Neck Injury Attorney

Are You the Victim of a Neck Injury Accident?

If you are suffering from a neck injury, our neck injury attorneys know that you are not alone. Chronic neck pain is the third most common chronic pain condition in the United States. Many of these neck pain cases are related to external factors that are outside your control, through slip and fall trauma, auto accidents, or workplace accidents. No matter the cause, the physical suffering of neck pain and injury can be severe. The spinal systems have extensive connectivity to other parts of the body, and just one tiny spinal misalignment can have extremely significant impacts.

Apart from limited mobility, pain, and challenges managing everyday tasks, there are other negative aftereffects to neck injuries. Many people experience anxiety or depression following a harmful accident and may have trouble sleeping or focusing when awake. Plus, rest and recovery time necessitate by neck injury often demand missing work and life obligations, leading to financial, familial and other personal life stresses on top of medical concerns.

Thompson Law is dedicated and driven to provide the best personal injury legal services to clients who are dealing with just these issues. We understand the difficulty that comes with managing a treatment plan and fighting the insurance companies and at-fault parties while you are in pain. This is why we offer a variety of convenient ways to connect with you after your injury: via an online form, by calling our neck injury attorneys, or we can even send a specialized legal counselor to you to work through your claim together.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a serious accident resulting in a neck injury or another trauma, please call our neck injury attorneys today. We are happy to help you with the hard work and fight for your deserved compensation, so you can focus on healing and recovering.

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Causes of Neck Injury 

Events, Risk Factors, and Resulting Injury Types 

Understanding the causes and complexities of neck injuries can be exceedingly difficult. The variety of damaging events, particular physical risk factors, and frequency of opportunities for injury for a given individual create a unique and complicated basis for the diagnosis of each case. Additionally, the prevalence of late-onset symptoms adds to the difficulty in assessing the physiological, environmental, and circumstantial factors that were present at the time of the injury, and thus the root cause.

The most common causes of neck pain include pulled or torn muscles or ligaments. These types of injuries can occur from the normal course of life activities, particularly due to the flexible nature of the neck muscles and their constant support for the weight of the head. Often though, a serious accident event occurs resulting in pain and damage. A few of the major contributing factors to neck pain and neck injury are listed and described below:

Common Neck Injury Accidents

Risk Factors for Neck Injuries

  • Age: 30-50 is the range when neck pain often first occurs, risk increases with aging.
  • Genetics: Family history of injury or disease to the spine and related systems.
  • Body Composition: Changes to weight, especially rapid changes.
  • Sex: Females make up 59% of healthcare visits for neck pain and cervical disorder, and 62% of visits for neck injury generally.
  • Fitness Level: Loss of muscle mass through illness or lifestyle restrictions.
  • Occupational: Heavy lifting, dangerous workplaces such as construction sites.
  • Backpack: Heavy loads to carry, especially for smaller, less developed bodies of children.

If you injured your neck in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, call our neck injury attorneys for a FREE CONSULTATION.

Types of Neck Injury

Neck pain is extremely common, accounting for 21.4 million patient visits to doctors and ERs in 2013. With this prevalence and the wide variety of causes, there is naturally an array of neck pain injury types. Most fall into two main categories and one subcategory:

  • Acute: Short term, lasting a few days to weeks. Typically, this type is related to mechanical injuries, meaning it is caused by issues or disruptions in the way that the musculoskeletal and nervous systems in the neck, back, and spine work together.
  • Subacute: Specifically defined as pain lasting 4-12 weeks.
  • Chronic: Longer term, specifically lasting 12 weeks or longer. It is also technically considered more persistent as it may continue past the treatment of the pain’s source or cause. Around 20-40% of those who suffer acute neck pain report development into chronic neck pain at the one-year mark.

The specific injuries to the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems which fall into the above categories have been identified and studied extensively by the medical community, though there is much farther to go before we have comprehensive and definitive understandings of these systems and the related pain. Neck pain can be caused by various other conditions and diseases, but the injuries most related to personal injury claims are those which are mechanical in nature (affecting the spine and its components, nerves, and muscle).

