Understanding Labral Tear Injuries: How to Get Compensation after an Accident
Accidents come in all shapes and forms. From car wrecks to slip-and-falls, what they all have in common is that they can cause potentially life-altering injuries. Labral tears are one type of injury often caused by severe impacts to the arm, leg, or hip, as can occur in both car crashes and falls.
What Are Labral Tears?
The labrum is a type of cartilage that connects joints to their sockets. Hips and shoulders both contain labral tissue, which means both of these areas are prone to labral tears, often referred to as joint dislocations. If the accident occurred as a result of someone else’s negligence or malfeasance, it may be possible to collect compensation for injuries, including labral tears.
Symptoms of Labral Tears
Many labral tears of the hip and shoulder cause no distinct signs or symptoms. However, serious tears can cause:
- Pain in or around the joint that feels like it’s deep inside and gets worse with repetitive activity or prolonged immobility
- A locking or catching sensation in the affected joint
- Clicking sounds when the joint moves
- Stiffness or new range of motion limitations
- Palpation on the affected joint does not change pain levels
These symptoms usually improve within six weeks, but it’s still worth visiting a doctor if the labral tear was a result of a car crash or another personal injury. Labral tears can make people more prone to developing osteoarthritis in the future, and some types of labral tears need advanced treatment to get better.
Treatment Options
In most cases, medical intervention in the form of pain control and physical therapy is enough to ensure the proper healing of a torn labrum. If spontaneous healing does not begin to occur within six weeks, though, doctors may recommend surgical treatment. Surgery should only be considered an option if pain control, rest, and activity modifications alone don’t provide for sufficient healing.
The most common type of surgery for labral tears is arthroscopy. This procedure eliminates abnormal, damaged, and excess tissue that is making the labrum unstable. In some cases, tendons may also need to be reattached to bones, and suture anchors may be required to repair a torn labrum.
Can Accident Victims Obtain Settlements for Labral Tears?
Any injury that was directly caused by another person’s negligence or malfeasance can lead to a successful claim and a settlement for the victim. However, labral tear injury cases are notoriously hard to prove.
Factors such as age, prior injuries or illnesses, and even lifestyle choices can all influence how these injuries are perceived by insurance agents. To make matters even worse, labral tears are difficult to capture on MRIs and other diagnostic images, which shady insurance companies often try to use as proof that the victim’s injuries were not serious.
Maximize the Chances of Getting Compensated
The best way for accident victims suffering from labral tears to maximize their chances of receiving a reasonable compensation package that covers damages is to seek a lawyer as soon as possible after the accident. A good personal injury lawyer will be able to help with evidence collection, interviewing witnesses, and coming up with a strong case, so don’t wait. Start the search for a law firm that can help with filing a labral tear personal injury claim right after seeking medical attention.
