What If Car Accident Injuries Don't Show Up Right Away?

Most car accidents result in some kind of injury, from minor to catastrophic. After all, there's a lot of force involved when a vehicle hits (or is hit by) something. But symptoms of physical harm don't always show up right away after a crash. Let's take a look at why this is, and the kinds of injuries to watch out for after a car accident.

Why Are Some Car Accident Injuries Delayed?

From a physiological standpoint, a car accident is an "exciting" event—not "exciting" in the enjoyable sense, but in terms of the effects of the crash on your nervous system. A car accident is the kind of experience that can trigger your body to produce adrenaline and other chemicals that can mask pain and the symptoms of serious injury.

So, you might very well be hurt after a crash, but your body may not be sending and receiving signals in a way that lets these injuries properly register.

Another factor here is that inflammation can take several hours to peak after an injury occurs, so the severity of soft tissue injuries in particular (more on these later) might not be apparent until a day or more after a crash.

How Long After a Car Accident Can Injuries Appear?

With most car accident injuries, you're going to know right away that you've been hurt. Broken bones and cuts aren't subtle, or easy to overlook. But the presence or severity of some injuries might not be so obvious for a few hours, or even by the next day. In general:

• most car accident injury symptoms show up by the 24-hour mark after the crash
• whiplash-type injuries and back pain might intensify in the three to five days after a crash
• headaches and concussion-type symptoms might take up to a week to surface
• psychological effects of the crash (including PTSD, depression, and anxiety) can take weeks to make themselves known, and
• chronic pain can become evident a month or more down the road.

It's important to be vigilant to what you're body is telling you, and your best move is getting a thorough medical exam even if you're not sure if (or how badly) you've been hurt.

What Are Delayed Car Accident Injury Symptoms to Watch Out For?

The most common types of car accident injuries that show up later are:

• soft tissue injuries
• concussions
• back injuries
• internal bleeding, and
• psychological issues (including PTSD).

Let's take a close-up look at some of these kinds of injuries.

Soft Tissue Injuries After a Car Accident

A soft tissue injury affects parts of the body other than bone. Muscles, tendons, and ligaments are considered "soft tissue."

Even low-speed car accidents generate a lot of force. Drivers and passengers often come to a sudden stop right along with the vehicle. This places a lot of stress on joints and other vulnerable areas of the body.

Soft tissue injuries typically result in pain, swelling, and reduced mobility, but these symptoms might not show up for days, even weeks after a car accident.

Concussions After a Car Accident

Your brain is well-protected by your skull and surrounding fluid, but if you strike your head, or your body is violently jolted, your brain can contact the inside of your skull. If this happens during the course of a car accident, you could sustain a concussion.

Concussions can be serious and long-lasting, and the symptoms don't often show up immediately. Disorientation or even loss of consciousness are obvious symptoms, but other signs of concussion can be more subtle, including:

• clouded thinking
• inability to concentrate
• difficulty remembering new information
• headache
• blurry vision
• nausea
• dizziness
• lack of energy, and
• abnormal sleep patterns (sleeping more or less than usual)

Seek prompt medical attention if you're experiencing any of these symptoms following a car accident.

Back Injuries and Back Pain After a Car Accident

The human spine is a complex and delicate system, so even a minor collision can easily result in a back injury, whether damage to the bone (vertebrae), muscles, tendons, discs, ligaments, or nerves in the neck (cervical vertebrae), upper back (thoracic), or lower back (lumbar).

Besides pain, there are other signs of a back injury, such as:

• reduced mobility
• muscle spasms
• trouble walking, standing, or sitting,
• headaches
• body stiffness
• headaches

Other common symptoms of back injuries include numbness and tingling.

Numbness and Tingling After a Car Accident

Depending on the severity and nature of the injury, late appearing injuries will sometimes first show up as numbness and/or a tingling sensation. This is particularly true in the back and the body's extremities (arms, legs, hands and feet). These feelings can be the result of:

• deep cuts that have severed nerves
• significant impact to tissue causing nerve compression
• a disc herniation in the back or neck that can pinch or push on a nerve, and
• damage to muscle, bones, ligaments, or tendons that put pressure on a nerve.

Numbness and tingling might be the first sign of a delayed-onset car accident injury. But other feelings may follow or accompany the numbness or tingling sensation, like:

• shooting pain along the arms, legs, or back
• muscle weakness
• prickling sensations, and
• uncontrollable muscle twitches.

Why It's Important to See a Doctor After a Car Accident

Get medical care after a car accident if you feel any level of pain and discomfort. It may even be a good idea to get checked out if you feel fine. Your doctor will be in the best position to determine whether you sustained any injuries in the accident. Your doctor can also give you advice on monitoring symptoms of potential injuries, including the sorts of red flags to watch out for.

If you end up making any sort of injury claim after the accident, it's crucial to be able to document the fact that you sought medical treatment within a reasonable amount of time. If you wait too long to see a doctor, the insurance adjuster is going to argue that you couldn't have been all that injured.

Don't Settle Your Car Accident Claim Too Soon

Following a car accident, the other driver's insurance company may contact you and try to get you to sign a release of any claims you might have, in exchange for a settlement check.

You should wait until you've been fully evaluated by a medical professional before signing anything the adjuster puts in front of you. Your doctor can help you determine whether it looks like the nature and extent of your car accident injuries are fully understood.

If you sign a release, and an injury shows up later, you can't go back to the insurance company and ask them to pay for your additional medical treatment. You waive your legal right to pursue that compensation when you sign a car accident release.

Learn more about when to settle a car accident case.

What If My Injuries Return After a Settlement?

Despite your best efforts and precautions, it's still possible for pain or an injury to remain or return after you've settled your legal claims relating to the car accident. In most cases, you'll be prevented from suing the at-fault driver or the car insurance company for additional compensation. Yet there could still be legal options and arguments available, including claiming the legal release was obtained in a coercive or fraudulent manner, or suing a different party that wasn't a part of the car accident settlement.

Getting Help After a Car Accident

To make sure your car accident claim is in experienced hands, talk to a car accident lawyer, who can assess your situation and take the right steps to ensure the most favorable outcome, including filing a car accident lawsuit.