The movement of a driver or passenger’s head at the time of a collision can encourage the creation of a whiplashing. The victim of a whiplash injury may suffer some long term effects. He or she must face a future with a lower quality of life.
Symptoms that develop in the case of a severe whiplashing
• Pain in neck, arms and upper or lower back
• Blurred vision
• Diminished mobility
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Tinnitus (ringing in ears)
• Nausea
• Weakness of arms and legs
Certain changes in a victim’s behavior can also signal emergence of the effects from a severe whiplashing.
• Obvious increase in victim’s level of anxiety
• Victim exhibits signs of depression
• Victim has exhibited one or more example of an emotional outburst
How to protect a claim in such situations?
Be sure to report all health issues to the treating or family physician. Do not assume that a certain drug or injection accounts for a sleep disturbance. That could be a sign that the disturbed sleeper has exhibited yet another effect from a bad whiplash injury. Seek legal help. A personal injury lawyer in Lindsay can help you to fight any denial of coverage.
Another disability that can be caused by movement of the head at the time of a collision
This is a condition called hydrocephalus. It develops when the fluid in the ventricles in the brain does not get absorbed properly, or directed into the spinal column. The fluid creates a harmful level of pressure within the skull. The only treatment involves introduction of a shunt, which carries the collected fluid to a different location within the body.
How a collision might encourage the development of hydrocephalus
The ear channel passes through a location that is close to the ventricles in the brain. A person with a mild ear infection might be involved in a collision. The forces present at that time could cause the brain to hit the inside of the skull. That might allow the infection in the ear channel to affect the ventricles in the brain.
Like a whiplash injury, such injuries reveal themselves slowly, over an extended period of time. Before introduction of the CT scan, a very painful test was used, in order to detect hydrocephalus. Now, fortunately, that condition can be detected at an earlier stage. Still, a physician must be wise enough to recognize the wisdom behind the ordering of a CT scan.
A patient that has been the victim of an accident must alert his or her physician to the existence of noteworthy symptoms. Then that same doctor would have a sound reason for scheduling the victim’s/patient’s consultation with a neurologist, an expert on CT scans.