Car crashes often result in injury, and several points on the human body serve as susceptible to these injuries. The head, neck and back often take on a majority of the damage, and back pain, in particular, can have lasting ramifications.
But can the back pain stemming from a crash impact your life in any significant way? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
The cost of back pain
The National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke examines how much back pain can impact your life. Note that back pain actually serves as one of the most common reasons that people take sick days at work across the nation, leading to 264 million lost workdays every single year. It costs Americans around $50 billion in healthcare every year, and after factoring in decreased productivity and lost wages, this number easily skyrockets to $100 billion or more.
Back pain stemming from an accident fits under the short-term back pain category at first. Most victims of this type will recover within weeks or months, but some people will go on to develop chronic or long-term back pain instead.
Impact on your work and life
Unfortunately, back pain can serve as a debilitating source that can limit your mobility to a severe degree. You may not have the ability to fill the physical requirements of your job anymore. Back pain is also sometimes intense enough to distract you from concentrating, causing you to make avoidable mistakes or turn in sloppy work.
On top of that, chronic back pain sufferers also have a chance of developing addictions to pain medication due to the sheer amount they must rely on. For these reasons, many in your position seek financial compensation.