When we talk about accident injuries, most people tend to think of more severe injuries, such as head and brain injuries or spinal injuries. However, a smaller injury can still be painful, traumatic, and costly when it comes to medical bills.
Hand and wrist injuries, for example, are often dismissed as more minor injuries. But your hands play a crucial role in your ability to perform everyday tasks. You use your hands to work, cook, drive, take care of your personal needs, take care of your loved ones, and more.
So, if your hands or wrists become injured, it can severely affect your life—at least until the injury has healed. And for severe hand and wrist injuries, you could even struggle with long-term complications like chronic pain or permanent impairment.
This is why a hand and wrist injury after an accident should never be ignored. If you suffer wrist injuries after an accident due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation that can help you cover the losses you experience as a result of your injury, such as the cost of medical bills, lost wages while you recover, and even compensation for emotional distress.
So, don’t wait to file a claim if you’ve suffered a serious wrist injury. And if you need help with your wrist injury case, our San Francisco motorcycle accident attorneys at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers can offer you guidance.
California Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Wrist injuries can happen after many different kinds of accidents. They can occur in slip-and-fall accidents, sporting accidents, and any kind of vehicular accident. However, some of the most common types of accidents that cause wrist injuries are motorcycle accidents.
Motorcyclists have very little to protect their bodies when they are involved in an accident. As such, motorcycle accident injuries, in general, are quite common and almost always occur, even in the most minor motorcycle accidents.
However, the reason motorcycle accident wrist injuries are prevalent is due to what occurs when the bike falls over. Any time someone falls over, their instinct to put their hands out to catch themself, and the same is true when motorcyclists fall over.
When a motorcycle falls to the side after a collision, the rider will often put their hands out to try to catch themselves. Unfortunately, this means they put a lot of pressure on the hands and wrists, not only from their own body weight but also from the weight of the motorcycle falling over with them. And this inevitably leads to wrist injuries.
Wrist injuries are also common when the riders are thrown from their bikes in an accident, and they again put their arms and hands out to try to catch themselves before they fall to the ground or against another object.
In California, these types of injuries are even more common because of how prevalent motorcycles are in our state. Compared to all other states, California has the most registered motorcycle riders, and when you combine that with our traffic problems, it means higher rates of motorcycle accidents and motorcycle accident injuries, like wrist injuries.
Common Wrist Injuries From Motorcycle Accidents
While most people don’t give much thought to their wrists, the wrist is actually one of the most complex joints in the human body. The wrist connects your hand to your forearm through numerous bones, tendons, and ligaments—all of which can become damaged when you injure your wrist in a motorcycle accident.
Some of the most common wrist injuries from motorcycle accidents include the following:
- Sprains & Strains: These types of wrist injuries occur when the soft connective tissues in the wrist are damaged, such as the tendons and the ligaments. And while a wrist sprain or strain can be mild, it can also be severe and lead to a serious tear or rupture, which could require surgery.
- Wrist Fractures: This type of injury is most common in motorcycle accidents. If you sustain a broken bone in the wrist, it can be painful and will require some form of stabilization or casting. A wrist fracture can also require surgery and may even result in the need for physical therapy, depending on how severe the break is.The scaphoid bone in the wrist is the one most commonly injured, but other breaks can include a distal radius fracture, a radial styloid fracture, and an ulnar styloid fracture.
- Tendinitis: This type of injury results from an inflammation in the tendons in the wrist. Generally, it occurs from overuse of the wrist. However, it can also happen in motorcycle riders after an accident that has damaged their wrist.
Recovering Compensation for Your Motorcycle Accident Injury to Your Wrist
If you sustain a wrist injury from a motorcycle accident, you may be entitled to compensation if the accident was the fault of another negligent party, such as a negligent driver. However, if you intend to file a claim, you will first need to be able to prove fault before you can get the compensation you deserve to help pay for your losses.
In many cases, identifying the liable party and holding them accountable requires the help of an attorney, and in this specific case, a motorcycle accident injury attorney. Proving fault is not always easy, but a lawyer can help you build a strong case and gather the evidence needed to prove that another party is responsible for the accident and your wrist injury.
Beyond proving fault, however, various other factors can affect your wrist injury claim and how much money you will be able to recover. Primarily, the damages you have suffered as a result of the accident and your injury are what will ultimately determine how much your case is worth.
Such damages for a motorcycle accident wrist injury case can include:
- Medical bills
- Future medical expenses
- Lost income
- Property damage
- Miscellaneous out-of-pocket expenses
- Emotional distress
- Physical pain & suffering
Again, a lawyer can help when it comes to proving the damages you have suffered. After proving fault, you will still need to provide as much evidence as possible to show how the injury has affected your life if you want to get the full and fair compensation you deserve for your wrist injury.
California Motorcycle Accident Injury Attorney: We Handle Your Accident Claim So You Can Focus On Your Life
If you sustain wrist injuries from a motorcycle accident in California and need help filing your claim, our team can assist you.
At Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers, our motorcycle accident injury attorneys know what it takes to ensure our clients get the full and fair compensation they deserve to help pay for their medical bills and other damages.
For help with your motorcycle accident wrist injury, call us at 877-380-8852 or contact us online today for a free case evaluation.