These are the types of injuries that often result from the causes and risks of the previous section (motor vehicle accident, workplace injury, etc.), and some particular examples include:

  • Sprains: Very common for acute neck pain, caused by tearing or overstretching ligaments, usually through overexertion via twisting or heavy lifting.
  • Strains: Also very common for acute neck pain, with similar actions as the root cause, and are the result of tearing in the muscle or tendon.
  • Pinched Nerve: Compression of a nerve of the spinal cord in the neck area, resulting in pain traveling down arms.
  • Herniated, Bulging, or Ruptured Disc: Related to compression and damage of the cartilaginous discs between the vertebrae, including displacement, bulging or rupture. Can result from overuse fatigue or impact injury.
  • Radiculopathy: Inflammation, compression, or injury to the nerve root, sometimes from a herniated or ruptured disc. The resulting pressure causes tingling, numbness or pain out into the areas of the body related to that nerve.
  • Spondylolisthesis: Occurs where a vertebra of the spine slips out of alignment, pinching nerves, causing pain and numbness.
  • Spinal Stenosis: Occurs where the spinal column narrows, putting pressure on the nerves and spinal cord, resulting in numbness or pain, and often more complicated sensory issues over time.
  • Traumatic Injury: A loose category of damaged tendons, ligaments, and/or muscle, often from the type of events named above, and resulting in pain, weakness, numbness, and other side effects.

Symptoms & Complications of Neck Injury

Please follow the advice of your doctor or medical advisor with any neck injury consult, particularly if you are experiencing, new, worsening, more severe symptoms and/or any of the complication warning signs that follow. Especially if you are experiencing muscle spasms or are unable to touch your chin to your chest due to neck pain and stiffness – consult a doctor immediately.

Thompson Law’s ultimate desire for every case and the claim is the fullest possible recovery and the best possible compensation. The chances of this success are much greater if you carefully follow the advice of medical professionals and your attorney. If you are in need of any advice or assistance on matters of your recovery and rightful compensation, feel free to reach out anytime, 24/7. Thompson Law legal experts are standing by to help you.

Symptoms of a Neck Injury

  • Stiffness, tightness, aches, pressure
  • Muscle spasms
  • Shooting pains in the neck, sometimes down into shoulders and arms, or up into headaches
  • Stabbing pains in the neck, similar patterns as above
  • Pain radiating outward in the body
  • Pain that becomes worse with bending, lifting, sitting
  • Pain that improves with reclining
  • Secondary side effects could be trouble sleeping, headaches, nausea, or trouble focusing

Complications & Warning Signs of a Neck Injury

  • Fever
  • Severe headache
  • Bowel or bladder issues
  • Pain does not improve with rest
  • Area of pain spreads or increases
  • Auxiliary injuries, i.e. a slipped disc causes a pinched nerve or muscle strain
  • Weakness, tingling, numbness or other new/increased sensations begin
  • Nerve damage
  • Opioid pain medication dependence
  • Depression, anxiety, trauma and insomnia

If you injured your neck in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, call our neck injury attorneys for a FREE CONSULTATION.

Diagnosis & Treatment of Neck Injuries

While there remain many mysteries to unravel about the nervous system and spine, diagnoses of neck injuries can often be successfully accomplished by utilizing available resources like physical examinations, medical history, and current technology. Some of the more frequently used types of tech and testing for these diagnostic investigations include:

  • X-Rays
  • Computerized Tomography (CT) scans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs)
  • Supplemental technologies to these types of scans include myelograms and discography, which utilize ink injections into the spinal canal or into specific discs to more clearly articulate the extent of the damage on the resulting imagery.
  • Relatedly, bone scans involve a controlled amount of radioactive material being injected into the bloodstream. The body is then scanned for abnormal areas of blood-flow and irregular pooling delineated by the injection material.
  • For issues of the muscles, electrodiagnostic can be used to test the stimulation of different nerves and muscles. Types of electrodiagnostic include:
    • Electromyography (EMG)
    • Evoked Potential (EP) studies
    • Nerve Conduction Studies (NCS)
  • Testing for distinct responses with these procedures can help specialists determine the origin and severity of the injury at hand.
  • Ultrasound imaging also can show damage to muscle using sound wave mapping inside the body to create visualizations.
  • Blood tests are also used on occasion, largely to rule out types of infection, inflammation, or other sources of pain.

