Why Is a Headache After a Car Accident Bad?

Why is a headache after a car accident bad? —Because it may indicate a more severe underlying condition, such as whiplash, concussion, or traumatic brain injury. You should never ignore headaches after a car accident, regardless of whether or not you hit your head in the crash or the severity of its intensity. Even a mild headache can be an indicator of serious injury.

Car accident victims who sustained injury or lost a loved one to wrongful death in a collision should consult a Keyser car accident attorney immediately. You’ll want to discover your legal rights, such as seeking financial compensation for your losses.

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What Causes a Headache After a Car Accident?

Numerous underlying factors contribute to what causes a headache after a car accident. Some of the more common causes involve whiplash, concussion, muscle aches and spasms, a brain bleed, traumatic brain injuries, pinched nerves, and fractures in the skull and neck.

What to Do for a Headache After a Car Accident

Due to the body’s initial shock response, headaches may take days to appear following a car accident. Adrenaline and stress hormones influence the body’s perception of pain.

It’s important for accident victims to realize this and still follow the after-car accident protocol of seeking medical treatment, documenting injuries and damages, and hiring a car accident lawyer to represent their legal right to financial compensation —regardless of how they perceive themselves to feel immediately following the collision.

Seek Medical Treatment Immediately

Data demonstrates car accidents are the leading cause of traumatic brain injury-related hospitalization and death annually —with around 1.7 million Americans sustaining them in motor vehicle collisions. Seeking medical treatment immediately following an accident is vital for assessing obvious and hidden injuries.

Document Your Symptoms, Injuries, and Damages

Detailed documentation of the car accident, your injuries, symptoms, and losses is critical for recovering monetary and non-economic damages (pain and suffering) in a car accident insurance claim. Ways to document your injuries and damages include:

• Get a medical evaluation to begin documentation of injuries from the car accident in your medical records. Ongoing care will provide detailed documentation of how the accident has affected your health and quality of life.
• Take photos of injuries immediately following your car accident and vehicle damages. Include any pictures you took of the accident scene for your car accident attorney.
• Keep a post-accident journal with detailed entries about pain levels, sleep disturbances, inability or difficulty performing daily tasks, loss of ability to do things you once loved, and other pain and suffering incurred from your car accident-related injuries.

Other documentation that establishes actual damages are:

• Medical and rehabilitation billing statements.
• Vehicle-related repair or replacement invoices.
• Lost income statements.
• Receipts for all out-of-pocket expenses.

Consult a Car Accident Lawyer About Your Case

After being medically evaluated, contacting a car accident lawyer about your collision is crucial in protecting your legal rights, including filing necessary paperwork within your state’s statutes of limitations.

Accident victims shouldn’t be responsible for absorbing the financial costs of injuries and rehabilitation after a collision, especially when it isn’t their fault. They also shouldn’t accept missed time off work without being adequately compensated for those losses.

A car accident lawyer will represent you through the legal process of recovering financial compensation for damages incurred from your accident. Schedule a free consultation to discuss the details of your case today.

The sooner you obtain legal counsel, the quicker you can take a deep breath, knowing a competent professional is handling the legal aspects of your injury claim so that you can focus on your recovery.

What Not to Do for a Headache After a Car Accident

Understanding what to do after a car accident is vital for your next steps. However, knowing what not to do is equally important. You should never ignore your headache, disregard your medical recovery plan, make posts on social media, talk to liable insurers, or delay hiring an experienced car accident lawyer to represent your legal right to compensation.

Ignore Your Headache 

You must never ignore your headache or other symptoms of injury after being in a car accident. Unfortunately, accident victims who delay medical treatment can worsen injuries and sometimes may even have fatal consequences. A headache can be a serious indicator of an underlying injury. Don’t delay medical care.

Disregard Your Medical Recovery Plan

Similarly, don’t delay or disregard your medical care recovery plan. If your physician limits your activities or even restricts you from work, follow their instructions.

Following a car accident, recovery and health are the most important things. Don’t worry about the financial losses from missing work; your car accident attorney will demand compensation to recover them.

Make Posts on Social Media

One of the more challenging restrictions for some car accident victims to understand and comply with is refraining from posting on social media. However, it’s crucial for cementing liability, proving negligence, and the severity of your injuries.

It’s common for liable insurers to watch a claimant’s social media accounts for anything that is or appears to be incriminating. Something as innocent as a photo of you laughing or a video upload of you doing a little TikTok dance may be twisted into downplaying the severity of your injuries.

Social media posts may be enough to get your claim undervalued or denied. If you’ve already updated your followers on your car accident, consult an attorney right away. They will best advise you on what to do (and not to do) next.

Talk to Liable Insurance Companies

Don’t talk to the at-fault party(s) insurance company. They will call you (nearly immediately), eager to catch you before you’ve spoken to a car accident lawyer who advised you of your rights, including the one not to speak to them.

Regardless of what the representative or claim adjuster says, you are not legally required to provide a recorded statement documenting your accident, injuries, and pain levels. Don’t give them one. If you’ve already provided a recorded accounting, consult a lawyer to determine your next actions.

Delay Hiring a Car Accident Lawyer

Don’t delay hiring an experienced car accident attorney to represent your accident claim. Most car accident lawyers work in contingency arrangements. That means they require no upfront or ongoing costs and do not get paid unless and until you do.

