Nerve Injuries

Nerve injuries come in many types and sizes. They can affect almost every part of your body, and they can be debilitating. Things that you used to take for granted just aren’t possible with certain nerve injuries.

What is a Nerve?

The human body has a central nervous system. In simple terms, it’s a way to relay messages to and from certain parts of your body to your brain. It does everything from your brain telling your heart to keep beating to your finger telling your brain that it’s about to be burned if you get it too close to the fire. When any of these essential functions are interrupted, it can cause major problems.

What Causes a Nerve Injury?

In our line of work, most injuries that result in damage to a nerve result in another part of the body severing or compressing a nerve. For example, a herniated disc in someone’s back can compress the root of the nerve that extends from the spinal cord to an arm or a leg. Another example is when representative motion injuries cause the bones in the elbow or wrist to compress a nerve, commonly known as Carpal Tunnel or Cubital Tunnel Syndromes.

What Kind of Symptoms Are Common?

Every injury is unique. However, injury victims with nerve complications often experience some or all of the following conditions:

• Shooting or Radiating Pain. Whether it’s pain that extends into a person’s arm or leg, many shoulder, hip and spinal injuries result in nerve damage;
• Numbness: Nerve damage can also cause numbness in a person’s arms, legs, hands, and feet. Depending on the specific nerve that’s injured and the extent of the injury, the amount of numbness can vary. Sometimes, an entire side of the body can be numb. Other times, numbness or tingling extends to only 2 fingers.
• Weakness: Many nerve injuries cause a lack of strength that can cause various problems from trouble driving to dropping things.

Surgical Options

Many times nerve damage cannot be fixed with simple conservative measures. While some types of nerve pain can be alleviated with various types of injections, those are usually only temporary fixes that are also used as diagnostic tools. That means that many people with never injuries end up undergoing surgeries that carry major risks.

• Carpal Tunnel Releases: One of the more routine nerve surgeries, this is actually a procedure where the bones around the nerves in the writs are shaved so they no longer touch/compress the nerves passing through.
• Spinal Fusions: When a disc is damaged beyond repair, one of the final options is when two or more vertebrae are fused together. These are major surgeries with major complications and risks; they don’t always work, and when they fail, injuries can be catastrophic and permanent.

Experienced Injury Attorneys

At Marcotte Law Firm, our attorneys have represented hundreds of people with nerve injuries. Whether you were injured at work, in a car accident, or in a fall, we understand these injuries, and we understand how they affect your day to day life.

If you suffered a nerve injury, call the experienced lawyers at Marcotte Law Firm for a free, no obligation consultation.