Knee Injury Caused By a Car Accident - Compensable?
The most common injury caused by a car accident is a neck pain. Since rear-end car accidents top the list of vehicular impact types, the neck and spine are usually what is injured. However a close second to spine trauma is injury to the knees. Even when you are wearing a seatbelt, your knees can impact other parts of the interior of the car, causing deep bruising, or what physicians like to call "hematoma." In addition to deep bruising and laceration, the soft-tissues of the knee can be strained and even torn. Ligaments and meniscus of the knee can be damaged, requiring surgery. Along with any other type of surgery, this can present certain dangers to the victim of the car crash.
The anatomy of the knee is fairly basic. There is a lateral and medial meniscus that acts as a cushion between the bones of the knee. The lateral and medial ligaments work like rubber bands on each side of the knee that connect the upper and lower leg bones and permit us to bend and stoop. The patella, or knee cap, is front and center and can be broken if it hits the dashboard of an automobile during a collision. The articular cartilage is just behind the knee cap and consists of the soft tissues that wrap around the front of the knee. Our knees are not designed to take on the blunt force trauma caused in a car crash.
Often times victims of a knee injury will report that the knee feels "weird" in the days following the collision. Our lawyers have heard clients say that the knee felt bruised at the scene, but that they didn't think a whole lot about it. Certainly it wasn't fractured, but something was definitely "off." Clients often report the knee "giving out" after long walks or after standing for an extended period of time. People who have injured their knee in a car accident need to have two types of diagnostic imaging done to determine what, if any, real damage was caused to the knee in the crash. First, get an x-ray to determine if there are any fractures in the knee. Second, get an MRI of the knee to find out where the soft-tissues (ligaments, meniscus, cartilage) of the knee has been damaged. The structure itself may still be intact, but that doesn't mean you haven't sustained a serious knee injury.
If you believe you have injured your knees in a car accident or motorcycle accident, seek medical attention immediately and demand the diagnostic imaging we discussed earlier in this article. Then contact a car accident knee lawyer to discuss how to handle your case against the at-fault party and their car insurance company. Demanding a fair settlement for a knee injury is complex, especially when the claim is for a soft-tissue knee injury. Those types of claims are aggressively defended by car insurance companies.
Schultz Legal Group was founded by Stephen Schultz, and well-respected injury attorney with law offices in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas. Schultz is an AV-Preeminent Rated attorney and member of several exclusive organizations that are reserved for the top 1% of trial lawyers in the country. His law firm exclusively handles injury claims for persons injury in auto accidents are who are looking to obtain fair compensation and justice for their injuries.
The anatomy of the knee is fairly basic. There is a lateral and medial meniscus that acts as a cushion between the bones of the knee. The lateral and medial ligaments work like rubber bands on each side of the knee that connect the upper and lower leg bones and permit us to bend and stoop. The patella, or knee cap, is front and center and can be broken if it hits the dashboard of an automobile during a collision. The articular cartilage is just behind the knee cap and consists of the soft tissues that wrap around the front of the knee. Our knees are not designed to take on the blunt force trauma caused in a car crash.
Often times victims of a knee injury will report that the knee feels "weird" in the days following the collision. Our lawyers have heard clients say that the knee felt bruised at the scene, but that they didn't think a whole lot about it. Certainly it wasn't fractured, but something was definitely "off." Clients often report the knee "giving out" after long walks or after standing for an extended period of time. People who have injured their knee in a car accident need to have two types of diagnostic imaging done to determine what, if any, real damage was caused to the knee in the crash. First, get an x-ray to determine if there are any fractures in the knee. Second, get an MRI of the knee to find out where the soft-tissues (ligaments, meniscus, cartilage) of the knee has been damaged. The structure itself may still be intact, but that doesn't mean you haven't sustained a serious knee injury.
If you believe you have injured your knees in a car accident or motorcycle accident, seek medical attention immediately and demand the diagnostic imaging we discussed earlier in this article. Then contact a car accident knee lawyer to discuss how to handle your case against the at-fault party and their car insurance company. Demanding a fair settlement for a knee injury is complex, especially when the claim is for a soft-tissue knee injury. Those types of claims are aggressively defended by car insurance companies.
Schultz Legal Group was founded by Stephen Schultz, and well-respected injury attorney with law offices in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas. Schultz is an AV-Preeminent Rated attorney and member of several exclusive organizations that are reserved for the top 1% of trial lawyers in the country. His law firm exclusively handles injury claims for persons injury in auto accidents are who are looking to obtain fair compensation and justice for their injuries.
