Chest Injuries After an Austin Car Accident

Car accidents are often traumatizing to both the body and mind. Even a minor collision can cause pain and swelling, while more serious accidents can break bones, tear soft tissues, and even cause brain damage.

Chest injuries are also quite common following a crash. Your chest can be constricted by your seat belt as you get jostled around during a rear-end or head-on collision. In a side impact collision, your door can collapse inward, crushing your chest and abdomen.

If you’ve sustained chest injuries in a car accident in Austin, TX, contact the lawyers at FVF Law, or call (512) 982-9328 for assistance. We offer a free initial consultation to listen to what happened, explain your legal options, and help you make informed decisions.

How Our Austin Car Accident Attorneys Can Help You Recover Compensation for Chest Injuries

FVF Law is an Austin, Texas, personal injury law firm founded in 2014 by experienced attorneys to provide values-driven legal services to accident victims. Our Austin car accident lawyers have over 100 years of combined experience helping injured clients seek fair financial recoveries.

Our firm was founded on the principle of educating every accident victim so they can make an informed decision about how to handle their claim.

To that end, we ensure that we provide every client with the following:

• Compassionate representation — listening to your experience to help you rebuild your life
• Education to understand your rights, responsibilities, and legal options
• Advocacy with insurers and jurors to recover everything you deserve under Texas law
• Transparency to ensure you are not taken advantage of by insurers and medical providers

Chest injuries after a car accident can be life-threatening. Contact FVF Law to learn about the compensation you can seek for chest injuries suffered in a car crash.

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How Many Car Accident Victims Suffer Chest Injuries?

The frequency and severity of chest injuries depend on the type of crash you are in.

Head-on collisions are most likely to cause chest injuries that require emergency room visits. Between 9% and 16% of minor injuries and 21% to 39% of serious injuries from head-on crashes involve the chest. The amount of force sustained in such a crash causes a victim’s body to whip forward violently into their seat belt, airbag, steering wheel, or dashboard. The impact bends and deforms the ribcage, potentially damaging the vital organs inside.

Side-impact collisions also have a relatively high rate of chest injuries. Roughly 11% to 16% of minor injuries and 18% to 50% of serious injuries from impacts on the driver’s side of a vehicle will injure the chest. Side impacts often produce injuries because seat belts and airbags do not restrain your body from sliding sideways. As a result, your chest can bear the full impact force of a collision that causes a door to be crushed against you or one that pushes you into the center console.

Rear-end collisions tend to cause chest injuries with a fairly high frequency, as well. But the particular chest injuries they incite are often so minor that victims usually do not seek immediate medical treatment.

Types of Chest Injuries Sustained in Car Accidents in Austin, TX

Chest injuries can take many different forms depending on the direction and magnitude of the impact. Examples of chest injuries after an Austin car accident include the following:

Chest Bruises

Seat belt injuries often take the form of chest bruises, which develop when blood vessels break under your skin. Symptoms of a bruise include pain, discoloration, and swelling, though they usually heal in a few days.

Dislocated Rib

Your ribs are held in place by ligaments in your back and cartilage in your chest. When your chest experiences a strong impact, the force can tear the ligaments or cartilage as a rib slips out of place and presses on underlying tissues and nerves. As a result, you experience pain and swelling in the center of your chest or near your spine.

A dislocated rib can take several weeks or even a few months to heal. During that time, you will need to reduce your activities to avoid aggravating the injury.

Broken Rib

A powerful impact on your ribs can fracture them. You can often tell the difference between a fractured and dislocated rib by the location of your pain. A dislocated rib will often hurt in the center of your chest or back, while a fractured rib will hurt more toward your sides.

Broken ribs will heal on their own in six to eight weeks, but you will need a doctor to diagnose the break and ensure you do not have any further internal injuries.

Collapsed Lung

One of the more serious chest injuries you can experience is a collapsed lung, which occurs when something punctures the chest wall. Air rushes into your chest cavity and squeezes your lung, collapsing it. The added air pressure prevents you from re-expanding your lung, leading to chest pain and shortness of breath.

Without emergency treatment, your lungs could suffer permanent damage. A collapsed lung can even be fatal, particularly if you have underlying conditions like high blood pressure or heart disease.

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Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Austin Car Accident Lawyers To Discuss Compensation for Chest Injuries

A chest injury can temporarily disable you or even put your life at risk. Contact FVF Law for a free consultation to discuss the compensation you can seek for these injuries.