Walking down a street, crossing at a crosswalk, or simply standing on a sidewalk are all everyday activities that we take for granted.
Yet, in an instant, an accident involving a motor vehicle can turn that simple stroll outside into a life-altering event.
The chances of an accident are scarily high in a city like Albuquerque. The year 2021 saw over 300 pedestrians sustaining injuries in accidents. Forty-nine pedestrians lost their lives.
Regardless of the numbers, you need legal assistance to deal with the legal part of the accident. Hiring an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer in Albuquerque is the recommended course of action.
Let’s take a closer look at the kinds of injuries that pedestrians experience when they get hit by a vehicle.
Maxillofacial Fractures
One common injury in pedestrian accidents is when someone breaks bones in their face. These are called maxillofacial fractures.
Breaking bones in the middle of your face, like the cheekbones or the bones around your teeth, can mess up some of the most important things on your face. If the bone in your face is broken badly, you might not be able to breathe or eat normally.
And if your jaw breaks, it can be hard to talk or chew food. Sometimes people who break their jaw need surgery to put everything back in place, and they might even need their jaw wired shut while it heals.
When these fractures are serious, doctors often have to do surgery to fix them. One way they do this is by using something called open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF).
With this procedure, the doctor will put the bones back where they belong using screws and plates to hold them in place. Some people need more complicated surgeries, like having their mouth wired shut for a while so the jaw can heal.
Broken Bones
Breaking bones in other parts of your body is common. Your arms, legs, ribs, and pelvis are all at risk. Some breaks are small and might heal on their own, but others are more serious and might need surgery.
If the bone is broken in a way that the pieces don’t line up, doctors might need to put metal pins or screws in to help hold everything together.
Fractures are particularly concerning when they involve weight-bearing bones such as the pelvis or legs because these injuries can affect a person’s ability to move and may require extended medical care.
In more severe cases, surgery involving metal pins, screws, or plates might be necessary to help the bones heal correctly.
Fractures can also lead to complications like infection, especially if the bone breaks through the skin and creates a compound fracture. And, while most fractures heal over time, some victims may experience delayed healing or non-union fractures, where the bone doesn’t heal as expected.
Head Injuries
When someone gets hit, their head often hits the ground or the car. This can cause a concussion, or worse, a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A concussion can mess with your memory, your concentration, or even cause headaches that don’t go away.
Some TBIs are so bad that they can cause permanent brain damage, making it hard to think, speak, or even move properly.
Skull Fractures
In more serious cases, people can suffer skull fractures, which are when the bones in the head actually break. This can cause bleeding in the brain, which is very dangerous.
Spinal cord damage
If your spine is hurt, it can cause partial or full paralysis, meaning you might lose the ability to move parts of your body.
The severity of the injury depends on where the damage occurs. Injuries to the cervical (neck) area can result in quadriplegia, which is a loss of movement and sensation in all four limbs.
On the other hand, injuries to the thoracic (middle of the back) area usually lead to paraplegia, which affects the lower body. Regardless of where the injury occurs, spinal cord injuries are usually permanent and often result in lifelong care.
Soft Tissue Injuries
Even if you don’t break a bone, there’s still a lot of damage that can happen to the softer parts of your body, such as your muscles, tendons, and ligaments. These injuries can hurt a lot and make it hard to move around.
Sprains and strains are common, and even though they don’t sound as bad as breaking a bone, they can still take a long time to heal. Some people even need surgery to fix torn ligaments or muscles.
Internal damage
These injuries happen inside your body, and they’re often harder to notice at first. Things like bleeding inside your body or damage to organs like your spleen or lungs can be life-threatening if not treated quickly.
