Different types of injuries cause people different levels of concern. People who believe they may have sustained a brain injury or damaged their spinal cords are often eager to seek out medical evaluation. People with broken bones usually recognize that they need care, but they likely don’t think of the situation as an emergency.
Most fractures are easily treatable and lead to a full recovery. Healthy individuals can heal fractures in as little as eight weeks in some cases. With the right care and medical support after the bone heals, people can usually recover their full range of motion and regain the strength that they lost while the body part had to be immobilized to heal.
Sadly, fractures are not always minor injuries. Comminuted fractures are much worse than the typical broken bone.
What is a comminuted fracture?
A comminuted fracture involves a bone breaking into many pieces. Those small pieces are usually no longer in appropriate alignment. Sometimes, the force applied to the human body is far beyond what it can accept. Blunt force trauma and twisting force during car crashes can cause comminuted fractures.
Crush injuries can also cause the bone to break into many small pieces. Typically, comminuted fractures require surgery. Health care professionals may spend hours instructing a bone that broke into multiple small pieces. In many cases, they must implant medical devices to reinforce the damaged bone in addition to immobilizing the injured body part after the operation.
Even with implanted pins or rods reinforcing the bone, people with comminuted fractures may notice a marked reduction in strength. They may no longer be capable of performing all of the same tasks with the injured body part that they could before. They may also have reduced range of motion.
In some cases, the force that causes the fracture also causes nerve damage, leading to chronic pain. The unfortunate reality is that comminuted fractures cost far more to treat than other fractures. They have a longer recovery timeline, and the injured person’s prognosis isn’t as universally positive.
Car insurance alone may not be enough to pay for the cost of comminuted fractures or other catastrophic injuries sustained in a car crash. Looking into every option for financial compensation can be a smart move when a car crash causes injuries with permanent medical consequences.