Car Accident Leg Injury and Fractured Femur Risks
Leg fractures and spinal cord damage are common injuries of car accidents, resulting in both temporary and permanent immobility.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 37 percent of frontal car accidents result in some sort of leg injury.
Which brings us to one of the painful ironies about riding in a car. Although you ride to avoid walking, if you’re in an accident, your riding could prevent you from ever walking again—or at least walking pain-free ever again.
When riding or driving in a car, your lower legs are tucked into a relatively small area. When a collision occurs, especially a frontal collision, the entire area surrounding your legs could collapse, causing heavy debris to squeeze and crush your feet, ankles, knees, and limbs. Such force could cause a slew of lower extremity injuries, such as:
- Ligament injuries. The severing or pinching of muscles, tendons, and nerves.
- Crush injuries. Splintering of bones, blood vessel hemorrhages, etc.
- Lacerations. Cuts, punctures, and perforations of skin, tissue and bone.
- Soft tissue injuries and nerve damage. Bruising, torn tissues and muscle, nerve damage, and damaged internal organs.
- Amputations. The complete severing of the limb, or damage so catastrophic that removal of the limb is required.
- Fractures. When the bones of the feet, ankles, knees, pelvis, or lower limbs have so much force applied to them that they snap.
Some of these injuries can keep a person off their feet for weeks or months, which means they may be unable to work or even care for themselves. In more serious situations, certain lower leg injuries may mean a person will never walk again, especially when amputations are necessary. This can affect an entire family, both emotionally and financially, and be truly devastating.
A Special Concern: Femur Fracture Risks and Treatment
Car accidents are one of the leading causes of femur (thighbone) fractures. It takes a lot of force to break the femur, as it is one of the largest and strongest bones in the body. For this reason, a broken femur has been associated with potentially life-threatening injuries and can take up to six months to heal.
Once a broken femur is diagnosed, the appropriate treatment will be recommended. For lesser breaks the bone may be casted, but in the case of a femoral shaft fracture, surgery is almost always required. The most common procedure is to insert a metal rod down the center of the thighbone. The surgeon will reconnect the two ends of the bone and secure the rod both in place above and below the fracture with screws. The rod usually stays in the bone for the rest of the patient’s life.
Getting Back on Your Feet
If you have suffered a leg injury from a car accident you could be entitled to compensation for medical bills, treatment costs, and lost wages. Contact auto accident attorney Steve Lee at 1-800-232-3711 for a free consultation. With over 35 years’ worth of experiencing helping car accident victims get back on their feet, we can help you get the compensation you need to stand tall. Call now.