Suffering From Knee Pain After an Accident? Here’s What You Need to Know

Knee injuries from car accident never happen at a convenient, reasonable time, but they happen often. On average, a car accident injury occurs approximately once every minute just in the United States alone. This gives you a good reason for driving with caution, but moving cautiously cannot always save you from the carnage and other injuries that can come from car accidents.

Sadly, car accidents often go along with severe injuries to those involved. These injuries vary from minor scrapes and bruises, if you are lucky, all the way to traumatic injuries requiring long-term hospitalization and therapy to make a recovery. In worst-case scenarios, one or both parties may succumb to their fatal injuries.

One common injury in car accidents is damage to your ligaments and joints. The knee joint is especially vulnerable to these types of blunt force trauma injuries. Severe knee cap injuries from car accidents can be debilitating, but even minor knee injuries can cause intense pain that may require physical therapy and pain medication to correct.

If you suffered any common types of knee injuries in a collision, you must seek initial medical treatment immediately. You should also consult with a personal injury attorney to determine if and what you are entitled to regarding compensation. From here, we’ll explore the nature of more severe knee injuries and the steps you should take to help get you back on your feet.

Injuries to Your Soft Tissue 

Serious injuries to your soft tissues can be severe and may require immediate medical attention or require surgery. These injuries are ones to the body that affect ligaments, tendons, and muscles. These soft tissues are found through your knees, making these types of injuries significant to that area of your body. These soft tissue injuries are often labeled as minor knee injuries but tend to turn into more severe problems in the future if not taken care of properly.

An anti-inflammatory medication may be prescribed to help ease the pain if your injury is severe enough to need more than some quality rest. No matter your injuries, you will surely pay some bills for them. Oftentimes when this is your knee injury claim, insurance companies are unwilling to cover your damages. If you are being denied assistance from your insurance company, contact a car accident lawyer in Nashville and see your options moving forward. 

Common Kinds of Knee Ligament Injuries

The kneecap is only part of what makes up your knee. Your knee has many ligaments and tendons that allow it to function correctly. These components of the knee must work appropriately in unison to enable it to reach its full range of motion and functionality. Any damage to these from sudden external force and your knee can be severely affected. Here are some common injuries associated with the knee.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament 

An anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury is one of the most common knee injuries due to the frequency of occurrence in athletes. However, sports are not the only situations where an ACL injury can occur. A car accident may also cause ligament tears or equally traumatic injuries to an ACL. In most ACL injuries, the person suffers extreme pain; kneecap fracture or knee dislocation is even a possibility. Several months of physical therapy may even be required for you to heal from this injury fully.

Posterior Cruciate Ligament

The posterior cruciate ligament PCL, is not as common of an injury for athletes, but the PCL injury is often seriously injured in a car collision. 

The PCL, with assistance from your ACL, connects your Tibia with your Femur. Tears to the PCL can result in severe pain or the need for corrective surgery. PCL injuries are severe, and if you suffer one, you may end up needing extensive medical treatment for it. A doctor may even recommend physical therapy.

Medial Collateral Ligament 

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) runs along the side of your inner knee and helps stabilize your thigh bone. It is a group of tissues that are banded together. The purpose of the MCL ligament is to keep the knee stable while it is going through its motions.

Can Your Dashboard Be The Cause of a Common Knee Injury

Dashboards are often the culprit for a car accident knee injury. Due to how close you are to the dashboard and steering wheel, knee injuries often occur due to impact with them. Slamming into the dash can create issues with your knee, from a meniscus tear or a torn ligament meniscus injury, to a fractured patella or broken knee bones. The severity of your knee injuries usually depends on the distance between you and the dashboard. These can range from minor injuries to serious debilitating ones.

Front-end collisions compress your car, often pushing the dash into the driver. This is where injuries to tendons and ligaments tend to occur. This is not to say a kneebone cannot be broken as well. There are plenty of scenarios where you could come into contact with your dash at an excessive rate of force. Any accident such as this can result in more life-threatening situations than a knee fracture injury. 

Knee Injury Symptoms

The knee cannot heal as fast as the rest of your body. This is often because of all the moving parts involved in the functioning of your knee. Spasms in the muscles and swelling are sometimes experienced during the healing process. Sharp pains when you move your knee in any direction may be present as well.  This is because the knee assists the lower leg with its movements.

It is typically easy to point out a knee injury. When you suffer a knee injury, not only will it be painful to move it, but you will likely see a difference in the appearance of your knees and may even need a knee brace to walk. If you hurt your knee in a car collision, you could easily have a future of knee problems ahead of you, even after medical treatment. This is why you should seek a free consultation with a personal injury attorney immediately after a severe knee injury from an automobile accident.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer at Meyers Injury Law for Help Today

Do not wait to get yourself the help you need. You may be entitled to compensation for any medical bills from the injuries and required physical therapy. Our team of skilled personal injury attorneys in Nashville at Meyers Injury Law is here to fight for the fair compensation you deserve for your pain and suffering. Contact us today for a free, no-hassle consultation to see what we can do for you.