New York Dashboard Knee Injury
A New York dashboard knee injury lawyer will be able to help you fight for compensation and recovery of full and fair amounts for the damages you sustain in an accident. Although many people who suffer in vehicle accidents have multiple different injuries, dashboard knee is one common and serious condition that can set you back significantly.
Do you have dashboard knee? Filing a lawsuit is your best option for getting the funds you need.
Dashboard knee refers to a condition specific to a leg injury that happens when your knee slams into the dashboard of your car during a head on collision. A dashboard knee injury attorney in New York will be able to gather all of the evidence for you and tell you whether or not you meet the eligibility requirements to file a legal claim.
These injuries are often found in other locations such as sports injuries. The knee cap or the patella is unfortunately far too commonly damaged in a dashboard injury. The patella is a free-floating bone and the purpose of the patella is to protect the articular knee joint surface. Any type of pressure on the knee cap means that this can break the knee cap. If a person's knee cap is fractured, the swelling is obvious and the pain is immediate.
However, there may be other types of knee injuries that are not as obvious. In a fractured knee cap situation, weight bearing is often very challenging for the victim. These injuries will need to be evaluated carefully by an orthopedic who can tell you whether or not splinting or surgery will be necessary to heal the bone.
Another common type of dashboard injury has to do with partial tears of the posterior cruciate ligament. This ligament protects the tibia inside from being pushed backward. The tibia will be pushed backward in comparison to the femur in a common vehicle accident and this can lead to a tear.
There are many different symptoms of a dashboard knee injury and all of these may prompt you to visit a doctor immediately and to figure out a course of treatment. Some people will have no symptoms after their injury until weeks or months after an accident has occurred. The symptoms may appear because of tissue inflammation and may include abrasions in the area of the knee cap, tenderness to people pushing on the knee cap, pain on the knee cap directly, having a stiff knee while trying to bend it, or swelling in the area of the knee cap.
Dashboard knee is almost entirely due to a crush injury in which the knee cap is slammed against some hard surface, likely the dashboard, in the car during a motor vehicle collision. The injury may be as mild as swelling or bruising in the area of the knee, however, it can also lead to patella fractures. A plain film x-ray will be used to tell if there is a patella fracture.
However, this will not show any soft tissue knee injuries that may have occurred. Treatment of a dashboard injury depends on the severity of the condition itself and may include exercises to improve the patient's range of motion, cold laser therapy, electrical stimulation, and ice to ease the pain.
Anyone who has suffered dashboard knee may have grounds to pursue a lawsuit with the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer. An attorney can be a very valuable person to turn to during this otherwise challenging time and it is necessary to retain the services of someone who understands your next steps and goals.