A personal injury can cause debilitating pain and keep you out of work for an extended period. But this doesn’t mean you must live in agony. At Right Path Pain & Spine Centers in Davenport, FL, we can diagnose and treat your injuries with groundbreaking Personal Injury Pain Relief. Throughout this process, we’ll also document your condition and can even refer you to an attorney if you choose to pursue legal action.
What Is Considered To Be a Personal Injury?
Each year, around 39 million people need medical attention for personal injuries that arise from another’s negligence. These injuries can be caused by a variety of means – both intentional and unintentional – but often have one element in common: they can leave a lasting impact on a person’s life.
Car Accidents
Car accidents are responsible for most personal injuries in the U.S. In fact, millions of Americans each year are hurt by distracted or careless drivers as well as those under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In the aftermath of these accidents, many victims experience whiplash. This happens when the body moves far more abruptly than in daily life and refers to soft tissue damage without bone fractures. Whiplash is characterized by intense pain and lengthy recovery times.
Additional Car Accident Injuries
Head injuries are also common and may pose lifelong implications. If not treated properly, victims can contend with concerns like cognitive problems, memory impairment, sleeping difficulties, and headaches.
Broken ribs are equally common and happen when your body is pushed sideways, backward, or forward from the impact of a crash. Other bones break when your body is placed under unnatural degrees of force. A herniated disc happens when vertebrae in your spine shift out of place or rupture, and knee trauma can be the result of damaged ligaments, such as that caused by your legs hitting the dashboard.
Slip and Fall Accidents
People often feel embarrassed when they first fall, which masks how deceptively dangerous these accidents can be. Falls are the most common causes of hip fractures and brain injuries, but other body parts are equally vulnerable. These include the head, back, and neck. And while a fall can happen anyplace, they’re especially common on icy sidewalks, loose floorboards, and parking lot potholes.
Nursing home neglect is another common culprit behind falls. The Personal Injury Center statistics from the Centers for Disease Control indicate one in three people over the age of 65 falls every year. This accounts for the hip fractures that often accompany falls and marks nursing homes as one of the most likely places for a personal injury to occur.
Workplace Incidents
When it comes to the workplace, you’re likely to find the potential for disaster at nearly every turn. Data from the National Safety Council shows the top three causes of work-related injuries include:
- Slips, trips, and falls
- Contact with hazardous objects and equipment
- Overexertion
Employees can also be victims of fires, explosions, and vehicle-related accidents. Last but not least, a lack of training increases workplace dangers as people wrongly operate machinery or handle chemicals. The most common workplace injuries include repetitive strains and broken bones.
Product Injuries
Most businesses follow stringent rules when manufacturing their products. This includes testing them before they go to market and implementing quality assurance practices. But some defective products still enter consumers’ homes and can result in serious injuries. An electrical component not properly wired, for instance, can overheat and cause burns.
In addition, some products lack instructions indicating how they should be used and/or handled. A bookcase, for example, may need a certain weight distribution to keep from toppling over. You may not know this, however, if the instructions don’t provide this information.
Dog Bites
It’s not a topic pet owner like to discuss, but dogs and other animals can attack and cause serious injuries. Statistics show millions of people are bitten by dogs every year, and thousands of them end up in the hospital as a result. It’s tough to know if an owner realized his or her dog was potentially dangerous, but the point is that bites can cause a range of injuries, including:
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
- Head and neck injuries
- Facial scarring
- Puncture wounds
Premises Injuries
Although less common than many of the other injuries listed here, premises injuries happen often enough. They occur on someone else’s property and can be the result of dangerous or defective conditions the owner was not aware of. Premises injuries are most likely to take place at swimming pools, gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, or a neighbor’s property.
Personal Assault
Violence continues to steadily rise, and as a result, assault injuries have likewise increased. Unlike most personal injuries, those caused by assault are rarely an effect of negligence. Instead, they’re deliberate and can differ significantly in nature and severity, including gunshot wounds, knife wounds, and injuries caused by a battery.
Seeking Medical Attention
It’s crucial you seek medical attention anytime you sustain a personal injury – even if it at first appears you’re fine. Signs of concerns like whiplash, traumatic brain injury, and a herniated disc are not always readily apparent. By scheduling a doctor’s appointment or going to the nearest hospital, you receive the care you need and have an official record of your condition if you choose to pursue a legal claim.
Personal injury is an element of civil law and, depending on the outcome of negotiations or a court trial, victims can receive compensation. But the documented proof of your injuries is necessary to establish another party’s liability.
Your Doctor’s Recommendations
Equally important to having treatment is following your doctor’s orders after an accident. This means attending check-up appointments, filling and taking prescriptions, participating in physical therapy, and staying home from school or work until your doctor provides clearance to return.
As you start to feel better, you may be tempted to ignore general recommendations, stop your medication, or skip appointments. Failure to completely follow your treatment plan, however, gives the opposing party’s insurance company reason to reduce your settlement figure or deny your claim altogether. To preserve your legal rights, and ensure you enjoy a full recovery, your doctor’s recommendations must be followed to a tee.
Pain Treatment
It’s normal to feel sore in the days and weeks after an accident. This is a component of the healing process, but that pain can and often does escalate beyond a degree of normalcy into a chronic state.
Platelet-Rich Plasma
Our office embraces regenerative medicine techniques to relieve pain and speed your recovery. One of the most well-known of these techniques is platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a therapy that relies on growth factors contained within your own blood to regenerate damaged tissues.
This is much more effective than oral medications that simply mask pain, and the treatment itself is short and simple. We draw a sample of blood from our own, place it into a centrifuge to concentrate the platelets, and inject it directly into the site of pain. This energizes your body’s natural healing processes to correct concerns like joint sprains, damaged ligaments, and torn muscles.
Stem Cell Therapy
This state-of-the-art therapy is another way to reduce pain and increase mobility. The body naturally produces stem cells, which have the unique ability to renew themselves and develop into other cells needed by the body. This means that when administered as a treatment, they can repair damaged bone, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. And the process is simple:
- We obtain stem cells from your bone marrow
- Concentrate them to highly beneficial levels
- Administer them to the area where needed
The Care You Need
Many different scenarios can lead to personal injuries, but they don’t have to stand between you and the activities you love. Seeking the treatment you need can preserve your legal rights and ensure the best recovery possible. Schedule your consultation today by calling Right Path Pain & Spine Centers in Davenport, FL.