Sustaining an injury in a car accident caused by another person’s negligence is frustrating. Even a seemingly minor accident can leave you with neck or back pain that takes months to subside.
Or you might still be struggling with spinal pain after months of conservative treatment, such as physical therapy and anti-inflammatories.
In this situation, your doctor may suggest steroid injections. But is it worth it? How much does a steroid injection increase a settlement in Florida?
Injuries to the spine can take a considerable amount of time to heal. Some of these injuries may linger for months or years. The reason is that the spine is the primary support for your bones and muscles.
During your recovery, you could experience time off from work and be unable to handle your daily living activities. If your doctor recommended steroid injections, it’s essential to speak with a skilled Hudson car accident attorney right away.
What Are Steroid Injections?
So how much does a steroid injection increase your settlement? Before answering that question, it’s important to understand what steroid injections are.
Doctors use epidural steroid injections to treat chronic back pain. A trained medical professional will inject a shot of cortisone into the epidural space, which is the outermost section of your spinal column. The steroid injection will target the area of injury, reducing inflammation and pain. You may receive one or more injections as part of your treatment.
However, there is a limit to how often you should get steroid injections. Some medical professionals say no more than three to six steroid injections per year.
The relief from steroid injections may last anywhere from six weeks to six months in some cases. However, steroid injections don’t treat the underlying injury, so you could have pain again in the future. Epidurals can often work wonders for nerve pain that comes from sciatica, herniated discs, or spinal stenosis.
Epidural Injection and Car Accident Settlements
The idea of getting an epidural injection can seem daunting, not to mention that they are not inexpensive. Steroid injections are considered minimally invasive, but they are not without associated risks either. Potential risks include:
- Feeling flushed,
- Developing an allergy to the medication,
- Pain at the injection site,
- Increased blood sugar levels,
- Developing an infection in the injection area,
- Anticoagulation or bleeding disorders,
- Insomnia, and
- Problems with the local anesthetic used.
Understandably, many prospective clients want to know the relationship between an epidural steroid injection and a car accident settlement.
There is no set dollar amount by which injections increase your settlement amount. Some people may find relief with a single shot, while others may need multiple injections over one or more years. Developing side effects can impact your potential settlement value.
There might also be an increase in your pain and suffering damages since injections can be painful. If you want to know about the impact steroid injections have on your case, it’s best to speak with an experienced Pasco County car accident attorney.
Trigger Point Injections and Car Accident Settlement Negotiations
Like epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections can offer some relief from inflammation and muscle pain. Your trigger points are small knots that develop in your fascia tissue or muscles. They can cause chronic pain or tenderness.
These injections are delivered directly into your trigger point to relieve the pain from various musculoskeletal disorders. For example, you might get neck injections after a car accident to relieve myofascial pain.
Because neck and back pain complaints are typically not easy to diagnose immediately, epidural steroid and trigger point injections can help manage the pain and while your spine begins to heal.
Injections are often a stepping stone to more invasive treatments, such as surgery. But if injections can manage your pain and inflammation, you can avoid even more expensive surgery and a longer recovery process.
How a Florida Car Accident Lawyer Can Help
Wendy Doyle-Palumbo has over three decades of experience handling Florida personal injury cases, including car accidents. You need someone who has experience with epidural steroid injection and car accident settlements.
When you retain us to represent you, we will devote our resources to building the strongest case possible. We are a boutique firm and believe in providing individualized attention to all our clients.
Our goal is to pursue the maximum compensation possible, even if it means taking your case to trial. With some larger firms, their priority is to settle as quickly as possible and move on to the next case.
We believe it’s crucial to conduct a thorough independent investigation following an accident. We will obtain all relevant evidence and speak to any witnesses. You won’t need to communicate with the defendant’s insurance company either. Our office will handle all negotiations and communication with the at-fault parties’ representatives.
In some cases, it may be necessary to retain one or more medical experts. These experts can discuss the impact of the injury on your life and what residual effects you could develop.
We recommend that you keep a pain journal following your accident. Include details of how your neck or back pain impacts your daily life. What activities do you need help with on a day-to-day basis? Have you given up one or more of your favorite hobbies due to the pain? The more diminished your daily functioning has been since the accident, the more your case could be worth.
If you move forward with steroid injections, discuss your pain before and after the treatment. Did the epidural injections help you? Do you need to go in for another round? You are entitled to ask for additional compensation for epidural steroid injections. Back or neck injections after a car accident should be compensated fairly.
Contact a Pasco County Car Accident Lawyer
If you sustained spinal injuries in a Florida car accident and you’re facing the need for epidural injections, don’t handle your case alone. Let Wendy Doyle-Palumbo help. We will work with you to build the strongest case possible. Contact our office today to schedule a consultation.