Fortunately, there are a number of therapies and treatments to cure, or at least significantly ease acute and chronic neck pain. Because the spine and its related systems are so intertwined with other structures of the body, mobility improvements and decreased neck pain often leads to other positive side effects and life improvements.

  • Self / Home Care: Alternating ice packs and heat packs, rest, recline, over the counter (OTC) pain relievers.
  • Therapy: Physical therapy, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, behavioral therapy.
  • Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS): Electrodes are placed near the pain points, delivering relief via tiny electrical impulses.
  • Short Term Immobilization: Soft collar to rest muscles.
  • Traction: Weights and pulleys apparatus gently stretches the neck, often targeted to relieve nerve root irritation.
  • Medication: Including muscle relaxants, NSAIDs, and tricyclic antidepressants.
  • Surgery: Typically necessary for very severe cases where other treatments have not succeeded, relating to structural issues, i.e. spinal stenosis or slipped discs. Examples of surgeries include:
    • Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion
    • Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement
    • Spinal Decompression
    • Anterior Cervical Corpectomy
    • Posterior Cervical Laminectomy
    • Posterior Cervical Laminoplasty
    • Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy
    • Cervical Laminectomy

Financial Impacts of a Neck Injury

Financial costs of neck injury are extremely significant because chronic neck pain is the third most common chronic pain condition in the United States and the fourth most common cause of disability globally. Medical expenses missed work, insurance costs, and more add up to astounding dollar figures on local and global scales. US costs associated with pain and pain management are estimated to be between $560 and $635 billion (in 2010 dollars), and 15% of reported pain is associated with the neck. This would mean neck pain in that year accounted for $84-$95.3 billion of the total.

  • More than 650,000 spinal surgical procedures are performed annually in the United States.
  • The average hospital stay in the United States costs over $10,700, and the 7th most common reason for this type of stay is spinal problems including spondylosis and intervertebral disc disorders.
  • Between 1995 and 2005 there was a 65% increase in year-over-year costs related to chronic neck pain, with the total cost in the last year of the study totaling about $86 billion.
  • Cervical disorders made up the majority of neck pain related to healthcare visits in 2013. And cervical disc disorders were responsible for just about a third (32%) of hospitalizations.
  • In an article from a Texas Orthopedic Spine Surgeon, the costs of spinal surgeries were illuminated – and jaw-dropping:
    • Herniated Disc Procedures: $20,000 – $50,000
    • Laminectomy for cervical spinal stenosis: $50,000 – $90,000
    • Spinal Fusion for slipped vertebrae or spinal instability: $80,000 – $150,000+
    • These costs are for surgery alone, not including recovery time with lost wages, plus recovery equipment and medications, physical therapy, and more.

If you injured your neck in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, call our neck injury attorneys for a FREE CONSULTATION.

At Thompson Law

We provide neck injury victims with dedicated and tenacious legal representation, ensuring that you get fair value for your claim. Our neck injury attorneys will build a strong case with supporting evidence so that you recover the money that you deserve.

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Treatment and Recovery After a Whiplash Injury

In some cases, symptoms can be managed by home treatments to help with pain, discomfort, and disorientation. In others, doctors and chiropractors may prescribe specific medical treatments or therapies. Advised treatment is based on the severity of the neck damage, body composition and tolerances, age, health, prior or concurrent injuries, medications, and patient preferences.

Standard recommendations for treatment across the medical community include:

  • Ice applications for the first 24 hours
  • Cervical collar, with limited use (less than 3 hours at a time)
  • Gentle, active movement after 24 hours
  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications
  • Muscle relaxing medications
  • Physical therapy

Still, some disagreement exists in the medical community around whiplash, and particularly around the treatment that should take place in the first 24-48 hours after the injury is sustained. The core of the debate has to do with how much motion is advisable in this period. Some experts maintain a belief that wearing a soft collar and limiting movement protects the neck from further damage, while others suggest that some muscle movement is beneficial to a quicker and easier recovery.

