If a Car Accident Caused a Bulging Disc, What Should I do?
If you are in a car accident an MRI may be ordered by your primary care physician, orthopedist or chiropractor. The MRI may show a bulging disc. Now you may have had bulge before. It might have been made worse by the accident or it may be mostly the same but now it is hurting.
What is the best treatment for your disc problem?
Our office has a full time paralegal who is also a chiropractor. His job is to understand your medical condition and properly document your injuries. But you, as the injured person have difficult and complicated medical choices.
In an online forum Dr. Anuvitha Kamath was kind enough to discuss some treatment options for a bulging disc.
The treatment for bulging discs is painkiller medications, opioid drugs, steroid injections, nerve-strengthening drugs like pregabalin or gabapentin, muscle relaxants, hot compression, and physiotherapy. In severe cases, surgical repair like laminectomy, laminotomy, or discectomy must be done.
Dr. Kamath has listed 7 possibilities. In our experience the choice among those treatments is not always clear. Some doctors also recommend nerve ablation treatments that deaden the nerve which signals the pain.
The Mayo Clinic has an excellent site discussing herniated discs. (Mayo Clinic Disc site)
An injured person has many issues. Will insurance cover the best disc treatment? How long do you have to be in pain to advance the treatment? If you try surgery and your back gets worse, who is legally responsible for your injuries?
Also, if you tough it out and avoid major treatment does that hurt your case? Can your lawyer help you document your injuries so you are not penalized for being careful in your treatment plan? (Yes, we can help!)
In terms of working with our clients, we can’t give medical advice but we can help you navigate the arena of difficult choices by explaining what the sources of payment are for your treatment choices and how your accident claim may be affected.
We are also careful to review doctor findings on disc cases. Is the disc herniated? Or just bulging? Herniated disks which you may also call a ruptured or slipped disc is often contrasted with a bulging disk. A herniated disk is more likely to cause pain because it generally protrudes farther and is more likely to irritate nerve roots. We are careful to ensure that the MRI and treating doctors properly label your condition and if they disagree with each other, we as attorneys attempt to find out why and who is right.
As you can see, personal injury attorneys are not doctors but we review the work of doctors and help you as our client, navigate this unwanted, difficult and critical area.
If you have been in a serious car accident, Daniel Horowitz will provide you with personal attention and a personal injury legal team that is expert in this area. There is never a fee until you recover. Please call us if we can help you.