Attorney Joe Zarzaur and Dr. Evan Malone discuss disc herniation injuries from car wrecks.
40% of disc injuries happen in car wrecks each year.
– Mayo Clinic
IMPACT OF A CAR ACCIDENT ON THE SPINE
We’re talking about the vertebrae that protects the spinal cord and the vertebrae that protects the spinal cord is made up of 37 bones. Between the bones are the discs. The disc are not bones, they separate a bone from another bone – think of a jelly donut. If you have a disc herniation, that means that disc is moving around because of trauma in this situation. And it is now pressing on the spinal cord or the facete joints, which is the sides of spinal nerves coming out of the backbone.
So, when that disc leaves the column that it’s supposed to live in its, then it’s herniated out because of a rupture. Okay. And are there more common areas for disc herniations in the neck and the low back and along the spinal cord.
THE ER CAN NOT ASSESS A DISC HERNIATION
The most common injuries for disc herniations or disc injuries that are associated with car wrecks are in the neck or the cervical region and the lumbar region. So, majority of the time, that is not going to be the injury diagnosed in ER for an automobile accident with neck pain and back pain. You’re going to leave the ER with a cervical strain or whiplash or back strain, diagnosis sheet. You’re going to think to yourself, well, the doctor said, I’m fine. I just have some neck and neck pain.
CONTINUED PAIN
After the human inflammation has gone down, you’re still wondering why I hurt or why is there some sort of unilateral pain in one arm, one leg, one side of my neck or one shoulder. Why do I have symptoms in one place only? That’s because you have a disc injury that is irritating the nerve supply to that part of the body.
DIAGNOSING THE DISC HERNIATION
The MRI does a detailed picture of the soft tissues of your body. Not just like an x-ray does the bones and. the CT scan is big on that same stuff, but the MRI actually depicts the soft tissues really well. The connective tissue ligaments, other fibrous type bodies, like the discs themselves and the nucleus of the disc that is herniated out after it ruptures.
YOUR CASE VALUE BASED ON THE MRI REPORT AND YOUR TREATMENT NEEDS
We look at the report and from that report, I pretty much can tell a client what their situation is as far as illegal case is concerned and what their situation is from a medical standpoint in general, what they’re going to need, because the treatment, as we’ve talked about in other videos from a disc herniation, from a car wreck could range from therapy on one end to surgery on another hand.
AN INJURY IS HARDER ON AN OLDER ADULT.
As we age everything else in our body ages to the connective tissue, so that outer ring of the disc, the fibrous part is nice and strong and kind of flexible. As you age it dries out. So, it’s unfortunate that you could be the healthiest 50-year-old you know, or the healthiest 70-year-old, you know, and you never had a problem. Well, your discs are still seventy years old.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF A DISC HERNIATION
• Pain radiating along an extremity
• Muscle or motor weakness.
• Persistent aching or stiffness along the spine
• Sharp, localized pain in the neck, upper back or lower back
• Chronic ache in the middle or lower back
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
Pain management doctors are the ones that typically diagnosed these because those are the ones that ended up treating a lot of these car wreck victims or an orthopedist or an orthopedist.
READ THE ARTICLE OUR BLOG PAGE – https://zarzaurlaw.com/traumatic-disc-herniation-caused-by-a-car-wreck/
IMPORTANT LINKS –
https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Herniated-Disc
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/herniated-disk-in-the-lower-back/
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/cervical-radiculopathy-pinched-nerve/
Dydyk AM, Ngnitewe Massa R, Mesfin FB. Disc Herniation. [Updated 2020 Nov 20]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441822/
Joe Zarzaur, founder of Zarzaur Law, P.A., a Pensacola Personal Injury law firm, has created this video blog in an effort to educate the many citizens and visitors of Pensacola, Florida about their legal rights. Joe Zarzaur knows the ins and outs of Florida law, and offers quality legal help whether you have experienced an auto accident/car wreck, have been a victim of medical malpractice or are in need of a personal injury attorney.
For more information, visit: https://www.zarzaurlaw.com
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