Pinched Nerve from a Truck Accident

The spinal cord is connected to the brain and runs down the length of the spine. The vertebral column protects a fragile bundle of neurons. There are spinal nerves that supply various parts of the body from the spinal cord, and they exit in between the vertebras through spaces called the intervertebral foramina. The function of these spinal nerves is to transmit sensory and motor signals from the body to the brain, and vice versa.

Nerves and nerve roots are easily crushed against their surrounding structures during accidents. Accidents cause injuries like whiplash and spinal fractures where there is sudden compression of the structures, deformities of joints, and tissue inflammation. Any sensory and motor function of the body part supplied by the nerve is affected. This includes localized pain, radiating pain, and muscle weakness, numbness, and spasms. If the nerve damage is extensive, paralysis can occur.

Treatment of pinched nerves is proper rest to allow the inflammation to go down and for the injury to heal. Pain medications, along with anti-inflammatory drugs, may be prescribed to speed up the healing process. If the symptoms of a pinched nerve are severe, a brace may be prescribed to immobilize the area. Physical therapy may also be ordered to strengthen the muscles, prevent muscle stiffness, and improve range of motion. In worse cases of a pinched nerve, surgery is oftentimes prescribed. All of these treatments can be pretty expensive, though, especially if your insurance plan does not cover them.

Cervical radiculopathy is a radiating pain felt from the neck down to the fingers’ tips and is caused by spinal nerve compression in the cervical spine. The pain can be a dull, aching pain, or it can be a sharp, shooting pain. Movement of the neck sometimes aggravates the symptoms, especially when the neck moves in such a way that it worsens the compression of the pinched nerve. Some neck positions may also alleviate the symptoms because the movement momentarily releases the pinched nerve from its compression.

You can get cervical radiculopathy from a car accident. Whiplash, a neck injury caused by abrupt flexion and extension of the neck, compresses the spinal nerves exiting from the cervical vertebrae. This results in the affectation of the sensory and motor functions of the body parts supplied by the pinched nerve.

Sciatica is a common pinched nerve injury in the lower extremities and is typically caused by arthritis and narrowing of the intervertebral foramina. Symptoms of sciatica include shooting pain that radiates from the buttocks to the tips of the toes; pain aggravated by the sitting position; leg muscle weakness, tingling, and numbness; and gait problems.

A truck accident can also cause sciatica. The sudden collision causes your lumbar spine to hyperextend and to compress the intervertebral discs. This, in turn, will compress the nerve roots exiting from the lumbar vertebrae and affect their sensory and motor functions.

Other injuries from the truck accident, such as a fracture of the lumbar spine, herniated lumbar discs, and ruptured lumbar discs, can also result in sciatica.

Bone spurs are bone outgrowths or bony projections along the edges of the bones. They grow and harden over time and result from the body’s natural way of healing itself in response to bone damage and loss. Bone spurs can also develop due to bones rubbing against each other, as in the case of degenerative disc disease where the discs shrink in size and lose their elasticity and water content. The problem with bone spurs is that their growth in size can cause nerve impingement and the symptoms associated with pinched nerves.

While the development of bone spurs is normal in people with arthritis, some truck accident patients have reported that their accidents have led to the development of bone spurs and the painful symptoms associated with it. This may be due to an old bone injury, untreated fracture, and inadequate bone healing.