Common Injuries in a Slip and Fall Case

Slip and fall routines have been part of comedy shows for so long that it is often hard to understand just how serious the injuries can be when someone slips or trips and hits the ground. Even injuries that don’t seem severe at the time of the incident can have life-long consequences.

For that reason, it is important to get a medical exam right after a fall because doctors can detect injuries even if the symptoms or pain are masked by adrenaline. It is also important to return to the doctor if symptoms develop later or don’t go away.

Our team has extensive experience helping people injured in slip and fall incidents receive compensation to cover their losses because we show that the fall occurred because of another person’s negligence. Here are some of the injuries we see often in slip and fall cases.

Broken Bones and Dislocated Joints

The impact of a fall after slipping on a slick surface or tripping over a hazard frequently causes broken bones. Fractures can occur in many different ways. While we often picture a broken bone as a clean break that can heal completely if realigned correctly, fractures are often much more complex. Bones can break in a spiral pattern, splinter into sharp pieces, or shatter completely.

Serious bone fractures often require surgery with a lengthy and painful recovery time. The injuries may never heal properly.

When a bone is pushed out of place in a joint (a.k.a. dislocated), the injury is extremely painful and debilitating. Returning the bone to its proper position reduces the pain, but the injury can lead to permanent damage to ligaments, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels. Once a joint has been dislocated, it becomes more susceptible to future damage, and the victim can be set up for frequent painful episodes in the future.

Back Injuries

When they feel themselves fall, people often instinctively twist to try to land in a way that prevents damage, but the twisting movement itself can cause serious injuries to the back. Making contact with an object during the fall or on the ground can also cause an unnatural motion that damages the back.

The human back is a complex mechanism, and an injury can have effects that resonate throughout the body, making it difficult to do even simple things, such as sit or stand, without intense pain. Falls often result in herniated discs, where a spinal disc ruptures and leaks, leading to numbness, muscle weakness, and pain.

Frequently, the symptoms of back injuries worsen over time and can lead to complete disability and a life of chronic pain and a continually decreasing range of motion.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Although slip and fall incidents often result in traumatic brain injuries that can be extremely severe and even life-threatening, these serious injuries are not always evident at the time of the fall. Frequently, a fall causes the brain tissue to impact against the skull, leading to broken blood vessels and swelling. The symptoms—and the damage itself—develop over time. Someone who looks and feels “fine” after a fall can lose their ability to function later. 

Brain injuries can interfere with the ability to think or talk, and they can permanently affect mood and personality. A slip-and-fall injury can damage the brain in a way that changes the victim’s life forever and prevents them from working or even enjoying simple tasks that require concentration, such as reading. Suffering a traumatic brain injury can change someone’s personality permanently and force them to rely on others for assistance for the remainder of their lives.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Falls frequently cause damage to the spinal cord, leading to weakness, paralysis, and other neurological difficulties. The spinal cord is the body’s channel for sending messages from the brain throughout the body, so any injury to this vital part of the body can disrupt your ability to function and ruin your quality of life. The loss of sensation or movement in limbs can make it difficult, if not impossible, to do daily tasks many of us take for granted. In some cases, spinal cord damage interferes with the ability to breathe. While treatment and rehabilitation may lead to improvement, damage to the spinal cord is often permanent.

Soft Tissue Injuries

The muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the body are fragile and easily damaged in a fall, and the damage is often quite painful. Minor soft tissue injuries such as strains and sprains may heal with rest, although tissue that has been damaged once is more susceptible to future damage.

More serious soft tissue injuries, such as tears and ruptures, often require surgery and months or years of rehabilitation. During the healing period, soft tissue injuries continue to cause extreme pain and the person affected generally needs to severely restrict activities. A victim of a slip and fall who suffers soft tissue injuries will suffer pain and inconvenience for months, if not years, interfering with the ability to work and enjoy life.

Michael M. Day Law Firm LLC Helps with Recovery After a Slip and Fall

Many times, people slip or trip and fall because of something someone else did—or failed to do. For instance, if oil gets spilled on the floor of a store, steps should be taken immediately to block off the area and clean up the spill so that people don’t slip. Or if the light burns out in a stairway, the bulb should be replaced quickly so people can see to walk up and down safely. If property owners don’t inspect for problems and address them promptly when they occur, then they can be held liable for injuries when the problems cause someone to slip and fall.

At Michael M. Day Law Firm, LLC, we know it can be challenging to prove that another person’s negligence caused you to fall, so we work hard right from the start to gather evidence to prove liability. We stand up to insurance companies who fight to deny claims, and we don’t stop fighting until we get the recovery you deserve. Unlike some super-sized law firms, we don’t take a factory approach to claims but focus on one client at a time. To find out what your slip and fall case may be worth, call us at 404-480-4284 or contact us online today to schedule a free case evaluation and consultation.