Spinal injuries are some of the most serious injuries you can suffer. They often lead to chronic pain, impairment, and even paralysis. Not all spinal injuries are this severe, but the full range of spinal injuries are painful and distressing. If you suffer injury in an accident leading to a spinal injury and it was someone else’s fault, you deserve compensation by making a spinal injury claim. This compensation acknowledges the pain and suffering you go through. It also helps you get your life back on track after your accident.
If you experience a spinal injury, no matter what the severity, call us on 0121 565 4317. You can also fill in our claims form online. We will discuss the details of your case with you, making sure that we understand the circumstances of your accident. It includes the details of your injury and the impact it has had on your life. Our sympathetic team will make sure that we have the information we need to give you the best possible support.
Put simply, spinal injuries are any injuries to the bones, muscles, tendons or ligaments of the spine. In practice, the worst spinal injuries also involve associated damage to the nerves running through the spinal column.
What Are Spinal Injuries?
Vertebrae (spine bones) make spine that stack one on top of the other with small spinal discs between them. It is these discs that have moved when we talk about a ‘slipped disc’ in the back. The discs act as shock absorbers, hold the spine together. They move enough to allow for some spinal flexibility, such as that employed when you bend forwards.
Spinal injuries Differ Depending On Which Part Of The Spine Structure Is Injured
If the disc experiences injury, you are likely to experience lasting pain. The disc has very little blood supply and is, therefore, very slow to repair itself. A slipped disc is likely to heal slightly faster than a damaged one. But you may still be in pain for a considerable period of time before the healing is complete.
If the muscles are injured, you can expect to have a shorter period of pain and need some rest. Muscles have a much better blood supply than the spinal discs, and so they are able to heal much quicker. Despite this, muscular back injuries are still very painful. They can lead to significant amounts of pain which often do not alleviate by sitting or lying down.
If you suffer damage to the bones of the spine (vertebrae), these will take much, much longer to heal. A dislocation of the vertebrae is when one or more spinal bones are pushed out of the column arrangement that they usually occupy. This is both painful and dangerous. The column of bone that normally protects the spinal cord (the nerves that run from your brain to the rest of the body) is now putting it at risk. Spinal fractures are when you have broken one or more of the spine bones. The worst injuries occur when you have a spinal fracture combined with a dislocation.
A serious injury
If your spinal injury leads to damage to the spinal cord or other nerves, this is usually a very serious injury. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that carry information from the brain to the rest of the body. Without this information flow, your brain cannot give instructions to the rest of your body or your limbs, leading to a wide range of difficulties including problems with movement, motor control, bowel and bladder control and even full paralysis.
There are also differences based on where in the spine the injury has occurred. Because the nerves travel up and down the spine, the higher up the back or neck your spinal injury occurs, generally the more severe and wide-ranging your symptoms are. This is why a broken neck is far more serious than an injury to the coccyx (tail bone).
s A Spinal Injury Claim Different To Other Personal Injury Claims?
A spinal injury claim follows the same process as any other personal injury compensation claim. The difference is that spinal injuries tend to be much more serious. They require a more in-depth understanding of the types of changes you may have to make to your life. And the costs associated with these. For many spinal injuries, the full extent of your impairment may not become clear until many years after the accident, so it is important to work with a team of personal injury solicitors who are experienced and expert in these kinds of claims. We make sure that we get you the full amount of compensation you are entitled to. Your compensation is there to help you live as normal a life as possible after your spinal injury. It is essential that you get the help you need to ensure that your future needs are met.
If you have suffered a spinal injury, call us on 0121 565 4317 or use our online claims form to arrange a free consultation with a member of our personal injury team. Our expert solicitors will discuss the circumstances of your accident, the details of your injuries, and the impact it has had upon your life. We will then be in a position to give you the best possible advice on how to proceed with your spinal injury claim.
How Do I Start A Spinal Injury Claim?
Making a spinal injury follows the same steps as any other personal injury claims
We contact the responsible
We will write to the person or organization responsible for your accident, notifying them that you are making a personal injury claim for your spinal injury. In this letter, we will ask them to admit that they were at fault for your accident (this is called accepting liability), outline the basics of your case, and give them a deadline to respond to us.
Disputing Liability
If they accept liability for your accident, we would then move on to the next step. If, as often happens early on in a claim, they do not accept that they were at fault for your accident (this is known as disputing liability), we will gather evidence to support your claim. This can be easier if we have access to photographs, videos, or contact details of witnesses if you were in a position to gather those at the time or shortly after the event. If you were not in a position to arrange that, as most people are not when dealing with the accident that caused a life-changing injury such as a spinal injury, we will set about finding the evidence we need. This could be through witness statements, arranging for experts to go the site of the accident, and prepare a report or by getting copies of any police report, for example. The cases in which they initially dispute liability ends with the other party accepting liability once they see the evidence.
Negotiations
Once both parties agree, we carry out the negotiations to agree how much compensation you deserve on your behalf. Although we will be conducting the negotiations, you will still have total control. We will inform you of every offer the other party make. And we will give you our expert opinion as to whether the offer is a fair one or not. Often, parties make a much lower offer than you deserve as their first offer to see whether you will accept it. With our help, you can be sure that you are getting the full amount that you deserve. We will advise you regarding each offer. The decision about whether to accept or refuse will always be your decision and we will never try to pressure you in any way.
We may need to go to court
It is extremely rare that liability and the amount of compensation cannot be agreed between the two parties. If you are unfortunate enough to end up like these, your case may go to court to find an agreement. If this happens, we will be with you throughout the process. We will make sure that we fully inform you about what is happening and why. The friendly support of our experienced team can make all the difference to how stressful your court appearance might be.
Why Choose Our Spinal Injury Solicitors?
We offer our services on a no win no fee basis to the majority of our clients. So you can get the justice you deserve without putting yourself at financial risk. If you think that you might be able to make a spinal injury claim, call us. Dial 0121 565 4317 or fill in our claims form online. Our team will talk you through the process and help you to decide on your best course of action. We want to get you the compensation you need to help you recover and to get your life back on track.
Comments are closed for this article.