Often, car accident victims easily realize they are injured. Lacerations, fractures, and other injuries often present with obvious symptoms like pain. Others don’t show immediate signs of injury. Although you may walk away from a car accident without a scratch, you should consider your health and get a medical assessment. Also, you need to stay alert of delayed symptoms.
How Long After a Car Accident Should You See a Doctor?
It is important to see a doctor right after a car accident. You must do this even if you don’t experience any obvious symptoms. Your doctor will perform a full checkup and evaluation to find any injuries before symptoms even surface.
Unfortunately, accident victims who have delayed symptoms may need to go through hurdles when filing an insurance claim. Insurance companies may assume accident survivors are exaggerating or fabricating their symptoms. Your Boca Raton car accident attorney will require you to get a medical evaluation early to easily establish that your injury was caused by the accident.
Delayed Injury Symptoms
If you have been in a traffic collision, you should not ignore stomach pain. Sometimes, it could be a symptom of internal injuries or internal bleeding. Injuries the affect internal soft tissue can lead to stomach pain hours or even days after an accident If you have these injuries, you need to get immediate medical treatment. Other delayed symptoms include the following:
- Dizziness or headaches. A blood clot, concussion, whiplash, or neck injury may lead to delayed dizziness or headaches. Because these injuries may be serious, you need to seek medical attention for a headache. Also, you should be aware of the risk of traumatic brain injury because it is life-threatening.
- Back pain. If you feel pain in the back area a few hours or even several days after a car crash, you may have a herniated disc, spinal injury, soft tissue injury, sprain, or whiplash. If back pain is coupled with numbness or tingling, you may have pinched nerves.
- Neck and shoulder pain. This pain can be due to herniated disc, spinal injury, or other injuries. Also, it is a common symptom of whiplash. Neck and shoulder pain may not appear until days after the accident. However, if you notice it, you must call a doctor right away to get tests and treatment.
