You’re hit by a careless driver. After calling the police and exchanging information, you head to the closest urgent care center. The staff there take X-rays but find nothing. Yet, the next morning, you can barely turn your head. Were the X-rays wrong? The answer lies in the difference between soft tissue and hard tissue injuries.
This article helps injured Alabamians better understand the differences between soft tissue and hard tissue damage after a car accident. It discusses how each type of injury affects diagnosis and insurance company tactics. Finally, it explains how an Alabama accident injury attorney can help you protect your legal rights after a soft tissue or hard tissue injury.
What’s the Difference Between Soft Tissue and Hard Tissue Injuries?
The human body contains 206 bones. These bones, as well as bony parts like tooth enamel and tough cartilage, are all hard tissue. In an X-ray, hard tissue shows up as the bright white parts.
Soft tissues are non-bony structures that support bones and organs. Soft tissues include fat, muscle, nerves, skin, and blood vessels, as well as tendons and ligaments. Tendons are flexible tissues that connect bones to muscles. Ligaments connect bones to bones. These tissues generally show up in X-rays as the gray, shadowy areas surrounding the bone.
Common Soft Tissue Accident Injuries
Sprains and strains are common soft tissue injuries. Sprains cause damage to ligaments, while strains involve injury to muscles or tendons.
Whiplash is one of the most common soft tissue injuries in car accidents. It involves damage to the ligaments, muscles, and tendons of the neck. Whiplash damage can lead to symptoms like stiffness and pain whenever the neck is moved.
Other common soft tissue injuries include:
- Herniated discs
- Sprains and strains of ligaments, muscles, and tendons in the back, shoulder, knee, ankle, elbow, or wrist
- Rotator cuff strains and tears
- Contusions (bruises)
- Lacerations (cuts)
- Abrasions (scrapes)
Symptoms of soft tissue injury include pain (constant or upon movement), stiffness, swelling, reduced range of motion, and numbness. However, these symptoms can take hours, days, or even weeks to fully develop. As such, it’s important to see your doctor immediately after an accident and anytime you notice a change in your soft tissue injury.
Common Accident-Related Hard Tissue Injuries
Fractures, or breaks in the bone, are one of the most common accident-related hard tissue injuries.
Car accidents most often cause fractures in the:
- Lower body (e.g., femur (thigh bone), tibia (shin), patella (kneecap))
- Pelvic area
- Upper body (e.g., clavicle (collarbone), ulna (forearm), wrist, scapula (shoulder blade))
- Rib cage
- Spine
While fractures are the most common hard tissue injury, they aren’t the only ones. Other hard tissue injuries include:
- Dislocated joints
- Partially dislocated (subluxated) joints
- Bone contusions (bone bruises)
- Cartilage injuries (e.g., meniscal tears)
- Tooth damage
How Are Soft Tissue and Hard Tissue Injuries Diagnosed?
Some fractures are obvious because the bone breaks through the skin or the damage can be seen under the skin. If a fracture isn’t obvious, X-rays are typically requested. X-rays were designed to examine bony tissues, so they are excellent at showing fractures and other hard tissue damage. If the break is difficult to diagnose, the doctor may order a Computed Tomography (CT) scan to get better images of the bone.
While X-rays are good for evaluating damage to bones, they aren’t very good at capturing damage to the surrounding soft tissue. In these cases, doctors may use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or ultrasound to evaluate the injury. They may also conduct a physical exam to evaluate pain, range of motion, swelling, and other symptoms.
How Insurance Companies Respond to Hard vs. Soft Tissue Injuries
After an accident, the insurance company is not your friend. Their goal is to avoid paying you or to pay you as little as possible. They will use anything they can to help them achieve their goal.
Hard tissue injuries are more difficult for insurance companies to fight. Because they usually show up on X-rays or other imaging tests, it’s challenging for them to argue that the injury doesn’t exist. They will still try to minimize the injury and its impact, but they must admit that the injury happened.
On the other hand, insurance companies spend lots of time fighting soft tissue injuries. Because these injuries don’t usually appear on X-rays or other imaging tests, it’s easier for insurance companies to argue that soft tissue injuries are exaggerated or even nonexistent. They may also argue that the injury was pre-existing or otherwise unrelated to the accident.
To protect yourself from insurance company tactics, document all treatment plans and your compliance with those plans. Also, let your Birmingham injury attorney take the lead in any conversations with the insurance company.
What Kind of Compensation Can I Get for a Hard Tissue or Soft Tissue Injury?
Regardless of the type of injury, injured people who can prove that the driver who hit them was negligent (and who were not contributorily negligent) are entitled to compensation.
You may receive money for your:
- Medical bills (past and future)
- Lost wages
- Lost earning potential
- Pain and suffering.
Your Birmingham injury attorney can tell you more about the types of damages that may be available in your case.
How an Alabama Injury Attorney Can Help You with a Soft Tissue or Hard Tissue Injury
Injured people have rights. An Alabama accident injury attorney can help you protect those rights. Your lawyer can:
- Gather medical records that clearly show the hard or soft tissue damage
- Use medical records to establish the severity of your injury
- Dispute insurance company arguments that claim your injury is “minor” or “subjective”
- Negotiate a fair settlement
- Prepare for trial, if necessary
If you or someone you love was injured in a car accident, Collins Law is ready to fight for you and help you get your life back on track. You can schedule a free consultation today by calling 205-588-1411 or using our online form.
