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A soft tissue injury can have a debilitating effect on your ability to work and your quality of life. These injuries can cause severe, chronic pain and reduced range of motion. You may need medical care, which could be hard if your injury also leaves you out of work. Why should you have to pay the price of an injury that wasn’t your fault? You shouldn’t — and Robinette Legal Group wants to help you do something about it.

For over a decade, attorney Jeff Robinette has fought vigorously to protect the rights and interests of injured clients across West Virginia. Let him put the skills and experience he’s acquired in that time to work for you. He’s ready to advocate for your right to compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, physical pain, and emotional distress, and he can pursue a soft tissue injury settlement or take your personal injury claim to trial if necessary.

Contact Robinette Legal Group, PLLC, for a free initial case evaluation and no-obligation consultation with a soft tissue injury lawyer in Morgantown.

What Are Soft Tissue Injuries?

Soft tissue injuries refer to traumatic damage to the parts of the body that aren’t hardened by calcification or ossification, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bursae. Soft tissue injuries often occur due to a violent force or blow to the body that damages soft tissues. However, they can also develop due to overexertion or repetitive motions that damage soft tissues over time. While injured soft tissues usually heal on their own, more severe injuries may require direct medical treatment to repair the damage.

Symptoms of Soft Tissue Injuries

Common soft tissue injury symptoms include:

  • Pain in or around the injured area, especially when moving the area
  • Swelling
  • Redness
  • Stiffness or limited range of motion
  • Weakness
  • Muscle cramping or spasms
  • Joint instability
  • The skin over the injured area feels warmer than the surrounding area
  • A lump or knot at the injury site
  • Visible bruising

Examples of Soft Tissue Injuries

What are the most common soft tissue injuries? Here are some soft tissue injury examples that we frequently see :

  • Contusions – More commonly called a bruise, a contusion occurs when the body receives blunt force trauma. One of the most common soft tissue injuries, a contusion causes pain, swelling, and skin discoloration due to bleeding of the injured tissue.
  • Sprains – A sprain involves a stretching or tearing of a ligament (the tissues that hold joints together). Ligament sprains usually occur due to sudden twisting or hyperextension of a joint, including ankles, knees, elbows, or wrists.
  • Strains – A strain involves stretching or tearing muscles or tendons (the fibers connecting muscles to bones). Strains can occur in many of the same ways as ligament sprains and involve the same kinds of treatment depending on the severity of the injury.
  • Stress injuries – A stress injury or stress fracture refers to a small crack that forms in a bone, most frequently in the hips, legs, and feet. Stress fractures typically occur due to overexertion or repetitive motions. If the stress fracture progresses to a complete bone break, medical attention or surgery may be necessary to set the bone.
  • Bursitis – This is a condition caused by inflammation of the bursae, the tiny fluid-filled sacs that provide cushioning between bones, muscles, and tendons. Bursitis may develop due to overuse of a joint, although direct trauma to the joint can also be to blame.
  • Tendonitis – A condition caused by inflammation of tendons, usually caused by overuse or repetitive motions.

How To Treat Soft Tissue Injuries

Doctors select a soft tissue injury treatment plan based on the type and severity of a person’s injury. For mild injuries, treatment usually involves the “RICE” method: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Patients should rest the area where a soft tissue injury occurred and use ice, compression, and elevation to reduce swelling. They might require the use of braces or casts to immobilize an injured area to give the soft tissue injury time to heal.

In some cases, stretching or strengthening exercises may be used to promote healing or prevent further or repeated injury. For more severe injuries, patients may instead need physical therapy.

Doctors may also recommend that patients take over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers or receive injections in the injured area to help relieve severe or chronic pain from soft tissue injuries.

For severe soft tissue injuries, such as torn tissue, broken bones, or injuries that worsen or don’t heal, a patient may need surgery to repair the damage, including fixing broken bones, repairing torn muscles, or reattaching torn ligaments and tendons.

Accidents That Can Cause Soft Tissue Damage

Soft tissue injuries can occur in most kinds of accidents. Some of the most common causes of soft tissue damage include:

Compensation Available for Soft Tissue Injuries in West Virginia

If someone else caused your soft tissue injury, they could owe you compensation for the many different kinds of harm you suffered as a result. Such injuries include the following:

  • Costs of medical bills, including emergency room care, surgery/hospitalization, doctor’s appointments, durable medical equipment purchases, pain management care, or physical therapy
  • Costs of care and support services you may need to assist you with soft tissue-related disabilities
  • Lost wages/income if you need to take time off work to recover from your injury or if your injury imposes medical restrictions that require you to transfer to a part-time or light-duty position
  • Loss of future earning capacity because of permanent disabilities
  • Physical pain
  • Emotional distress
  • Diminished quality of life due to long-term disability

To learn more about receiving compensation for these losses, contact our WV personal injury lawyer for more information.

Talk to Our Experienced Soft Tissue Injury Lawyers in Morgantown, WV Today

Did someone else cause you to suffer a soft tissue injury? If so, they could owe you compensation for your pain and suffering, medical bills, lost income, and more in a personal injury claim. But to get the full amount you deserve, you’ll need to work with an experienced attorney who understands the stakes and how to win. You need Jeff Robinette, a Morgantown personal injury lawyer ready to fight for you.

Whether you’ve been in a soft tissue injury car accident or were hurt some other way, Jeff is ready to help you demand justice. Contact Robinette Legal Group, PLLC, today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a soft tissue injury lawyer. You’ll learn about your legal options that can get you on the road to financial recovery and put your life back on track.