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Car accidents are often associated with serious injuries, like broken bones or head trauma. If you are in a crash and mostly feel OK, you might consider yourself lucky to have walked away unscathed. However, it is still possible that you were hurt and that your injuries just aren’t apparent yet.

When you are in a scary situation, your body releases adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream as a way of sharpening your senses to help you confront the danger or escape it. While this stress response is an important way for you to protect yourself, it can also mask serious injuries for hours, days, or even weeks after a car accident. Given this reality, you should never talk to an insurance adjuster about the accident or your injuries until you have had a chance to talk to a Simpsonville car accident lawyer.

At Brooks Derrick Accident and Injury Lawyers, we know how common it is for our clients not to realize immediately after an accident that they were injured. We are fierce advocates for our clients, working to protect their interests by handling all communications with the insurance company and helping them get the compensation that they deserve for their injuries. Reach out to our law firm today to schedule a free consultation with a South Carolina personal injury attorney.

Why Is Pain Sometimes Delayed After a Motor Vehicle Accident?

If you are involved in a car accident, you might walk away feeling shaken but physically fine. You may be a bit sore, but you don’t seem to have any symptoms that would warrant a trip to the emergency room. So you head home and figure that you are probably fine.

But 3 days later, you wake up and can barely turn your head to the side. A week later, you get a crushing headache. 2 weeks after the crash, you can barely sit down without massive back pain.

This fact pattern is not as unusual as you might think. Delayed pain after a car accident is an incredibly common (and misunderstood) phenomenon.  When you are in a traumatic situation, such as a car crash, your body responds to the stress by releasing adrenaline and cortisol. This is commonly referred to as a fight or flight response.

While the release of these hormones is important to allow you to get out of dangerous situations safely, it can also mask pain. These stress hormones temporarily suppress pain signals so that you can respond to the situation. However, when these hormones clear your system (often 24 to 72 hours later), the pain signals that were always present reach your brain.

At this point, your body begins to respond to the physical injury. Damaged tissues may start to swell as inflammation builds. Muscles that you locked up protectively to shield yourself during the crash begin to spasm. What seemed like nothing at the accident scene can turn out to be a serious injury, like whiplash, a herniated disc, or even an internal bleed.

Certain types of injuries are even more likely to have a delayed onset of pain. This is particularly true for soft tissue injuries, including whiplash. Other types of injuries, like herniated discs, may not become symptomatic until a nerve is compressed. 

Delayed pain is common after car accidents. However, it can be problematic when it comes to your car accident claim. If you talk to an insurance adjuster in the initial few days or weeks, you might report that you are fine or just a little sore. This can ultimately affect any compensation that you get in a settlement, which is why it is important to always talk to a Simpsonville car accident attorney first.

Common Delayed Symptoms After a South Carolina Car Accident

Not every bit of soreness or ache after a car accident means that you have a serious injury. It is possible to get into a minor fender bender and be perfectly fine after a few days. However, there are some delayed symptoms that may indicate a more serious injury. 

If you experience any of the following symptoms in the days and weeks after a car accident, you should follow up with your doctor or go to the emergency room:

• Neck and shoulder pain: If you feel stiffness, reduced range of motion, and pain radiating from your neck into your shoulders and upper back 1 to 3 days after an accident, it may be a sign of whiplash. This injury is caused by the rapid back-and-forth motion of your head during an impact, which can strain the muscles, ligaments, and discs in the cervical spine. It is a common delayed-onset injury after a motor vehicle accident.
• Headaches: Post-accident headaches can be caused by anything from whiplash to muscle tension to a concussion, or even a more serious injury like a slow subdural hematoma. They can occur days to weeks after a car accident. Headaches that get worse over time, do not respond to over-the-counter medication, or come with dizziness or confusion require immediate medical attention.
• Back pain: Many lumbar and thoracic spine injuries appear 1 to 7 days after a car crash. Back pain can be a sign of a herniated disc, a vertebral fracture, or sacroiliac joint dysfunction. 
• Numbness or tingling in extremities: If you experience pins-and-needles sensations in your arms, hands, legs, or feet in the days following an accident, it may be a sign of a herniated disc or spinal injury that is compressing a nerve. You should consult with your doctor for further evaluation.
• Cognitive or emotional changes: Any type of memory problem, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, or sleep disturbance that begins after a car accident may indicate a concussion or other type of traumatic brain injury (TBI). These injuries may not be obvious at the accident scene because a victim may appear to be alert and oriented.
• Abdominal pain and swelling: Internal bleeding from organ damage can develop slowly in the days following an accident. If you have pain, bruising, or swelling in your abdomen after a crash, you should consider it a medical emergency.

