​What Is Soft Tissue Injury in an Accident?

​What Is Soft Tissue Injury in an Accident? In personal injury lawsuits, judges, jurors, and even insurance companies want to hear how the defendant’s actions caused the plaintiff to experience noticeable physical injuries. However, not every injury that a person sustains is as noticeable as a traumatic brain injury or an amputated limb. Body parts that are not noticeable to the eye can become seriously injured from different accidents. Victims who endure these types of injuries deserve to receive compensation as well. However, victims with these soft-tissue injuries will have difficulty convincing others of the severity of their injuries. For this reason alone, you need to consult a personal injury attorney about your injury. An attorney can help you recover compensation from the party responsible for your injury so you can focus on recovery and not how you will pay the bills.

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What Are Soft Tissue Injuries?

When a person experiences damage to their muscles, ligaments, and tendons, a healthcare professional will classify these as soft tissue injuries. Such injuries regularly occur in the most sensitive parts of the body, such as the neck, back, or joints. The deterioration in these particular areas can cause a person to endure bruising, pain, and swelling, as well as a loss of motion.

Personal Injury Accidents That Lead to Soft Tissue Injuries

While soft tissue injuries can happen from any personal injury accident, two of the most common accidents that lead to soft tissue injuries include motor vehicle accidents, premises liability accidents, and workplace accidents.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Victims of motor vehicle accidents are most likely to suffer from soft tissue injuries. One of the most common soft tissue injuries caused by a motor vehicle accident is whiplash. Whiplash is a type of neck injury that occurs when a person’s head moves back and forth suddenly amid a collision. Victims of whiplash experience severe stiffness around the neck area and chronic pain.

Premises Liability Accidents

Premises liability accidents occur when another person suffers a severe injury on another person’s property. Some premises liability accidents that can cause victims to experience soft tissue injuries are slip and fall accidents, animal attacks, amusement park accidents, elevator accidents, and escalator accidents.

Workplace Accidents

Employees who perform specific routine tasks day in and day out or work in high-paced working conditions are at risk of suffering from soft tissue injuries. Employees who use the same muscles, ligaments, and tendons to perform certain tasks at work can suffer from repetitive motion injuries. When employees are short-staffed or working in fast, quick-paced environments, they are also at risk of slipping, falling, or twisting certain parts of their bodies.

Can I Sue For My Soft Tissue Injuries?

If you suffer from a soft tissue injury, you have the right to pursue compensation. Like any injury, soft tissue injuries can cause you to experience severe pain. Even though soft tissue injuries are not always the most covered injuries in a personal injury lawsuit, they have the potential to cause immense pain. Victims who suffer from soft tissue injuries can experience long-term effects like:

• Chronic pain
• Loss of mobility
• Diminishing muscle strength
• Disfigurement
• Chronic numbness
• Loss of function

Depending on the severity of the injury, it may take months or even years for you to recover. Your soft tissue injury can affect essential factors in your life, such as your ability to perform at your job or take care of your children.

Types of Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries

Like any injury from a personal injury accident, you can seek compensation for any financial and non-financial damages your accident has cost you. Depending on the nature of your accident, you can seek compensation for damages such as:

• Medical expenses. Even soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains require medical expenses. Based on the severity of your soft tissue injury, you may need medical procedures like physical therapy and surgery. You may also need to pay for devices like a brace that can help you recover.
• Lost income. Your soft tissue injury can cause you to miss out on a few days or weeks from your occupation. Based on the nature of your accident, your soft tissue injury can even result from the type of work that you perform. The severity of your injury can cause you to retire from your occupation and search for another job prematurely.
• Pain and suffering. While attorneys do not discuss soft tissue injuries as frequently discussed as catastrophic injuries or severe injuries, they can cause you to experience significant pain. Some soft tissue injury symptoms include back pain, sharp neck pain, inflammation around the affected body part, a constant onset of pain, and stiffness around the affected body part.
• Property damage. If your accident was a motor vehicle accident, you might have damaged your vehicle partially or severely in the accident. You can pursue compensation for future vehicle repairs or a new vehicle if the crash damaged your vehicle beyond repair.

Challenges With Seeking Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries

Not surprisingly, seeking compensation for soft tissue injuries can be difficult. In many personal injury lawsuits, it is common for insurance companies to try to downplay a plaintiff’s injuries. This issue is no different for soft tissue injuries. It is easier for insurance companies to downplay the significance of soft tissue injuries because some victims do not immediately experience the long-term effects of these injuries. One of the most common challenges in pursuing compensation for soft tissue injuries is proving the cause of the injury. Many people, in general, do not understand how specific risk factors at the workplace or the impact of a motor vehicle accident can lead to soft tissue injuries.

