Spinal injuries and paralysis as well as brain injuries are not an unlikely result of vehicle collisions and rollovers.
However, other reasons for spinal injuries in a car include seatbelt failures, roof collapse, and seat collapse. Spinal cord injuries are usually either complete or incomplete.
A complete spinal cord injury reflects a victim's inability to function below the level of the injury. There are currently no cures for complete paralysis and those who suffer from this will never recover. Victims who suffer from incomplete spinal injuries will often make full recoveries.
A variety of other back injuries can result from auto accidents as well including whiplash and lumbar sprains. Symptoms of spinal cord injuries may experience a number of symptoms including pain, numbness or loss of muscle control. In addition, one may suffer sexual dysfunction, muscle spasms and infections.
Traumatic brain injuries are caused by the sudden occurrence of physical damage to the brain. They are categorized as either closed head or penetrating brain injuries. Closed head injuries are often the result of a person's head colliding with another object whereas the latter will result when an object pierce's a person's brain.
Automobile accidents are the leading cause of brain injury in all age categories. Statistics place the number of brain injuries due to vehicle collisions at 2 million annually. There have been medical advances to treat these problems but avoiding head injuries is the obvious best idea.
This is your regular reminder to drive defensively - the life you save may be your own.
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston brain injury lawyer and the managing attorney at the Baumgartner Law Firm which is dedicated to helping victims with head or spinal cord injury from truck accidents or auto accidents seek civil justice.