Even if you didn’t get checked out immediately after a car accident, if you experience any of these symptoms (or other symptoms) in the days and weeks that follow, you should still see a doctor. Getting an accurate diagnosis is critical not only for your health but also for your ability to get full financial compensation through a personal injury claim. Our South Carolina car accident lawyers can help you understand your rights and get the money that you deserve.

How Delayed Pain Can Affect Your Car Accident Claim

Insurance companies are not eager to pay out on car accident claims. In fact, they do everything that they can to deny or minimize claims. That is part of how insurance companies are so profitable.

When a car accident victim has delayed pain or symptoms, insurance companies use that to their advantage. Insurance adjusters will look for gaps in medical treatment, a delay in seeking medical care, and any difference between what a victim might have

1. Do not talk to anyone, including insurance adjusters and responding law enforcement officers, about your injuries after a car accident. Even saying something offhand like “I think I’ll be OK” can be used to minimize your claim. If you have to say anything, just state that you need to get checked out by a doctor.
2. Seek medical attention within 72 hours of a car accident. Even if you feel fine overall, getting this checkup can be an important way to prove that your injuries are linked to the accident. Be sure to describe every symptom that you have, even if it’s minor.
3. Follow up consistently. If you experience new symptoms after your initial visit, go back to your doctor immediately. If your doctor recommends any type of treatment, make sure that you follow through and do what is recommended. A pattern of escalating symptoms, documented by medical records, is much harder for an insurance company to dismiss.
4. Consult with a Simpsonville car accident attorney as soon as possible. A lawyer can help to protect your rights and advise you on how to move forward with a claim.

Our law firm has handled hundreds of delayed pain car accident cases in South Carolina. We will fight to get you the compensation that you deserve for your injuries.

Get Help from an Experienced South Carolina Car Accident Attorney

The symptoms of an injury do not always appear immediately after a car accident. If you start having pain in the days after a crash, you should seek medical attention immediately. You should also avoid talking to the insurance company about your i said about their injuries initially and what they say about their injuries later.

For example, consider a situation where you are in a rear-end accident in Simpsonville. You tell the officer who arrives at the scene that you feel fine, which is noted in the car accident report. 5 days later, you go to the doctor with severe neck pain and stiffness. You are diagnosed with whiplash.

In this scenario, the insurance adjuster in charge of your claim will make a note that you told the police officer that you were fine and that you didn’t immediately go to the doctor. They will also note the difference between what you said initially and what you told the doctor 5 days after the accident. These facts will then be used to support an argument that your injury was caused by something else, like a pre-existing condition or sleeping wrong.

There is nothing that you can do about the fact that your symptoms may not appear immediately. However, there are steps that you can take to protect yourself and your rights. This includes:

1. Do not talk to anyone, including insurance adjusters and responding law enforcement officers, about your injuries after a car accident. Even saying something offhand like “I think I’ll be OK” can be used to minimize your claim. If you have to say anything, just state that you need to get checked out by a doctor.
2. Seek medical attention within 72 hours of a car accident. Even if you feel fine overall, getting this checkup can be an important way to prove that your injuries are linked to the accident. Be sure to describe every symptom that you have, even if it’s minor.
3. Follow up consistently. If you experience new symptoms after your initial visit, go back to your doctor immediately. If your doctor recommends any type of treatment, make sure that you follow through and do what is recommended. A pattern of escalating symptoms, documented by medical records, is much harder for an insurance company to dismiss.
4. Consult with a Simpsonville car accident attorney as soon as possible. A lawyer can help to protect your rights and advise you on how to move forward with a claim.

Our law firm has handled hundreds of delayed pain car accident cases in South Carolina. We will fight to get you the compensation that you deserve for your injuries.

Get Help from an Experienced South Carolina Car Accident Attorney

The symptoms of an injury do not always appear immediately after a car accident. If you start having pain in the days after a crash, you should seek medical attention immediately. You should also avoid talking to the insurance company about your injuries.

At Brooks Derrick Accident and Injury Lawyers, we understand that our clients may not realize right away that they were seriously hurt in a car crash. We can protect your interests and work to get you maximum compensation.  Call our law offices at 864-531-7765 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free initial consultation with a Simpsonville car accident lawyer.