Understanding Long-Term Post-Accident Arthritis
Arthritis: you may know it as a long term ailment, a painful condition that generally comes with old age, or at least, constant wear and tear on our joints. And while that is true, that’s not the only way people can develop arthritis. There is such a thing as post traumatic arthritis, and it is a condition that accident victims can develop, sometimes long after the initial injury and accident.
Post Accident Arthritis
Just like the outside of our bodies, injury to the inside of our bodies causes inflammation. If you are injured in an accident (or any other way), you probably notice the pain you experience, which often develops hours or even a day or so after the injury. That’s short term inflammation.
But even if you seem to heal just fine after an accident and the short term inflammation, that’s just the short term injury. You still may have long term damage to ligaments, tendons, musculature, or other parts inside of your body.
For example, a dislocation can tear tendons and ligaments, which may get stronger over time, but may never get back to their pre-injury strength or stability.
And because you don’t have the healthy or even complete parts of your body that help you move smoothly and without pain, over time, long term inflammation—arthritis—can happen.
Accident Victims Do Get Arthritis
In fact, in many commonly known injuries, long term studies have shown that victims have a much higher incident rate of arthritis. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, people who have sustained knee injuries are almost 60% more likely to suffer from long term arthritis.
And no—you don’t have to be elderly to suffer from post traumatic arthritis. Someone who suffers a severe injury at, say, 25 years old, may start to have the effects of arthritis at 30 or 35 or 40 years old—much younger than what would be the normal onset for normal arthritis.
Post accident or post traumatic arthritis can even start to develop as quickly as 6 months to a year after the accident itself, but can be longer than that. That means that if you sought compensation for an accident, you may not even have arthritis, at the time that you make your claim.
Symptoms of Arthritis
You may know that you are developing post accident arthritis, because pain develops slowly, and at first, you may not know why, being many months out from your accident. Joints may be stiff, you may feel or hear joints grinding against each other, you may have swelling, and may not be able to move the joint with the range of motion that you once did.
Long Term Compensation
That’s why doctors and other experts may be needed to testify as to your likelihood to develop long term arthritis. Despite the impression that “everybody gets arthritis,” and that it’s “no big deal,” for many accident victims, especially those who work more manual or physical jobs, arthritis can threaten to cut short lifetime wages and long term earning potential.
Did an accident harm your present or future? Get the compensation you need with attorneys who understand personal injury law. Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200.
Sources:
mcjr.com/what-is-post-traumatic-arthritis/
goshenhealth.com/services-conditions/post-traumatic-arthritis-and-osteoarthritis
