What Numbness and Tingling Means After a Car Accident

Tingling and numbness are common sensations that don’t necessarily indicate a serious problem. Putting pressure on the nerves can cause a feeling of pins and needles that goes away as the nerves decompress. Those sensations can come and go without complications. However, chronic tingling or numbness, with additional symptoms, can indicate a serious medical condition like Lyme disease or diabetes. And when they occur after physical trauma, they could result from an underlying injury.

Damage to nerves outside the brain or spinal cord is called peripheral neuropathy and is often the culprit behind numbness or tingling after a car crash. It is often caused by a traumatic injury, such as a blow to the back during an accident. Pain, numbness, and weakness are common symptoms.

Common Signs of Nerve Damage After an Auto Accident

The peripheral system contains the following three types of nerves:

• Motor nerves — Control muscle movement.
• Sensory nerves — Receive and transmit sensations from the skin, such as vibration, pain, temperature, and touch.
• Autonomic nerves — Control functions such as digestion, blood pressure, heart rate, and perspiration.

The symptoms you might experience depend on the nerves damaged during the collision. The most common signs of peripheral neuropathy include:

• Falling and lack of coordination
• Extreme sensitivity to touch
• Gradual prickling, numbness, or tingling in the hands or feet, possibly spreading to the arms or legs
• Pain while doing things that shouldn’t be painful
• Muscle weakness
• Jabbing, burning, sharp, or throbbing pain.

Severe damage to the motor nerves can lead to paralysis. Damaged autonomic nerves might cause symptoms such as:

• Digestive, bowel, or bladder problems
• Heat intolerance
• Lightheadedness or dizziness from a drop in blood pressure
• Excessive sweating or being unable to sweat.

How Do I Prove Liability for Nerve Damage in an Auto Accident?

Car accidents are often caused by negligence, a legal term that means the failure to use reasonable care to avoid harming another person. Proving negligence typically requires establishing these four elements:

• The at-fault driver owed you a duty to drive their car carefully to prevent a crash.
• The other driver breached their duty.
• The breach caused your injury.
• Your injury resulted in losses.

Establishing these four elements requires evidence about the crash and the other driver’s actions. An experienced personal injury attorney can investigate and obtain evidence such as:

• Photos from the accident scene
• Statements from eyewitnesses
• Police reports
• Video surveillance of the crash
• Statements from experts such as a doctor or accident reconstruction expert.

Medical records can be valuable evidence. Since a range of medical conditions can cause tingling and numbness, your lawyer must prove your symptoms are due to the car crash itself and not an underlying issue. If the insurance company determines your tingling and numbness came from a preexisting condition or prior injury, the company could deny your claim. An experienced attorney can push back against these tactics and help you to establish that your nerve damage resulted from the accident.

What Compensation Is Available for Nerve Damage in an Auto Accident?

There are two primary types of damages you can recover after an auto accident resulting in nerve damage: economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic damages include quantifiable expenses related to an injury, including:

• Lost wages
• Lost earning capacity
• Physical therapy, surgeries, prescriptions, and other medical expenses
• Costs of making a car or home more accessible for a disability
• Repair or replacement of a vehicle.

Non-economic damages typically refer to physical or emotional suffering from an accident. The money you receive might compensate for your:

• Loss of enjoyment or quality of life
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress.

Determining the value of economic damages can be straightforward. You can add all bills, invoices, and receipts associated with the incident. However, non-economic damages are challenging to calculate. Something like pain and suffering is subjective. People interpret it differently. However, it is a real consequence of the car accident, and you deserve to be compensated accordingly.

You should hire a personal injury lawyer for assistance. The lawyer can determine the appropriate value and gather sufficient evidence to argue your claim for non-economic damages. Detailed medical records and statements from family and friends can prove the effects of the accident on your life.

A third type of damages may be recoverable — but only through a lawsuit rather than a negotiated settlement. Punitive damages may be awarded if you can show clear and convincing evidence of the defendant’s malice, willful misconduct, oppression, fraud, wantonness, or want of care, presuming a conscious indifference to consequences.

Is There a Deadline for Filing My Car Accident Lawsuit?

Yes. In Georgia, the statute of limitations allows a two-year timeframe to file a lawsuit. That means you must file your lawsuit within two years of the car crash to pursue compensation for your nerve damage through the courts.

What Should I Do After Suffering Nerve Damage in a Car Accident?

You should seek immediate medical care if you experience numbness or tingling after a car accident. While these symptoms may not be severe or permanent, only a doctor can evaluate your condition appropriately. If the physician recommends ongoing treatment, follow their instructions carefully.

Keeping a “pain journal” can be helpful. Document the symptoms you feel daily. You should also include activities or times of day when your symptoms worsen. For example, write down whether you feel more pain or serious symptoms while driving, walking, or showering.

You should consult a lawyer after a car accident, even if you think it was only a minor one. You are entitled to compensation for an injury that someone else caused and should not pay the expenses to treat nerve damage that isn’t your fault. The negligent driver should be financially responsible. Your lawyer can file an auto insurance claim and negotiate a settlement. If the insurer denies the claim or offers an inadequate settlement figure, your lawyer can file a lawsuit and take your case to court.

Contact an Athens Car Accident Lawyer Today

Nerve damage can be debilitating. It is something you should not ignore after a car accident. If you feel numbness or tingling after a car accident that wasn’t your fault, you should seek help from an experienced Athens car accident attorney without delay. At R. Alan Cleveland, LLC, we believe in fighting for the rights of the injured. We provide personalized attention during the entire legal process and will not rest in our pursuit of the money you deserve. Call or contact us online today for a free consultation.