Car accident insurance claims can be complex and have a statute of limitations. Giving your lawyer time to investigate your case and maximize your expected settlement is critical.

How a Car Accident Attorney Will Help Recover Compensation

Car accident lawyers offer free case evaluations, protect you from insurance companies, gather and preserve evidence, interview witnesses, accident reconstruction, secure expert testimony, value your claim, negotiate a fair settlement, and represent you in court if your case proceeds to trial.

Free Case Evaluation

Contingency arrangements allow car accident lawyers to provide free case evaluations to injury victims. Bring any evidence of your accident, including photos or video of the accident scene, medical records, medical bills, and pictures of your injuries following the collision.

Protect You Against Insurance Companies

Insurance claim adjusters aim to minimize their company’s monetary payouts. They deny liability and reject as many claims as possible to save money.

Unrepresented victims also are more likely to take a first lowball offer without attempting to negotiate a fair settlement. The moment you hire an attorney, insurance communications will be directed to them. You won’t have them calling and pressuring you to settle before you’ve fully recovered from your injuries.

Gather and Preserve Evidence

The evidence in your car accident claim proves negligence and liability. Some evidence can be destroyed quickly if not gathered and preserved, making early collection important. Typical evidence in a car accident case includes:

• Vehicle collision or police report
• Photos of your injuries after the crash
• Pictures of the accident scene and vehicle and property damages
• Commercial and residential security video footage of the accident scene
• Dashcam footage
• Debris from the vehicle
• Road condition and weather reports
• Cell phone records of the at-fault driver
• Medical records
• Lost income statements
• Vehicle repair invoices

Another part of the investigation involves interviewing witnesses from the accident scene. Statements might be in the police report, but your car accident lawyer can contact and reinterview them to confirm their statement and discover any new details.

Additionally, they may seek out other potential witnesses. Evidence is collected after a car accident, your lawyer will carefully analyze it for anything that helps establish liability and prove negligence.

Accident Reconstruction

Accident reconstruction is crucial to proving negligence in a car accident claim or lawsuit. Attorneys work with accident reconstruction experts to recreate the circumstances of the collision. Through computer simulation and 3D printing, accident reconstruction specialists can demonstrate liability.

Secure Expert Testimony

In addition to accident reconstruction specialists, car accident lawyers have a network of experts they work with to determine liability, injuries, and damages. Experts a car accident attorney may consult depending on the nature of your accident are as follows:

• Medical and mental health care professionals
• Economists
• Occupational therapists
• Vocational rehabilitation therapists
• Speech and language therapists
• Engineering experts
• Vehicle safety experts
• Highway safety experts

Accident victims with expert testimony backing up their injury and damage claims might have a greater chance of securing fair compensation following a car accident. Additionally, some lawyers may have excellent referrals to doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other medical professionals who work with accident victims.

Sometimes, these healthcare providers won’t insist on immediate payment from accident victims because they understand they will be paid once the case is settled. Ask your attorney for possible referrals if it might help your circumstances.

Value Your Car Accident Claim

Valuing your car accident claim involves assessing all economic and non-economic damages incurred from the collision. These losses may involve:

• Medical Costs —Emergency services, hospital stays, surgeries and follow-up care, physical therapy and chiropractic care, medical diagnostics and devices, disability home and vehicle modifications, in-home nursing care, and future medical expenses.
• Professional Damages —All income losses, such as lost wages or salary, commissions, benefits, and future earnings for long-term injuries.
• Property Damages —All vehicle-related expenses, including repairs or replacement. Property damages also include all personal property destroyed in a car accident, like cell phones and car seats.
• Household Services —All hired help expenses associated with your recovery, such as daycare, housecleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery, meals, and prescription delivery.
• Non-Economic Losses —Pain and suffering, permanent impairment, sleep disturbances, decreased quality of life, anxiety, depression, psychological trauma, substance misuse problems, and loss of enjoyment of everyday activities.
• Wrongful Death Damages —Loss of consortium, companionship, and spousal relations for the surviving spouse; loss of guidance and inheritance for the surviving children; and loss of financial support for both.

After thoroughly assessing your car accident claim’s economic and non-economic damages, your lawyer will send a demand letter to all liable parties. Insurance companies begin negotiations upon receiving the demand letter.

Negotiate a Fair Settlement

Negotiations typically involve multiple rounds of back and forth. The first offer is almost always too low. However, your lawyer will advise you on all offers and discuss how they believe you should proceed. The final decision on accepting an offer is yours.

Litigate Your Car Accident Lawsuit

Jeff Robinette, Car Accident Lawyer in Keyser

Finally, if negotiations are unsuccessful, a Keyser personal injury lawyer will file a lawsuit and enter the discovery phase, where they exchange information with the defense attorneys.

After presenting evidence to the judge and jury, calling expert witnesses, cross-examining defense witnesses, and giving their final arguments, you and your attorney wait through jury deliberations. If you receive an award, your lawyer will collect their contingency fee, pay off any medical liens doctors put on it, and issue a check.

You won’t owe them a dime if they do not secure compensation. Consult a car accident attorney today to take advantage of their free case evaluation.