A car accident can result in a wide array of injuries. To avoid playing up your injuries, you might minimize what you’re feeling and chalk your symptoms up to nothing more than bumps and bruises. But this can be dangerous, and it can stifle your recovery. This can be especially true when you experience chest pain after a car accident.
Sure, the chest pain that you experience could be attributable to bruising or general muscle soreness, but it could also be a sign of something more severe that requires medical attention. So, listen to your body and seek medical care if you start experiencing chest pain after your wreck.
Common chest injuries suffered in car accidents
The impact of your car accident can result in several differing, yet severe, injuries. This includes:
- A fractured sternum, which may lead to sharp pain when you sneeze, cough, or laugh.
- Broken ribs, which can result in symptoms similar to those experienced when you have a fractured sternum.
- A lung injury, such as a punctured lung, which can result in breathing issues.
- Cardiac contusion, which is a bruising of the muscle that helps your heart beat, and can leave you feeling lightheaded and with pain in your chest.
- A heart attack related to the stress of your accident, which can result in pain that originates in your chest but radiates outward to your shoulder and arm.
- Seatbelt syndrome, which are injuries caused by the pressure and force with which your seatbelt restrains you during an accident, oftentimes resulting in abrasions and bruising to the torso and chest.
Find accountability for the harm caused to you
The damage caused to you by a car accident can be extensive. You shouldn’t have to find a way to deal with them on your own. Instead, you should consider taking legal action to find accountability and secure the compensation that you need and deserve. Hopefully then you can move on with your life with what you need to reclaim what was wrongfully taken from you.