Chest Injuries After a Car Accident

Your body experiences strong forces during a motor vehicle collision. These forces can injure your organs, muscles, and bones by squeezing, stretching, and breaking body tissues. The resulting damage can disable you from working or performing necessary tasks like driving and shopping.

Chest injuries often happen in car accidents. Your seat belt can save your life but damage your chest tissues in the process. If you were riding without a seat belt, you could suffer even more serious injuries from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard. 

Anderson Injury Lawyers can assess your case for compensation for your chest injuries after a car accident in Fort Worth, TX. Contact our experienced personal injury attorneys, you can call us at (214) 327-8000 for a free initial consultation to discuss your options.

How Anderson Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Chest Injury Claim After a Car Accident in Fort Worth, TX

How Anderson Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Chest Injury Claim After a Car Accident in Fort Worth, TX

Anderson Injury Lawyers has been helping injured clients in Fort Worth, Texas, since its founding in 2007.

Our Fort Worth car accident lawyers have successfully resolved thousands of cases by recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

After you get hurt due to someone else’s actions, our attorneys can use their decades of experience to:

  • Review your case so you can learn about your right to compensation
  • Gather evidence proving the severity of your chest injury and other harm
  • File your insurance claim and negotiate for a fair settlement
  • Litigate against insurance companies that refuse to settle

Chest injuries from a car accident can be life-threatening and cause significant pain. Contact Anderson Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to learn how we can help you recover financial compensation for your chest injuries and their effects.

How Often Do Car Crashes Cause Chest Injuries?

Texas does not release statistics on specific car crash injuries. It only lists the severity of the injuries without specifying the body parts injured. But you can estimate the number of car accident victims who suffered chest injuries using a crash injury study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

This study found that crash victims suffered chest injuries at the following rates:

  • Rollover Crashes: Up to 10% had minor injuries, and 55% had severe injuries
  • Frontal Impacts: Up to 16% had minor injuries, and 39% had severe injuries
  • Side Impacts: Up to 17% had minor injuries, and 51% had severe injuries
  • Rear-End Crashes: Up to 8% had minor injuries, and 45% had severe injuries

According to Texas crash statistics, the state had about 180,000 crash victims with minor or possible injuries and 11,700 with serious injuries. Using the numbers from the NHTSA study, this means that up to 30,572 accident victims suffered minor chest injuries, and up to 6,461 suffered severe chest injuries.

Your chest sits between the 8th and 19th vertebrae of your spine. Doctors call these 12 vertebrae your thoracic spine because each one attaches to a pair of ribs. The rib cage gives your chest its structure. It protects your vital organs. It also supports your head and upper body.

Chest injuries can take many forms depending on which structures get damaged. Some common chest injuries from car accidents include:

Chest Bruises

Your seat belt can injure your chest. A common seat belt injury happens when the impact breaks blood vessels under the skin of your chest. Leaking blood causes bruises characterized by discolored skin, swelling, and pain. These injuries typically heal within a week or so and rarely require medical treatment.

Chest Strain

Your chest muscles carry your upper torso. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also help you breathe by expanding your chest so your lungs can fill with air. Chest strain happens when a crash hyperextends these muscles and the tendons anchoring them. 

Symptoms of chest strain may include the following:

  • Muscle pain and spasms
  • Inflammation
  • Stiffness and weakness

In a minor strain, hyperextension only stretches the muscles and tendons. These strains will often heal in four to six weeks. A severe strain happens when forces tear the muscles and tendons. These injuries may take several months to heal.

Torn Cartilage

The top seven pairs of ribs, called true ribs, attach to your sternum with cartilage. The next three pairs attach to the true ribs with cartilage. 

A blow to the chest can tear the cartilage, producing the following symptoms:

  • Pain in the center of your chest, particularly while breathing
  • Swelling
  • Clicking sound in your chest

Torn cartilage takes a long time to heal. You may experience symptoms from torn cartilage for several months after your car crash.

Broken Ribs

An impact to your chest can fracture your ribs. In most cases, fractured ribs will heal without any treatment. In the meantime, you may experience pain, swelling, and stiffness on your side or back.

In rare cases, broken ribs can cause a condition called flail chest. This happens when you break multiple ribs in multiple places. Since the rib fragments float freely, they can damage your lungs or even kill you. As a result, you will need emergency surgery to treat the injury.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Fort Worth Car Accident Attorneys To Discuss Your Chest Injuries

Chest injuries can produce painful or even life-threatening injuries. Contact Anderson Injury Lawyers in Fort Worth for a free consultation to discuss your chest injury and the compensation you can seek.

Our law firm handles all types of car accident cases:

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