Written By: Dale Orlando
Orthopaedic injuries impact your body’s musculoskeletal system, which includes joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, bones, and nerves. There are minor orthopaedic injuries that will only affect your movement for a short period of time, such as a twisted ankle. There are also more severe orthopaedic injuries, which can have a long-term affect on your quality of life.
Severe orthopaedic injuries
An orthopaedic injury can be more than just a broken bone, and even the simplest of accidents can lead to severe complications. Car accidents and slips and falls are common situations that can result in an orthopaedic injury that leaves you physically impaired. Some orthopaedic injuries that can have a long-term effect on your ability to move include:
- Broken arms and legs
- Compound fractures
- Joint and ligament damage
- Disc hernias
How is a severe orthopaedic injury defined?
While a broken arm or leg will heal, there are times when the damage is far more extensive than what is first presumed. A severe orthopaedic injury is one that has a significant impact on the way you live your life. Such injuries result in an inability to properly move, work, and participate in recreational activities, or to even complete regular day-to-day tasks. Some of the most common symptoms that impact quality of life include:
- Chronic back pain
- Inability to walk
- Sudden loss of sense of self
- Movement issues within your shoulders and arms
How will an orthopaedic injury affect your quality of life?
Unfortunately, there are many ways in which an orthopaedic injury can impact the way you live each day. As mentioned, it can disrupt regular daily activities due to the inability to move. This can result in many additional changes, including:
- Loss of Income
- Psychological and emotional impacts
- Inability to fully interact with others
- Unexpected and on-going medical costs
Severe orthopaedic injuries can be exceptionally devastating to not only the physical aspects of your life, but to your emotional and mental state as well.
What are the psychological and emotional impacts?
One of the greater losses of an orthopaedic injury can be the damage that it has on your mind and emotions. Being unable to provide for your family or to fully engage in activities with your loved ones can take a toll on your emotions. The influence that these injuries can have on your financial and personal life can sometimes be harder than the actual pain and physical symptoms experienced.
What can you do to alleviate some of the burdens?
If you have experienced an orthopaedic injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, making a personal injury claim can help with the situation. While it won’t treat the emotional and mental trauma that can follow such severe accidents, it can assist with the medical costs that have accumulated, and that will continue to build. Additionally, physical and mental therapy are excellent options that can help you heal as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Again, depending on the circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation for these costs as well.
While money may not seem like the answer, it can definitely help you through the process of coping with an orthopaedic injury. If you are entitled to compensation for the injuries suffered, a personal injury lawyer will be able to start this process for you.