Oklahoma residents who have been unfortunate enough to have been involved in a car accident may not necessarily manifest all the symptoms of their injury at once. The adrenaline and confusion of the accident have the potential to mask a person’s awareness of very serious wounds, and certain conditions such as whiplash injuries can take days or even weeks to reveal the true extent of the damage.
Headaches, neck pain and back pain are all common outcomes of car accident trauma. Headaches often develop long after the accident, and may sometimes be warnings of a more serious problem. For example, a blood clot that develops from the body’s attempt to repair deep tissue wounds can cause headaches and much more significant harm.
Whiplash injuries are also known to take a long period to manifest. Whiplash can go unnoted, because the injury often occurs in rear-end accidents when the vehicle is traveling at a rate of speed of less than 14 mph. In cases where the injury takes a while to appear, some people never connect it with the car accident at all.
If any of these symptoms appear in the days or weeks after a car accident that was caused by the negligence of another driver, then the injured victim may want to obtain the assistance of a personal injury attorney. In some cases, it may be advisable to file a lawsuit against the at-fault motorist seeking compensation for the medical bills and other losses that have been incurred.
Source: KTAR, “7 delayed injury symptoms after a car crash”, Alex Bigham, Sept. 1, 2015