Chest pain after a car accident is a common symptom that can be frightening. It can be a sign that something serious is going on, but it’s also possible to have chest pain from an injury and not have anything wrong with your heart. Usually, chest pain may occur immediately or hours, days, or even weeks after an injury, and it’s important to know what this could mean for you. Chest pain can be caused by many different things such as:
- Chest trauma from the crash
- Bruising of the chest wall
- Fractured ribs
- A heart attack
However, chest pain after a car accident is one of the most common symptoms that you might experience. In this blog post, we will talk about delayed chest pain after car accidents as well as what to do if you think there might be something more serious going on.
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What causes chest pain after a car accident?
If you’re in an accident, your chest could be injured by hitting it on the steering wheel or dashboard. The seat belt and airbags can also cause injuries to this area of our body too. A minor blow may knock us out and has potential consequences for future health, so we must take care when driving around town. Some of the injuries that can lead to chest pain include:
- Damaged Trachea: The windpipe or trachea is the tube that transports air from to lungs. It’s made up of sturdy rings of cartilage and helps keep oxygen flowing freely through this passage in order for us all to get our much-needed rest at night time.
- Damaged Sternum: The sternum is a large, flat bone in the center of your chest. It’s connected to other bones by cartilage and can be injured if struck hard enough – this could result in damage to some major organs such as the esophagus, large blood vessels, or the heart.
- Injury to your kidneys: If the impact from the accident is on the back of your chest, it can lead to injuries to the kidneys.
- A punctured lung: A rib is a ball-shaped bone that can be broken during an accident. This injury can damage your lung and cause you to need emergency medical care or even die from suffocation. This is because air leaks into the chest cavity when it fractures deeply enough, making breathing difficult.
- Fractured ribs: The rib cage is a protective structure for the heart, lungs, and other major blood vessels.
- Injury to your spleen: The spleen is a vital organ that protects your body from disease and injury. It does this by producing blood cells, white blood corpuscles (which fight infection), red platelets, which help stop bleeding at the site of an injury.
How long can chest pain last after a car accident?
Chest pain after a car accident can last for a few minutes to over three months. You should contact an experienced attorney if you’re dealing with chest pain that has lasted longer than expected and contact your physician immediately about any new or worsening symptoms.
In this case, you may need medical care, especially if:
- Chest pain worsens or continues
- Chest pain is accompanied by shortness of breath, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, or fainting.
- Chest trauma from the crash
- Bruising of the chest wall, fractured ribs, or a heart attack.
How do you know if a chest injury is serious?
Many different things can cause chest pain after a car accident. Chest injuries are often the most serious types of soft tissue injury, but not every chest injury is life-threatening.
Most people who have experienced chest trauma from an auto or truck accident will recover without any permanent damage to their heart and lungs. However, if you’ve been involved in a car accident and you’re experiencing chest pain, contact an experienced attorney who can help guide you on how to deal with this type of injury.
Does Whiplash cause chest pain?
Yes, whiplash can lead to chest pain after a car accident. Chest pain is common in such accidents following a rear-end collision, especially if the seatbelt locks up and prevents you from moving forward during impact.
Whiplash may also cause other symptoms to appear, such as:
- Neck stiffness or muscle spasms
- Numbness in arms, hands, or fingers
- Chest pain that radiates to the arms and shoulders
- Shortness of breath.
Chest pain after car accident can also be a sign of other injuries such as:
- A broken rib (fractured ribs) may cause chest pain that is worse when you inhale deeply or cough because breathing causes movement of your broken ribs.
- Chest pain that worsens when you move or change position
- Chest pain accompanied by shortness of breath, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, or fainting. Thus, chest pain after a car accident should be taken seriously.
How long should you be sore after a car accident?
Chest pain after a car accident may last for days or weeks. However, chest pain should be treated immediately if it proves to be serious. You need to contact your physician if the chest pain continues, worsens, or is accompanied by other symptoms such as shortness of breath, lightheadedness, or fainting.
If you have been in a car accident, it’s important to get proper medical attention, which may include CT scans or X-rays.
How long does it take to heal from airbag injuries?
Chest pain after a car accident may result from airbag injuries, which usually heal within a week. Usually, chest pain that occurs after an airbag injury is mild and may be accompanied by some bruising. Chest pain can become more severe as time goes on, depending on the extent of your injuries.
Can an airbag hurt your chest?
