Virginia whiplash injury attorneys

Can I get compensated for a "soft tissue" injury?

When most people think of injuries from a car crash, broken bones and lacerations usually come to mind.

But some of the most debilitating injuries aren’t always as apparent or visible. Soft tissue injuries commonly result from an automobile wreck and can take more than six months to recover from. In severe cases, soft tissue injuries can result in permanent disability and a drastic change to one’s lifestyle.

If you’ve been in a motor vehicle accident in Virginia, even a minor one, it’s a good idea to get checked out by a doctor - even if you don’t think you are hurt. If you’ve suffered a soft tissue injury, especially whiplash, you could be out of work and unable to engage in normal activities for some time. This could be devastating for your finances, social life, and quality of life in general.

After seeing a doctor, your next phone call should be to an experienced Virginia motor vehicle accident attorney. We at GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys have years of experience that we can put to use on your case to get you the compensation you deserve.

Though our most important mission is preventing accidents in the first place through community outreach, once an accident has happened and someone is hurt, we work to get the highest settlement, as quickly as possible, for our neighbor. Call (804) 413-6777 to meet with us for free. We get paid when you get paid. So you can work on getting better, while we do the rest.

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What is a soft tissue injury?

Soft tissue injuries occur when there is trauma to a person’s muscles, tendons, and ligaments. They include:

• Sprains
• Strains
• Contusions
• Tendinitis
• Bursitis
• Whiplash

What’s deceiving about these types of injuries is that they’re sometimes not noticed until hours or days later.

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Let’s talk whiplash

Of all soft tissue injuries, whiplash is the most severe and potentially deadly. It is caused by a sudden distortion of the neck and the subsequent counter motion. For instance, a sudden, forceful blow from behind can cause your neck to jerk backward violently, then jerk forward just as violently. This results in strains and tears of the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and even bones of the neck.

Motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of whiplash injuries, although they can also happen through contact sports, amusement park rides, assaults, horseback riding, and more.

Here are a few facts about whiplash that most people don’t know:

• Whiplash isn’t only caused by rear-end collisions. It can be caused by a collision coming from any direction, such as a T-bone accident.
• You don’t have to be traveling at a high speed to suffer a whiplash injury; you can be moving as slowly as 2.5 miles per hour, or even stopped.
• Whiplash is not always recognized immediately. It can take as long as 24 hours for symptoms to become apparent.
• Nearly 2 million Americans suffer whiplash injuries each year.
• Whiplash is the reason all American cars produced after 1969 are required to have headrests.
• Before the term "whiplash" was coined in 1928, this injury was called "railway spine" because it was common in people who had been in train accidents.
• 25 to 40 percent of whiplash injury victims never completely recover from their injuries.
• Whiplash can cause brain injury.
• Whiplash can result in death.
• Death from whiplash doesn’t always occur instantly. In one case, a man died from whiplash two months after he had suffered his injury.

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What are symptoms of whiplash?

As mentioned above, symptoms of whiplash may not occur right away. If you experienced any of the following symptoms within a day or so of the accident, you may have suffered whiplash:

• Headaches
• Neck pain and/or stiffness
• Fatigue
• Back and shoulder pain
• Dizziness
• Blurred vision
• Anxiety
• Sleep disturbance
• Difficulty concentrating
• Forgetfulness
• Difficulty swallowing
• Vertigo
• Sensitivity to noise or ringing in the ears

X-rays can usually detect whiplash, along with making sure that you’re not actually suffering from a broken neck! (Yes, people have missed that before.)

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How a Gloucester personal injury attorney can help you

If you have suffered a whiplash injury in Virginia, you are probably going to face mounting medical bills and significant time in physical therapy. You may also miss a large amount of work, resulting in major income loss. Worst of all, you may lose sources of pleasure in your life, such as being able to carry a child or grandchild, play golf or tennis, or continue a career you’ve worked to build, among other losses.

If your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you can seek compensation for these losses and more. To get the settlement you deserve, contact the experienced whiplash injury lawyers at the Gloucester County office of GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys. Call us at (804) 413-6777 for a free meeting today.

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Recent Auto Accident Case Results

DISCLAIMER. Each case is handled based on the individual facts and circumstances of the case. These results are NOT indicative of the outcome of any potential case. All case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case, and these case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case undertaken by our firm.

• $42,000 Compensation - Man injured his neck, shoulder, and back in a truck crash where the other driver ran a red light.
• $31,000 Compensation - Man injured his neck and back when another driver failed to yield at an intersection.
• $29,000 Compensation - Woman suffered whiplash injuries to her neck when another driver ran a red light.

See more case results here.

Additional Information

• After a wreck, don’t delay – seek medical attention immediately
• Whiplash: Diagnosis, Treatments, and Complications - Health Line
• Sprains, Strains and Other Soft-Tissue Injuries - OrthoInfo - AAOS