Fortunately, for most people whiplash pain is corrected or resolved within a couple of weeks to a few months. Still, lingering pain may persist for longer. There is a lack of consensus in medical research as to the duration of symptoms and injury. Some studies have indicated that 25-40% of patients experience symptoms through the 1-year mark, and others indicate about 40% of patients experience pain past the 7-year mark. Around the measurables of these studies there are a lot of remaining questions about what patients can expect in their journey to recovery.

Despite the ongoing scientific study, it is extremely important to trust the advice of your doctor and follow their guidance for your specific recovery, and it may be helpful to keep in mind that there is a chance that your injury may be more impactful and long lasting than initially anticipated. While you focus on your health, turn to your compassionate and experienced neck injury attorneys at Thompson Law.

Our neck injury attorneys will fight the insurance companies and your accident’s at-fault parties for you. Their commitment to the optimum outcome and your maximum rightful compensation drives everything they do. Being patient with the recovery process and taking good care of yourself is essential.

If you injured your neck in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, call our neck injury attorneys for a FREE CONSULTATION.

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How Thompson Law Can Help You

Call Our Neck Injury Attorneys for a FREE CONSULT

Have you suffered a neck injury from an automobile, slip & fall, workplace, motorcycle, or another type of accident? Thompson Law deeply understands the frustrating, expensive, and highly painful implications that these injuries can have on your body and your life. Our neck injury attorneys are standing by 24/7 to speak with you about your accident and resulting injuries.

When you reach out to Thompson Law’s neck injury attorneys following your neck injury accident, your accomplished attorney and team will guide you every step of the way through the claim and case process. They will carefully investigate every detail of the events surrounding your injury. Armed with the best information, your tenacious team will fight for every penny of your rightful compensation and the very best possible settlement. Our results speak for themselves, and our passion to seek justice for our clients is limitless.

Suffering a traumatic neck injury after a serious accident can make a full-time job of recovery and healing. Take care, really focus on your health, and leave the hard work of battling those at-fault and the insurance companies to your trusted neck injury attorneys at Thompson Law. Call today for a free consultation.

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Personal Injury FAQs

Personal Injury

If you are injured in any type of accident, your first priority should be to seek immediate medical attention, even if you are not certain that you are injured. Seeking immediate medical treatment does two things: 1) it ensures injuries you sustained are diagnosed and treated; and, 2) it helps eliminate any doubt by the insurance company that your injuries were caused by the accident.

Often, the shock and adrenaline of an accident can mask symptoms of injuries, so making the mistake of skipping a medical examination can have profound consequences. By seeking prompt medical treatment, you protect both your health and your ability to seek compensation for your injuries with the help of your attorney.

If you were in a motor vehicle accident we have also detailed here what to do after a car accident.

A skilled personal injury lawyer is necessary to get full and fair compensation for injuries you sustained in an accident. Most defendants, whether individual drivers or commercial vehicle operators, are covered by liability insurance. Those insurance companies are not obligated to protect or take care of you. Insurance companies exist to protect the defendant (their customer) who caused the wreck. 

A personal injury attorney can help you obtain compensation for every category of damages to which you are legally entitled. These damages can include things like: medical bills, lost wages, property damage, pain & suffering, punitive damages, loss of limb, diminished mental function, physical impairment, scarring or disfigurement, emotional or mental trauma, and loss of consortium (in wrongful death claims). Further, you may be entitled to future medical bills, future lost income, future pain and suffering, and other damages in severe injury cases.

Uninsured Motorist (UM) Coverage can help save the day if you are hit by an uninsured driver or if you are the victim in a hit-and-run collision. In short, UM coverage is an add-on coverage that drivers can add to their auto insurance policies that will protect them in the event that they are in an auto accident with a driver who either does not have insurance or cannot be located. You can contact your insurance provider to confirm whether your policy includes UM. If you do not have this coverage, the personal injury attorneys at Thompson Law recommend that you consider adding UM to your auto insurance policy today. 

Absolutely not. It’s important to leave the investigation to the professionals. They know exactly how to work a case to determine all of the facts and details.

Some of the most devastating injuries caused by careless driving happen to pedestrians. As a pedestrian, you have the same right to be free from injury and harm caused by the irresponsibility, error, or negligence of others as any motorist on the road. In is important to obtain the services of an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible if you are injured as a pedestrian. The right attorney will see that you receive the medical care you need, guide your damage claim process, and receive full compensation for your injuries.  

