Turn to Our Virginia Truck Accident Lawyers for Help If You Suffer Chronic Pain After a Collision
Picture yourself waking up to a throbbing headache and a sharp pain shooting up your spine. Now imagine having to endure this for weeks, months, or even years. This is the grim reality of chronic pain for many Virginia truck accident victims. After a collision with a semi-truck or tractor-trailer, they suffer severe long-term consequences affecting their ability to lead happy and productive lives. If the truck driver is at fault, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and ongoing pain—and The Mottley Law Firm is ready to help.
Table of Contents
- Turn to Our Virginia Truck Accident Lawyers for Help If You Suffer Chronic Pain After a Collision
- How Chronic Pain Impacts Your Ability to Work
- Injuries That May Cause Chronic Pain After a Semi-Truck Accident
- Estimating Fair Value for Your Personal Injury Case
- Get Our Experienced Virginia Truck Accident Attorneys on Your Side
How Chronic Pain Impacts Your Ability to Work
Once you’re discharged from the hospital or doctor’s office for emergency care after a truck accident, your road to recovery is likely still far from over. People who’ve been struck by semi-trucks commonly experience chronic pain. The major difference between car and truck accidents is one of magnitude.
When one vehicle is substantially larger than the other, the smaller vehicle typically experiences greater damage. While the commercial truck driver may walk away relatively unscathed, motorists and other occupants in regular passenger vehicles often don’t fare as well. Victims may suffer broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, internal injuries, and soft tissue damage. They may recover from acute pain in the short term, but long-term chronic pain can dramatically impact their ability to work.
People with more physically demanding jobs, like warehousing or construction, may find it impossible to do their tasks when they have chronic neck and back pain. Office workers and professional creatives may struggle to concentrate when they have frequent, unrelenting headaches. The lingering ramifications mean persistent pain exists long after the accident, stopping victims from returning to work as they once had. Some damage can be permanent—to be somewhat managed but never fully cured.
The Effect of Chronic Pain on Other Daily Activities
The impact of having to live with chronic pain extends well beyond employability and productivity. It also affects your day-to-day life, making otherwise mundane daily tasks feel practically impossible. Victims may no longer be able to enjoy the hobbies they once did or take care of their family and household in the same ways as before the accident.
The location of musculoskeletal injuries after truck accidents compromises your functionality in various ways. You may experience pain or reduced mobility in the spine, legs, or arms. Severe whiplash can make it excruciatingly painful to move your neck or turn your head. Numerous studies also indicate that chronic pain feeds into a vicious spiral of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Victims may experience unexplained migraines and bouts of chronic fatigue, too, testing the limits of what they can accomplish each day.
Injuries That May Cause Chronic Pain After a Semi-Truck Accident
Some symptoms may be obvious immediately after a commercial truck smashes into your vehicle. However, other symptoms often aren’t apparent until weeks after the incident. Whether or not you notice the consistent pain right away, you may be able to connect the underlying injury to the accident with the semi-truck.
Common examples of injuries and conditions that cause chronic pain include:
- Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries
- Back, hip, and shoulder injuries
- Whiplash and neck injuries
- Soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains
- Spinal cord injuries such as herniated discs
- Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS)
Consult with your personal injury attorney before signing a medical release. Insurance companies may use your medical records against you to diminish or even deny your claim based on preexisting conditions or incomplete information.
Estimating Fair Value for Your Personal Injury Case
It can be difficult to evaluate the extent and severity of chronic pain, as it’s a subjective experience. It’s not like a fractured bone that’s visibly apparent in an X-ray. Proving chronic pain can dramatically increase the damages you may be able to recover in a personal injury lawsuit.
Importantly, an accurate value of your claim must include both short-term and long-term costs. You may need to pay for surgery after a truck crash, for instance, but chronic pain and permanent injuries could reduce your earning potential for the rest of your working life.
To ensure you seek full and fair compensation, it’s vital to consult with a Virginia truck accident lawyer with specific experience in this area of personal injury law. In one case, The Mottley Law Firm represented a client who was rear-ended by a construction truck at high speed. Accounting for past and anticipated future medical expenses, as well as future lost earning capacity, the case finally settled for $1.8 million after more than a year of litigation.
Get Our Experienced Virginia Truck Accident Attorneys on Your Side
Dealing with insurance claims after a truck accident on your own could leave a lot of money on the table. Worse yet, insurance companies may deny your claims of chronic pain altogether. To protect your legal rights to fair and full compensation, call a Virginia truck accident lawyer as early as possible.
At The Mottley Law Firm, our dedicated team of legal professionals has a proven track record of handling truck accident cases in Virginia. With years of experience in gathering evidence to support such claims, we’ll fight tirelessly to secure the justice and closure you deserve.