Yes, an airbag is designed to protect you from the resulting impact after the crash, but sometimes it can lead to chest injuries. Chest pain that occurs after an airbag injury is usually mild and may be accompanied by some bruising.
In some cases, chest pain resulting from airbag injuries can become more severe as time goes on, depending on the extent of your injuries. The airbag can lead to serious damages to your chest or shoulder area.
Can you get delayed pain after a car accident?
Chest pain after a car accident can be delayed, which may come as a surprise. In most cases, chest pain that follows an injury from a crash is usually due to the bruising of the chest wall or fractured bones in your chest area. Chest pain can last for several days if you sustain broken ribs or fractured bones in your chest area.
Chest trauma from the crash, bruised chest wall, fractured ribs, or heart attack could be causing your symptoms. Chest pain may last for several weeks if the injuries are not properly treated.
Is it normal for your chest to hurt after a car accident?
It is normal for your chest to hurt after a car accident, but in most cases, it usually goes away within a few days. Chest pain resulting from your chest wall bruising may only last a few minutes or even an hour.
However, Chest pain may last for several weeks if there are broken ribs or fractured bones in your chest area. Chest trauma from the crash, bruised chest wall, fractured ribs, or heart attack could be causing your symptoms.
How long does your chest hurt after a car accident?
Chest pain after a car accident may last for several days, weeks, and months if you suffer broken ribs or fractured bones. Nevertheless, chest pain can become more severe as time goes on, depending on the extent of your injuries.
Why is chest pain after an accident so common?
It is common for people to experience chest pain in a car accident because of seat belts and airbags. This happens when they are thrown forward in their seats from an impact with something else, usually another vehicle or object nearby such as telephone poles, during sudden stops on roads without shoulders. It can also happen if someone has been struck by airbags deploying close-range or hitting other parts on collision course such as dashboards.
Why Do People Experience Chest Pains After a Car Crash?
A car accident is a traumatic experience for victims and should be taken seriously. If you have symptoms of chest pain, it could be a sign of other injuries from an auto collision. However, only medical assessment can help determine what’s happening here, so it is important to seek immediate medical attention.
What to Do if You Have Chest Pain?
If you’re in a car accident and experience any type of pain, be sure to see your doctor as soon as possible. Chest pains can indicate potentially serious conditions that need medical attention immediately, so they don’t worsen or cause death. If we ignore our symptoms (many people do), these accidents will only worsen over time without treatment.
Chest pains are not something to ignore, and many people think that there isn’t anything serious when their symptom presents itself at first. The failure to seek care can aggravate existing conditions or cause death from untreated problems.
Can You Receive Compensation if You Have Chest Pain?
You might be able to collect financial compensation for your pain and suffering if an auto collision was at fault. In this case, you should consult an experienced attorney who can help make sure this happens.
How is a Chest Injury Treated?
A chest injury will vary depending on the type and severity of your symptoms. If you think that a pulmonary contusion is to blame for the pain, then treatment must be more extensive than if it were only bruising or something less serious like rib fractures. This is because pulmonary contusion has much higher potential complications such as infections from bacteria entering open wounds, leading to pneumonia.
A pulmonary contusion is more serious than a minor chest injury because of the risk of complications. A person who sustains this kind of harm needs to spend some time in the hospital. In this case, treatment can include medical procedures like inserting tubes into their lungs and putting them on oxygen therapy or having someone watch over them around the clock while they’re in recovery. This helps prevent permanent or serious injuries.
Are seatbelts and airbags safe?
One of the most common causes of injury-related deaths is not wearing a seatbelt. Though airbags can help minimize injuries in certain scenarios, they are no substitute for car seats or other restraints that protect you during accidents.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published papers documenting two fatalities involving rib fractures and heart damage caused by an inadequate safety belt. These cases involved extensive bruising within one’s chest cavity as well cuts/ punctures on their organs which were near enough fatal anyway without any assistance from an onboard device.
In most cases, the person sitting in front of a steering wheel is shorter than average and sometimes even more so when the victims do not pay attention. This causes their chest to come into contact with airbag deployment causing injury due to the resulting force.
Do I need to hire a personal injury lawyer to help with chest pain after an accident?
The recovery process after a car accident can be long and arduous. However, reaching out to a personal injury attorney is the first step in getting what you deserve while filing your claim for chest pain after a car accident. In most cases, involving a reliable personal injury lawyer after a car accident may help you recoup damages incurred from the crash or get a fair settlement.
