A rather common fear is to have a neck injury that forever changes your life. It’s likely that if you have any spinal or neck wound that leaves you with paraplegia or quadriplegia, it’s an Atlas C1 or access C2 injury. These two critical vertebrae create opportunity for a substantial amount of spinal cord damage. Before diving into the scientific part of why these two vertebrae are so important, the overall element is that a car crash can drastically change your life. One car crash. One snap of your head forward and then back should be simple whiplash. But more severe injuries can leave you needing lifelong assistance. You deserve compensation for that, and our Carrollton auto wreck attorneys can help.
What is the Difference Between a Spinal Cord Injury and Vertebra Damage?
It is possible to damage a vertebra or the disc along your spine without directly injuring the spinal cord. This is bone damage. While chipping or cracking a vertebra is not pleasant, a fracture can recover. However, spinal cord injuries are a little different.
Spinal cord injuries are often what leaves people with paralysis and loss of internal function. The spinal cord is the nerve center that communicates subconscious and conscious movements throughout the rest of the body. It is your spinal cord that sends signals to make your legs move. Unfortunately, vertebra damage and spinal cord injuries are not fully independent to one another. They often come in a together.
The Impact of C1-C4 Damage
The C1 to C4 sections of the spine are critical for many areas of the body. This is known as the high cervical nerve region of the spine. This is also where most of the severe spinal cord injuries happen, and most of them result from car accidents.
The full impact of severing or injuring the high cervical nerves, including C1 and C2, is pretty severe. Often the victims will lose function of their arms, hands, legs, or feet. Those are the more obvious symptoms.
However, other effects can include not being able to breathe on their own or to control bowel movements. Some are even unable to cough.
Many people wonder at the difference between paraplegia and quadriplegia, and often the difference is upper body control. In most cases, when the lower body functions lose control or lose contact with the spinal column, what happens is that they lose all control over their legs, bladder, and bowels. That is common paraplegia.
With quadriplegia, there are other elements to take into account in that they won’t have function of their arms or hands and may not be able to breathe independently. Additionally, quadriplegia may cause a person to lose control of their vocal cords.
In either situation, daily living is changed drastically for the victim. Often they’ll have to go through years of surgeries, rehabilitation, and physical therapy treatments. Then the victim could need assistance throughout the rest of their life. Having a nurse or doctor on hand for 24-hour care is not something that most people can afford. That’s where the victims often turn to some financial relief effort, such as filing a claim through their insurance company.
Symptoms of a C1-C2 Injury
Not every C1 or C2 injury will lead to paraplegia or require around the clock care. In fact, there are degrees of spinal cord injuries that often allow people to recover fully.
Because C1 and C2 are so high on the spinal column, it’s often associated with upper back, shoulder, and neck pain. There are the obvious symptoms when there is extreme spinal damage in which the person is unable to move limbs or breathe.
However incomplete spinal cord injuries can often come with a loss of sensation or mild tingling in affected limbs. That’s not to say that there’s a permanent loss of function or use.
The Carrollton Auto Wreck Attorneys at John B. Jackson Are Here For You
In Georgia, you can always count on John B. Jackson. When you’re handling a significant life change that requires almost lifelong treatment or assistance, you need legal help. Car accident settlements often can’t or won’t cover lifelong care. However, you can approach the matter in a different light with a focus on the compensation you need and support necessary for moving forward with your life.
Our Carrollton, Georgia car wreck law firm will go through all of your symptoms and losses based around the C1 or C2 injury from the wreck. Because of the extent of the damage, our team is at your service with all variety or resources or support that you may need.