Typically, yes. If a family member is seriously injured or killed in an accident, or if the injured party is a minor child, then it may be appropriate under the law for a parent, spouse, relative, or legal guardian to file a claim or lawsuit on behalf of the injured or deceased party.  These types of claims are complex, and usually depend on the type of relationship involved, as well as the individual facts and circumstances of the injury. Calling the experienced personal injury attorneys at Thompson Law is step one to explore filing an injury claim on behalf of your loved one

If the other vehicle involved in your crash was an 18 wheeler or another commercial vehicle, call an attorney immediately. Companies who own commercial vehicles and 18 wheelers often have their own team of investigators who will arrive on the scene immediately working on the driver’s defense case. The sooner you involve an attorney of your own, the better your chances are of receiving compensation for your injuries and damages.

No. They aren’t trying to help you. They’re trying to protect their drivers and reduce their costs. That’s why they have a team of lawyers ready to flock to the scene of any accident. Don’t accept any form of compensation until you talk to your attorney. Most victims of 18 wheeler crashes sustain more injuries than victims of normal crashes, and can receive higher compensation as a result. Don’t let them fool you into accepting a smaller payout for your injuries and damages. Your injuries could require years of medications and surgeries, and the company will try everything to avoid making huge payouts. Call your attorney and let them do the negotiating on your behalf.

The best personal injury attorney has three major characteristics: Excellent customer service, cutting edge technology, and a willingness to take cases and win at trial. Ask your potential attorney about the client experience they offer, what kind of technology they use to make your life easier, and when was the last time they took a case to jury trial. Asking these types of questions will give you guidance on what kind of experience you can expect as a client and what kind of results you can expect at the end of your case.

Thompson Law has high ratings from clients for its emphasis on customer service, and its attorneys have achieved significant results on small, large, and complex cases alike. No matter if you have been involved in a minor car wreck or are dealing with catastrophic injuries from a rarer and more devastating event like a terrible workplace accident, dog bite, or an 18 wheeler wreck, Thompson Law can assist you.  

Yes! Thompson Law is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide free consultations. If you have been injured in a truck wreck or car accident, hurt in a slip and fall incident, or otherwise injured from the negligence of another person or party, give us a call any time at 1-800-LION-LAW. We can speak to you over the phone, chat online through our website or social media outlets, or arrange an in-person meeting at your convenience. Our team is ready to help! 

An insurance company will not pay medical expenses or other damages as they come due; rather, after they have accepted liability, the insurance company will make a one-time, lump-sum final payment only at the end of your case.  Dealing with medical expenses, and obtaining the proper medical care, after an accident can be tricky. But it does not have to be! Call the personal injury attorneys at Thompson Law, who can explain how to deal with the “day-of” hospital bills, how to continue to receive the care you need, and ultimately how to recover an appropriate settlement that takes care of your bills from the incident as well as fair and just compensation for you.

Let’s be honest: this isn’t a legal show on TV and your case will not settle in the next hour – or even tomorrow.  The true answer is: it depends.  We find that most cases settle within 6-12 months from date of incident; but the timeline in your case could be shorter or longer depending on: the facts and circumstances of the accident; the length of time it takes you to complete medical treatment; and the character of the insurance company, or companies, involved in your case.  In the event that your case cannot settle pre-litigation and it becomes necessary to file a lawsuit, the litigation process alone can take 1 to 2 years due to the court system and legal process necessary to prepare for trial.  But because so much of the timeline depends on the facts and circumstances of your unique case, call Thompson Law today to discuss the personal injury claims process

Thompson Law Guarantee

Thompson Law receives an attorney fee and you pay no legal fees as our client unless we pay you. Thompson Law has 350 years of combined experience in legal representation and has won over $1.8 billion dollars in cash settlements for our clients. We master the art of managing client cases with empathy, compassion, respect and, of course, prodigious skill. Contact us today for a free, risk-free consultation to discuss your accident and your options.

State law limits the time you have to file a claim after an auto accident. If you have been injured in an accident, call now to get the help you need.