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Top 6 Motorcycle Accident  Injuries

Motorcycle accidents are one of the most common causes of injury and death in the United States. In fact, every day there are 17 people die from motorcycle accidents. While most people don’t pay much attention to motorcycle accidents, they can have serious consequences for you and your family.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle accident, you may be able to recover compensation. This is for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Look for an experienced personal injury lawyer new york to help ensure that your rights are protected and that you receive the full value of your settlement or verdict award.

Life Impacting Injuries

If you are involved in an accident, you may be wondering what the consequences are. It is important to know that all motorcycle accidents are not equal. Some can be more serious than others and some can have long-term effects on your health.

Neck Injury

Neck injuries are among the most common types of injury for drivers and passengers involved in motorcycle accidents. These injuries occur when the head moves forward or backward violently as a result of an impact from another vehicle or object. This can lead to whiplash and other forms of permanent neurological damage that can affect your ability to walk, talk, see or even think clearly. In some cases, patients will experience severe neck pain after their heads move forward or backward during a collision.

Head Injuries

Head injuries are the most common type of injury that we see in emergency rooms. They can be caused by a number of different things, including sports, motorcycle accidents, and falls. Most head injuries are mild and don’t require hospitalization. However, some can be very serious and even life-threatening if they occur at the wrong time or place. The symptoms of a head injury often include:

  • Dizziness, vertigo or disorientation.
  • Severe headache.
  • Pain in the eyes, nose, or ears
  • Difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly.
  • Sleep problems, including nightmares or insomnia.
  • Fatigue and irritability.
  • Memory problems and sleep disorders, such as night terrors or nightmares.
  • Trouble with balance and coordination.

Arm Injuries

Arm injuries can range from minor sprains to major fractures and dislocations. They occur when the arm is bent backward or forward, twisted to the side or behind your back, or pulled up against your body while you’re lying down. Arm injuries usually occur during sports or recreation activities such as skiing, biking, climbing trees and rocks, swimming laps in the pool or ocean, playing basketball or football, playing baseball/softball/baseball bat hitting activities like golfing, etc. There are several different types of breaks in arms:

Leg Injuries

Leg injuries are another common type of injury that we see in emergency rooms every day! The leg is the most commonly injured body part in a motorcycle accident. In fact, approximately 80 percent of all motorcycle accident injuries are to the lower extremities. This includes broken bones, sprains, and strains, compressed nerves and ligaments, cuts, and bruises.

A leg injury can be crushing or crushing-abrasive in nature. Crush injuries involve a direct blow to the bone(s) that causes the bone(s) to break through the skin with little or no bone fragments remaining inside the skin. Crush injuries may cause serious damage to tendons and muscles as well as damage to arteries and veins inside your leg.

Crushing-abrasive injuries involve an impact that breaks off small pieces of bone inside your skin but does not cause any significant damage to your muscles or tendons. These types of injuries can cause severe pain, swelling and bruising but seldom result in fractures or dislocations (separation).

Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injuries are some of the most serious, and often life-altering, injuries that can occur in a motorcycle accident. They are typically caused by severe trauma to the body, such as being hit by a vehicle or thrown against a hard surface.

The spinal cord is responsible for transmitting nerve signals throughout your body. If it is damaged or severed, you will no longer be able to control your own muscles and movements. You will be paralyzed from the neck down.

Spinal cord injuries are far more serious than neck injuries and can cause permanent damage to your central nervous system (spine). When a person sustains a spinal cord injury, their body loses all ability to control movement below their waist area (cervical spine).

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

A spinal cord injury can be classified into three main types:

  • Impingement injury – The most common type of spinal cord injury involves compression of nerves and blood vessels along the spinal cord itself. This type is stabilized with plates or screws placed beneath the skin on either side of your spine (called an internal fixation). Impingement injuries usually do not cause paralysis, but they do cause chronic pain and weakness below the point of impact.
  • Tear – A tear occurs when one or more vertebrae in your spine suddenly break apart from their normal position due to extreme twisting motion. Tears usually occur near the site where you were hit in a motorcycle accident.
  • Compression injury – Compression injuries occur when the spinal cord is compressed by a bone fragment or an object that has broken through the skin and entered the body cavity. Tear injuries occur when a tear in the spinal cord causes bleeding into the surrounding tissue, which can result in permanent damage to both motor and sensory functions. Contusion injuries occur when blunt force trauma causes bruising and swelling around the spinal cord, potentially damaging nearby nerve cells as well.

Broken Bones

A broken bone is a serious injury. It’s not just an injury to your body — it’s an injury to your life. A broken bone can take months or even years to completely heal, and there are many risks associated with having a broken bone in the first place.

You may be able to recover from a broken arm or leg, but there are many other types of fractures that can occur as well. Fractures are classified as either open or closed based on how far apart the ends of the bones are and how much damage has been done to surrounding tissue (such as muscle or skin). Characteristics for each type include:

  • Open fractures: These occur when the ends of two bones break off at once and are pushed apart by surrounding tissue (such as muscle). The edges of the open fracture will be visible through the skin, which may bleed if they’re not caught quickly enough by a medical professional.
  • Closed fractures: Closed fractures are fractures in which the skin remains intact and there is no exposed bone fragment.

Dealing with motorcycle Accident Injuries

There are countless people who suffer from different types of injuries that come from motorcycle accidents, even if it was not their fault. Dealing with frustration, confusion and in some cases, depression can be a difficult task. Understanding your injury and how long you may need to visit doctors for help is key. In the event of a motorcycle accident, you may be injured and need to seek medical attention. If you have been in an accident, it’s important to know your rights as a victim of a motorcycle accident and what to do after experiencing an auto accident. You also have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against the other party. 


Author Michele S. Mirman
Michele S. Mirman is the founding partner of Mirman, Markovits and Landau in addition to being an award-winning personal injury lawyer with over 43 years experience. She has won over $1 billion in awards and settlements for her numerous, long time clients. Michele is known as a tough negotiator and an excellent trial lawyer. She has served on judicial rating committees for different New York State organizations, earned Lifetime Achievement to America’s Top 100 Attorneys, is recognized as a high stakes litigator and enjoys an outstanding 10 ranking from Avvo.

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