No one other than people who have had a back injury know how having a bad back affects everything you do. Standing up, sitting down, walking, even sleeping all become painful and unpleasant when you have a bad back.
If you’ve been injured and suffered back injuries, you probably have lots of questions. You’re probably worried about your future and whether this back injury is permanent.
All injury cases, if they cannot be settled, are going to be judged by a Jury. And the only way to force an insurance company to pay you fair money for your back injury is to make sure that you build the strongest case you possibly can. That may worry the insurance company and result in them taking your case seriously.
So it is important for you to understand as much as you can about back injuries and back injury cases.
The Anatomy of the Back
Your spine is the frame or pillar that allows you to stand upright. It helped bear the weight of your body. But it is also the tunnel through which all of your body’s nerves pass from your brain and branching out to the rest of your body.
Lawyers and doctors call your lower back the lumbar spine. The lumbar spine is made up of bony vertebrae. In between each bony vertebrate is a disk, which is soft and filled with gel. The disc acts like a shock absorber between the bony vertebrae. But it also creates space between the bony vertebrae so that your nerves can branch out to all the parts of your body, like your legs. Without nerves, you would not be able to feel or move your legs.
Types of Back Injuries
Back injuries can involve fractures or breaks to the bony vertebrae.
They can involve stretching the ligaments and tendons.
But probably the most common back injury I see in my law practice is an injury to the disc.
Whether it is a bulging disc or a herniated disc, when a disk is injured, just like a flat tire on a bicycle, the height between the bony vertebrae is reduced. That can cause your nerves to get pinched. Pinched nerves can cause numbness, tingling, a lot of pain and even paralysis.
The more severe the nerve impingement, the more important it is to get medical treatment right away to avoid permanent consequences.
Lower Back Injury Treatment
Sometimes the nerve pinching is temporary and can be treated with pain medicine, rest, and physical therapy. If doctors see a serious impingement of nerves on your MRI, or if you do not improve with therapy, doctors may move on to giving you a series of three epidural steroid injections. These are injections directly into your lower back and their purpose is to reduce swelling so that your nerves do not get pinched anymore.
If nothing else fixes the problem, the back injury must be treated with surgery.The surgery can range from less serious microdiscectomy to more serious lumbar fusion. And lumbar fusion surgery results in the bony vertebrae being permanently fused together. It is a serious surgery.
As you can see, back injury cases can get complicated quickly.
If you have worries and concerns about your back injury, well, you probably should.
I offer a free case evaluation either in person or by telephone.
I can answer all of your questions and help put your mind at ease.
