When you felt pain immediately after the car crash, you are probably worried about what kind of injury you had. Discovering that it was a fracture or even broken might have actually been a relief.
If it wasn’t immediately obvious that you had a fracture, it likely wasn’t a compound fracture that broke the skin or a severe fracture that required surgery. You may need medical care, but it probably doesn’t seem like an emergency.
While broken bones are painful and take weeks, if not months, to heal, they are far less severe than brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. While the fracture itself may not be a severe medical condition, it could cause a secondary condition that is much more painful and debilitating for you.
In rare cases, trauma can lead to permanent nerve issues
For most people healing from broken bones, recovery is straightforward. They need a cast and to immobilize the injured body part until the bone fully knits. They may need physical therapy or strength training to help them regain the use of the affected body part and to improve their strength and range of motion.
Most people with broken bones have no pain once the bone heals or only experience minimal lingering symptoms during inclement weather or seasonal transitions. Other people will find that while they heal, their pain or discomfort gets worse.
Worsening symptoms during recovery are a warning sign of a much more severe condition that could affect your health and quality of life permanently. That pain you feel could be the result of a nerve condition sometimes associated with traumatic injuries.
Misfiring nerves can cause a host of unfortunate symptoms
For a tiny number of people who experience a traumatic injury such as a fracture, their healing won’t be easy. Instead, they will still have pain, reduced strength, reduced flexibility and even discoloration to the skin, hair and nails nearby.
These individuals may have developed a lifelong, debilitating condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Those with CRPS may require extensive medical care and could eventually find that their condition prevents them from working anymore. They may need compensation to protect them, especially if someone else caused the crash that resulted in the fracture.
A disabling medical condition that develops well after a crash may require legal action on your part if you hope to get compensation for your medical costs or your lost wages.
