What to Expect Physically After a Car Accident

After a car accident, your body can react in unexpected ways, and injuries aren’t always obvious right away. Common car accident injury symptoms can include neck or back pain, bruising, headaches, dizziness, or stiffness, but some issues may not appear until hours or even days later. Understanding delayed injury symptoms after a car accident is critical to ensuring you get proper medical treatment and avoid long-term complications.

Even if you feel fine immediately after a car accident, it’s important to schedule a medical evaluation. A trusted Mesa car accident attorney can help guide you through the process of documenting your medical injuries, seeking compensation, and protecting your legal rights while your body recovers. Acting quickly can make a significant difference in both your physical recovery and any potential claims.

Recognizing and Responding to Common Car Accident Injuries

The First Hour After an Accident

Extreme accidents will result in medical injuries that are immediate and severe. In cases like this, you’ll be rushed to the hospital. However, less-serious accidents can cause a lot of physical damage that isn’t noticeable at first. 

Many accident victims report feeling little or no pain immediately following a car accident. This is because adrenaline has put the body on hyper-alert to escape danger, reducing pain.

After fifteen to thirty minutes, symptoms can start going downhill quickly. Swelling and inflammation begin, which is when most people start to feel real pain. Hands and wrists that felt fine may become painful and stiff. Skin color can start to change due to internal bleeding. Headaches, dizziness, and confusion may be present if there are brain injuries. These are red flags that cannot be ignored. 

Always See a Doctor After an Accident to Evaluate Injury Symptoms

Even if you still feel fine an hour after an accident, this does not mean you are in the clear. Hidden injuries with no symptoms can be common. What feels like a small nagging ache may actually be a fractured bone. Left untreated, it may heal incorrectly or lead to a more serious fracture. 

If these injuries are not found as part of a post-accident hospital visit, it can be difficult to recover compensation because there is little evidence to prove the car accident caused the injury. Ensuring that a thorough medical exam is conducted right away is the most important thing an accident victim can do after a car accident. 

The Next Day with Visible Injuries and Hidden Injuries

The day after is when accident victims truly understand just how much damage their bodies endured during an accident. If you didn’t visit the hospital right after the accident, this is the next best time to do so.

Common injuries found the day after an accident can include soft tissue injuries like muscle and ligament tears. New pains can lead to additional x-rays, which may find fractures or damage in places that were painless yesterday. 

Weeks and Months Later

Any injury not treated properly has likely healed poorly, which can cause severe pain and damage. Spine injuries that felt fine after an accident can become deeper issues that limit movement. Recovery from medical surgeries may be ongoing, and more surgeries might need to be scheduled.

The road back to full recovery may be long. In addition to physical trauma, some victims can feel anxiety and depression or be diagnosed with PTSD, making recovery even more difficult. The costs of the treatment are immense, and car accident victims deserve justice.

Contacting an Attorney

Thankfully, drivers in Arizona don’t have to worry about what to do after a no-fault car accident. Because Arizona is an at-fault state, the party who caused the accident must pay victims for any damages they caused. 

At Gage Mathers, we treat every client as if they are family. We’ll listen to your concerns and fight to make sure you get the money you deserve. If you currently have an attorney who is not meeting your expectations, you may wonder if you can change your car accident lawyer. You absolutely can, and we’re ready to step in and take the weight off your shoulders.

Give us a call today for a free consultation and see why we are one of Arizona’s top car accident lawyers. We’ve recovered $275 million dollars to date–and your settlement is our next priority!

About the Author

Joseph D'Aguanno

Guided by the belief that being a highly skilled specialist in a narrow field is better than being ordinary in everything, Joseph “JD” D’Aguanno leads Arizona’s best personal injury law firm in Phoenix, AZ. Having extensive cross-training in pre-litigation negotiations and trial lawyer skills, with decades of experience, JD strives to provide clients with the most valuable legal services a personal injury lawyer can provide. Under his direction, Gage Mathers Law Group is an award-winning personal injury law firm providing aggressive representation to victims of a car accident, medical malpractice, dog bite, motorcycle accident, and other injurious events. Gage Mathers is trusted by thousands of lawyers and clients throughout the country because of their reputation for getting clients the maximum compensation they deserve.

Years of experience: Over 24 years
Bar number: 020421
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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