Back Injury Emergency Treatment

Never attempt to move a person with a back or spinal injury or involved in any type of personal injury accident. Doing so could cause more damage. Call 911 immediately. Rescue workers know how to properly immobilize people with back injuries and safely take you to the hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Doctor’s Evaluation

After checking heart rate, breathing and other vital signs, a doctor locates the fractured part(s) of the spine and determines the extent of back injury. He or she then finds out exactly how the vertebra broke (fracture pattern) and whether you have nerve (neural) injury and/or spinal instability. The doctor considers what caused the back injury, gives you a physical/neurological examination and takes X-rays to show inside the body.

Sadly, many personal injury lawyers in Michigan will rely upon standard discharge instructions from an emergency room evaluation and normal x-rays and assume no serious personal injury could have occurred. Do not be fooled. Emergency rooms are acute care facilities and they will normally not perform additional testing that can identify very serious personal injuries later on.

Patient History

Every detail you can recall about what caused the personal injury may help the doctor. Sometimes rescue workers or other witnesses can supply more information about the back injury. Did a car or truck accident eject the patient from a vehicle? Was there windshield or steering column damage? Was the person using a lap and/or shoulder seat belt? Did an airbag deploy?

Back Injury Evaluation

The doctor carefully removes your clothing and immobilizes the body with a spine board for complete physical examination. This may include checking for swelling, bruising and other signs of head injury, neck injury, chest injury, abdomen injury, and back injury; evaluating strength, motion and alignment of arms and legs; feeling for tenderness on each rib and along the entire length of the spine; testing the tone and sensation of rectal muscles; and other evaluations. You may also need a neurologic examination, which may include tests of sensory (i.e., temperature, pain and pressure sensitivity), motor (i.e., muscle strength) and reflex (i.e., knee jerk) functions of the nervous system. If you had a back injury or neck injury in Michigan that caused neurological damage, certain tests can show whether you may recover some function (incomplete deficit) or not (complete deficit).

Classification | Treatment | Diagnostic Imaging
Lumbar Strain/Sprain | Recovery Strain/Sprain | Fractures | Recovery
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