Nerve damage is one of the most painful and potentially life-changing injuries someone can suffer after an accident. Unlike cuts or broken bones, nerve injuries may not be immediately apparent, and symptoms can worsen over time.
What starts as mild tingling in a hand or foot can develop into chronic pain, muscle weakness, or permanent loss of function. If you or a loved one has suffered nerve damage because of someone else’s negligence, understanding your injury and your legal rights is the first step toward recovery.
Contact a St. Louis car accident attorney to pursue compensation after a collision and any nerve injuries sustained.
Call our firm at (314) 300-6260.
Common Accidents That Cause Nerve Damage
Nerve injuries can happen in almost any type of accident, but certain kinds of trauma put victims at especially high risk. Understanding how your injury occurred matters, because the cause of the accident determines who may be legally responsible for your losses.
Car Accidents
The violent forces in a collision can stretch or compress nerves throughout the body. Whiplash frequently damages nerves in the neck and shoulders, while herniated discs caused by impact can pinch spinal nerves and cause radiating pain, numbness, and weakness.
Seatbelt injuries can also contribute to nerve damage when the force of a crash causes significant pressure or trauma to the chest, shoulders, or surrounding areas.
Truck Accidents
Because of the massive size and weight of commercial trucks, these crashes often cause catastrophic injuries, including spinal cord trauma and severe crush injuries that destroy nerve tissue. Victims of truck accidents frequently face long-term or permanent nerve damage.
Motorcycle Accidents
Riders have little protection in a crash. Brachial plexus injuries, damage to the network of nerves running from the spine through the shoulder and arm, are so common in motorcycle accidents that they are sometimes called “biker’s arm.”
Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents
When a vehicle strikes a cyclist or pedestrian, the human body absorbs the full force of the impact. Broken bones, deep lacerations, and crush injuries from these accidents often damage the nerves surrounding the injury site.
Slip and Fall Accidents
A hard fall can compress nerves in the back, neck, wrists, or hips. Falls are a leading cause of herniated discs and sciatica, and victims who brace themselves with outstretched hands often suffer nerve damage in the wrists and arms.
Construction Accidents
Construction workers face nerve injury risks from falls, falling objects, machinery accidents, repetitive strain, and electrocution. Electrical injuries are particularly dangerous because the current can damage nerves far beyond the visible burn.
Dog Bite Injuries
A dog’s teeth can tear directly through nerves in the hands, arms, face, or legs. Even after the wound heals, victims may be left with permanent numbness, weakness, or chronic pain in the affected area.
Medical Negligence
Sometimes nerve damage is caused by the very people entrusted with your care. Surgical errors, improperly administered injections or anesthesia, and failure to diagnose conditions like nerve compression can all lead to preventable, permanent nerve injuries.
Can You Recover Compensation for a Nerve Damage Injury?
Yes. If your nerve damage was caused by another person’s or company’s negligence, you have the right to pursue compensation for the full impact of your injury, not just your initial medical bills.
A successful nerve damage claim can recover damages for several categories of loss. These commonly include:
- Medical expenses, including emergency care, diagnostic testing, surgery, medication, and assistive devices
- Future medical care, such as ongoing physical therapy, pain management, and additional surgeries
- Lost wages for the time you were unable to work while recovering
- Loss of earning capacity if your injury prevents you from returning to your job or limits the work you can do
- Pain and suffering, including chronic nerve pain, which can be among the most debilitating types of pain
- Loss of enjoyment of life when your injury takes away hobbies, activities, and independence you once had
Because nerve damage so often involves long-term or permanent consequences, these claims are frequently worth far more than the initial medical bills suggest, which is exactly why insurance companies fight them so hard.
Why Nerve Damage Claims Can Be Challenging
Nerve injury claims are among the most contested personal injury cases, and victims who pursue them without experienced legal help are often pressured into settlements that don’t come close to covering their real losses. Several factors make these claims difficult:
- Symptoms may be delayed. Nerve damage often doesn’t fully reveal itself for days or weeks after an accident. Insurers use that gap to argue the injury must have come from something else.
- Insurance companies may argue the injury is minor or unrelated. Because nerve damage doesn’t show up on a standard X-ray the way a broken bone does, adjusters frequently downplay it as exaggerated, pre-existing, or unconnected to the accident.
- Long-term costs are often difficult to calculate. A permanent nerve injury may require decades of treatment, career changes, and lifestyle modifications – losses that are easy to underestimate without expert analysis.
None of these challenges means your claim isn’t valid; they simply mean you need a St. Louis personal injury attorney in your corner who knows how to overcome them.
Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer About Your Nerve Damage Injury Today
Nerve damage can change your life in an instant, but you don’t have to face the aftermath alone. The sooner you speak with an attorney, the sooner experts can be retained and your claim can be built.
Contact our office today for a free, no-obligation consultation. We’ll review your case and fight to recover every dollar you deserve.
You pay nothing unless we win.