Emergency Room: When to Go to an ER for Car Wreck: Injuries to the Spine
Even with the many safety campaigns as well as the many safety features incorporated in new car models hitting the market, car crashes still remain among the most prolific causes of injuries out there, something backed up by the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com. If you go through the list of injuries attended to at emergency rooms across the country, then you will notice that a significant number of them are due to car wrecks. Car wrecks have got the potential to cause many different types of injuries, but injuries to the spine are among the most serious, causing the most severe consequences. Injuries to the spine can be quite devastating, leading to permanent disabilities and even death in certain unfortunate cases. Even more unfortunate is the fact that injuries to the spine are among the most commonly experienced injuries when it comes to car wrecks, particularly serious ones, as per the gurus over at frontlineer.com. It is important to not only know the different types of injuries to the spine one can suffer during a car wreck, but also the signs and symptoms of the same so that you can call 911 to have yourself taken to an ER as soon as possible, something this article, together with the highly rated frontlineer.com, will look to help with.
We are going to start by highlighting some of the common signs and symptoms as far as injuries to the spine are concerned. As per discussions on the same over at the excellent frontlineer.com, these signs and symptoms include loss of movement, where you are unable to move part of or all of your body, loss or change in sensation or feeling such as an inability to feel heat, cold or touch, spasms and exaggerated reflex activities, loss of bladder or bowel control otherwise known as incontinence, difficulty breathing which can be accompanied by coughing or clearing secretions from the lungs, pain or a stinging sensation in the back which is usually a result of damage to the nerve fibers in the spinal cord, severe back pain or pressure in the neck, head or back, numbness, tingling or loss of sensation in the hands, feet, fingers or toes as well as if your neck or head is oddly positioned or appears to be twisted. All these are signs of a spinal injury and if you are experiencing any of them in the aftermath of a car wreck, you should have yourself taken to an ER like the highly rated frontlineer.com to be attended to.
Amongst the common spinal injuries which one is likely to suffer during a car wreck is a herniated disc. This, as per the gurus over at frontlineer.com, an injury to the spine whereby the discs shift out of position, causing them to begin compressing nerves leading to pain and numbness. In severe cases, the discs may not only shift out of position, they may also tear or rupture. Other than numbness and back pain, if you have suffered a herniated disc you are also likely to experience pain radiating towards other parts of you body, usually the limbs. In such a situation, you should call 911 so that you can have yourself taken to an ER to be assessed and attended to. Another spinal injury that you are likely to suffer following a car wreck is a spinal fracture or even spondylolisthesis, which is an injury where a vertebra in the spine fractures and then shifts and begins to place pressure on the spinal column. You can even suffer both of these injuries as per discussions on the same over at frontlineer.com. If you suffer any of these injuries, you are likely to experience back pain, which may radiate to other areas of the body, as well as numbness and loss of bladder and bowel control. These two injuries also require one to go to an ER to be assessed and attended to.
As revealed in discussions over the anatomy of the spine over at frontlineer.com, the spine actually contains joints which allow us to bend, twist and move. These joints act like a hinge between each of the vertebra in the spine. When you suffer a car wreck, you are also likely to injure these joints in what are referred to as facet joint injuries. If you suffer such an injury, you are likely to experience back pain and numbness, as well as loss of movement among other symptoms. You should also have yourself taken to an ER as soon as possible to be attended to. Finally, the other spinal injury we are going to take a look at is an injury to the spinal cord itself. Injuries to the spinal cord are usually the most severe of all spinal injuries as per the gurus over at frontlineer.com. This is mostly due to the fact that, while the spine itself can be repaired, the bundle of nerves it protects can’t be repaired as of now, with the only hope for most patients being clinical trials. If you suffer such an injury, then you can only hope that that the injury will be deemed to be not that severe once the inflammation goes down.
As usual, if you are looking for more information on this and other related topics, then the place to go to is over at the excellent frontlineer.com, which is also the place to go to when looking for emergency treatment for such injuries.
