obtaining the compensation you need to cover your losses, and you need that to reach your fullest recovery.
The Insurance Company Handling Your Claim
When another driver’s negligence leaves you with neck pain, the road forward can be daunting. While you’ll file your claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company, the insurance company isn’t going to simply cut you a check that covers your losses in full.
The insurance company is a business motivated by profits-not by any desire to ensure that you receive fair compensation. In fact, many insurance companies employ tactics designed to keep their settlements low.
#1. Settling Early
You are suffering from neck pain, looking at medical bills that continue to mount, and maybe earning less due to your accident. If the insurance company comes back with an early settlement offer, you may be ready to accept it before you even glance at it.
The insurance company knows about your desperation. That early settlement offer is an attempt to settle your claim before you can calculate your full range of losses. Before accepting a settlement offer, discuss the matter with a trusted car accident attorney who is up to speed on your claim.
#2. Outright Denial
Another common approach that goes in an entirely different direction is simply denying claims without giving them much thought. The insurance company banks on shaking loose those claimants who are too overwhelmed to seek legal guidance and pursue their cases.
Don’t let the insurance company bully you into dropping your claim. The law will have the final say on the matter-not the insurance company-and if your car accident attorney thinks you have a worthy claim, it’s worth pursuing.
#3. Further Complicating the Matter
The car accident claims process is a complicated legal matter that even the most intrepid claimants can find daunting. Sometimes, insurance companies will turn the complication factor up a notch or two-artificially prolonging the claim-to weed out those prone to losing hope. The law frowns on such practices, and your attorney has the legal insight and know-how to help thwart your insurance company’s tactics.
#4. Questioning Fault
The insurance company may attempt to nudge fault in your claim away from its policyholder and toward you. The process beats down many claimants, and they simply accept this turn of events and give up, but you shouldn’t join these claimants. The evidence in your claim will determine who is at fault (it’s not up to the insurance company’s discretion).
You need a lawyer who can prove fault when the insurance company challenges liability. The right car accident attorney is not hesitant to stand up to insurance adjusters looking for any way possible to minimize your settlement. Your attorney is your advocate and voice to the insurer, so you do not have to worry about how you will prove your claim.
The sooner you get legal representation, the sooner the insurance company will realize it cannot push you around, and you might receive a fair settlement offer earlier.
Chis Dixon, Personal Injury Lawyer
An Experienced Car Accident Attorney Is Here to Help You
If another driver’s negligence causes you to suffer neck pain, you want a car accident attorney who cares about you and has the knowledge and legal insight to help. Please don’t wait to reach out for a free case evaluation from a legal professional you can trust. Consultations cost nothing and require no obligation.