Car Accident Injuries – Ankle & Foot Injuries
Are you experiencing an ankle or foot injury after a car accident? In this post you will learn about the most common causes of these and the next steps you can take.
If you are in a car accident, there are many possible injuries that could happen as a result.
However, ankle and foot injuries are extremely common because of the mechanics of the car accident itself.
If you have been in a car accident and have experienced an injury such as this, it may be worth considering legal help. If the accident was not your fault, you should not have to pay for your injuries.
How Common Are Car Accident Ankle and Foot Injuries?
Although people tend to focus on head and neck injuries more, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), damages to the feet, knees, and ankles are the second most common class of injuries that happen in car accidents.
It is very common for the ankle to be injured when the foot is pressured between the pedals. Fractures in this area will interfere with your mobility and are often accompanied by strains and sprains.
These types of injuries occur in a whopping 76% of frontal car crashes, as well as 13% of side-impact car crashes and 8% of rollover car crashes.
Don’t Ignore Ankle and Foot Pain After an Accident
Your ankle is essentially the union of the tibia and fibula of your lower leg with the talus of your foot.
All of these components of your anatomy are held together by ligaments, a type of tissue that helps keep the bones in place and anchor them when you are moving your ankle.
Tendons serve to attach bones to muscles and also assist in movement of the foot and ankle. If you happen to experience any pain in this area after a car accident, make sure that you do not ignore it.
If you ignore it, this could end up creating lasting negative consequences for your mobility.
Car accidents tend to be very tough on the lower extremities, especially for the person who was driving the vehicle.
How Injuries Can Occur
If you are driving a vehicle, your knees are usually only a couple of inches away from the pedals, steering wheel, and dashboard.
In the situation of a car accident, the legs of a driver or passenger could potentially buckle under the dashboard upon collision, which could lead to injuries of the lower leg.
Even if the impact is relatively low in terms of speed, a huge amount of force could be exerted. Even a low impact is too much for most people’s ankles and feet.
There are 60 different bones in the knees, feet, and ankles that could potentially be injured in a car accident. In the human ankle and foot alone, there are 26 separate bones.
Also, it is not only the bones that you have to worry about. There are also all sorts of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissues that could potentially be injured.
These tissues are there to provide support, hold the rest of the anatomy together, and give the person the ability to move around and flexibility. As such, if these tissues are injured, the person could be seriously impaired.
When a car crash happens, the majority of people will bang their feet on the floor. This is a reflex because they are basically bracing themselves for the impact.
However, this reflex ends up making a foot or ankle injury much more likely, to be able to tear or stretch the soft tissues or even fracture the bones.
Most Common Ankle and Foot Injuries During an Accident
There are certain injuries that are more common than others in the ankles and feet when it comes to car crashes. Perhaps the most common type of injury in the situation is a fracture, which is a broken bone.
This typically happens in both head-on and rear-end collisions. Foot fractures are particularly common because of the reflex that most people have to extend their feet when they are bracing for the impending impact of a crash.
Additionally, sprains and strains are very common. A sprain basically involves either tearing or stretching of ligaments, and a strain basically entails the tearing or stretching of tendons or muscles.
Sprains are more likely to occur when ligaments have been flexed past their normal range, while strains tend to happen when muscles are suddenly stretched and then contracted suddenly.
The components of soft tissue around the feet and ankles are vulnerable to these types of injuries in a car collision.
Your Injury After an Accident
Whether you end up breaking a bone or pulling a tendon in the foot or ankle, this will likely impair you in your day-to-day life for a while after the accident.
The feet are an essential part of human anatomy because you need them to move around.
If you are unable to move around the same way that you were before your accident, this could result in a variety of financial losses, most commonly having to take time off of work that does not always end up being paid.
Because foot and ankle injuries are so common during car accidents, many people end up with a lower ability to function after a car accident.
If you have found yourself in the situation, it is important that you make sure that you are not paying any more than you legally need to pay in the situation.
If you have experienced any of these types of injuries as a result of a car accident, you will likely have medical bills.
If you were not at fault in the accident, you should not have to pay these bills or have to suffer the other losses that will come with the injury.
Foot and ankle injuries can significantly impair a person, including causing them to be less mobile for a long period of time and even causing them to lose money because they are not able to perform their jobs as well with the injuries.
There are many losses that can come with this type of injury, and there is no reason that a person should have to suffer these losses if they are not the one who is at fault for the accident.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer Today
Abrahamson & Uiterwyk’s dedicated team of car accident lawyers in Florida are there for you if you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident. Call now for a free case evaluation or consultation – 800-538-4878