What is a Soft Tissue Injury in a Car Accident?
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In a car accident, soft tissue injuries are those involving supporting, non-bony parts of the body. Such parts can include muscles and tendons. Ligaments are considered soft tissue as well. Soft tissue injuries are quite common in car accidents. Often, they are present in the form of tears, sprains, strains, and general soreness.
When a car accident occurs, the impact of the crash can cause the the people inside the car to be jolted around. Hard braking and bracing against the impact lead to even more jolting. As a result, a large number of people experience soft tissue injuries in car accidents.
The force of impact in a car accident can cause soft tissues to stretch considerably, resulting in significant damage. As a result of this damage, individuals often experience pain, swelling, and loss of function. Bleeding may result as well.
Though soft tissue injuries are very common, they cannot be detected using x-rays. For this reason, it is more difficult to detect soft tissue injuries quickly than it is to detect bone injuries. Often, an individual with soft tissue injuries will not experience symptoms for hours after a car accident. In some cases, it takes days for car accident victims to begin experiencing symptoms.
Once a person with soft tissue injuries begins having symptoms, he or she may experience persistent pain. Often, inflammation is present. This is a natural result of soft tissue injury and helps to make the accident victim aware that a body part has been damaged. The pain, however, can be significant and can stall or inhibit healing if left untreated.
One of the most common soft tissue injuries is whiplash. This injury occurs when a person in a car is hit from behind in a car accident. In this type of collision, the head of the accident victim often snaps forward and back again. The head weighs a considerable amount, and when it snaps backward, it exerts significant force on the neck. The resulting whiplash can lead to a range of serious conditions, including but not limited to chronic pain, joint dysfunction, and herniated discs of the spine.
Symptoms of whiplash can include neck pain, stiffness, headache, and burning sensations. Shoulder, back pain, and dizziness may be present as well. Some sufferers also report memory loss, depression, fatigue, and nervousness.
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My son and I were hit by a loaded semi truck. My son was driving and was trying to evade the oncoming truck in our lane. We were hit near the drivers rear tire and spun us 180 degrees and threw us off to the side about 30 feet. My son was transported and released from the hospital with back pain. It was a day or so before my neck pain began. It was severe pain, after almost two years
of chiropractic visits I am feeling somewhat better. I kept working and fought through the pain. Ocasionally the pain was so bad I had to go home from work. The problem is my neck randomly pops several times a day and the pain comes and goes with the poping. Sometimes the pain decreases. Sometimes the pain increases. What do I do? - anon36916
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I was involved in a car accident in December 2002. My knee was injured against the steering column. I had arthroscopy in 2003 and have continued with pain on the inner aspect of my knee. Although I have continued to work 2 - 3 days/week, I feel completely and totaled exhausted after anything physical I do. I also am knocked knee and have patellar tracking syndrome. The surgeon has said he could operate on my knee to straighten it, but it probably will not relieve my pain and it is an extremely difficult and painful procedure to go through. Without the certainty that the pain will be relieved, he is reluctant to consider this. He said that I should just live with the pain and that sometimes knocked knee, for unknown reasons, take a long time to heal from soft tissue injuries. It is now close to seven years since my accident. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced such a thing and how long it took their pain to disappear and what was done to help this. I have been going to physiotherapy for over 6 months now with no relief of symptoms. In fact, it requires me to take more pain medication. - claired
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I was in an auto accident about 2 weeks ago. We were hit by someone who ran a red light. My car spun and then rolled over. I was not too bad that night or even the next day. But, the following day I could hardly move. Now I am moving, but still very sore. No bones are broken.Has anyone experienced this? If so, how long did it take for you to feel generally better again? The constant soreness is really getting in the way of my everyday life activities. Plus, I seem to need to take a nap every afternoon. Thanks. - anon33811
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The soft tissue injuries from an accident can be so severe, particularly the next day, that for some time you are not even able to move. It happened to me, I could not move at all. - mentirosa
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Written by
N. Madison
Last Modified: 15 July 2009
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