How Insurance Companies Feel About Soft Tissue Injuries

Insurance companies do not believe that soft tissue injuries are actual injuries. Insurance companies are skeptical when receiving personal injury claims surrounding soft tissue injuries. If insurance companies can deny compensation for soft tissue injuries, they will. However, plaintiffs with soft tissue injuries can pursue fair compensation for their injuries. Unfortunately, when plaintiffs ask for a particular amount of compensation, insurance companies will refuse to settle or offer compensation.

How Insurance Companies Will Downplay Your Soft Tissue Injuries

One of the ways that an insurance company will try to downplay your soft tissue injury is by stating that your injury is the result of aging. Insurance companies will argue that your injury results from normal wear and tear on the body and not from whatever accident caused your injury. Insurance companies will also argue that your soft tissue injury stemmed from a pre-existing condition instead of your accident. Insurance companies may say that your hobbies outside of the accident have caused your injuries.

What to Do When Seeking Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries

Fortunately, there are some actions that you can take to give yourself a fighting chance at receiving the compensation you deserve. If you want to seek compensation for your soft tissue injuries, the first action you need to take is to seek immediate medical attention. If insurance companies argue that your injury resulted from a pre-existing condition, this action will benefit you. Seeking immediate medical attention will also help you document the origin of your injury. A medical professional can also explain the extent of your injuries and give expert testimony should your case make it to trial.

Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer

The next beneficial step that you can take is to seek the help of a personal injury lawyer. Even though you can take on the personal injury case by yourself, you will stand a greater chance of winning your lawsuit by reaching out to a personal injury lawyer for help. A personal injury lawyer knows what factors of your accident can benefit you in your case. A personal injury lawyer can also serve as a great adversary against insurance companies. The deceptive tactics that insurance companies will use against you to deny your rights to compensation will leave you overwhelmed. Having a personal injury lawyer by your side will reduce that overwhelmed feeling.

Using Expert Witness Testimony to Your Advantage

A personal injury lawyer can increase your chances of winning your injury lawsuit by gathering evidence that can speak to the validity of your injuries. A personal injury lawyer knows the different methods that insurance companies will use to downplay your injuries. A personal injury lawyer can collect the expert witness testimony of medical experts who can better explain the long-term effects of soft tissue injuries on the body to counter these arguments. Your attorney can use medical expertise to explain the severity of your soft tissue injury.

Maximizing All of Your Options for Compensation

Another way that a personal injury lawyer can also help in your injury lawsuit is by evaluating all aspects of your claim. When it comes to certain types of compensation, insurance companies may question whether your injury even warrants those types of compensation. An insurance company may ask whether you deserve to receive compensation for your medical expenses, for example. A personal injury lawyer can not only justify why you deserve that compensation but can also recommend additional forms of compensation that you might recover.

Counteracting the Deceptive Tactics of Insurance Companies

One of the most crucial benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer is fighting against the tactics of insurance companies. Insurance companies will go to great lengths to deny your just compensation, from stating that you have a pre-existing condition to blaming you for your soft tissue injuries. A personal injury lawyer can gather the appropriate evidence to refute all of the insurance company’s unfounded claims. Insurance companies treat soft tissue injury victims differently when they discover that an experienced personal injury lawyer represents them.

Proving the Severity of Your Injuries to Jurors

When your injury lawsuit makes it to trial, you will have to justify the validity of your soft tissue injuries to jurors if you have a jury trial. Because jurors are not familiar with the pain that a soft tissue injury can cause, jurors may need substantial evidence to prove this fact. A personal injury lawyer can present an excellent case for you at trial and provide the correct type of evidence that can prove to jurors how severe a soft tissue injury is.

Proving the Other Party’s Negligence

Another way that a personal injury lawyer can help is by establishing how the other party’s negligence contributed to your soft tissue injury. Insurance companies will attempt to dodge liability for your accident by insinuating that you acted negligently and contributed to your injuries. A personal injury lawyer can refute these claims by establishing how their client’s negligence directly caused your soft tissue injury. In some cases, the responsible party’s inaction might have led to your soft tissue injury. For example, if they knew of a hazardous condition and failed to fix it before you were injured. This inaction can lead to a claim.

Speak to an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer Today

If you or a loved one have experienced a soft tissue injury, do not allow insurance companies to bully you out of receiving the compensation you deserve. A personal injury lawyer can fight on your behalf and force the insurance companies to make the right decision. Reach out to an experienced personal injury lawyer who can best fight for the compensation you deserve. Call an experienced and compassionate personal injury attorney today for a free consultation about your case.