SANTA CLARITA KNEE INJURY ATTORNEY
Serious car accidents can cause knee injuries, especially if the knee is jammed into the dashboard of the car. This usually happens during frontal collisions and usually involving a twisting motion of the knee. A serious car accident can result in a tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) of the knee joint.
The ACL offers stability to your knee. When the ACL is injured, many report the knee simply “gave way,” or they heard a loud pop, at the time of injury. ACL injury can lead to severe swelling, pain and tenderness of the knee.
Sometimes it is difficult to diagnose an ACL injury early in a personal injury case until the initial knee pain calms down. When the pain and swelling have diminished, the doctor can examine the knee to see if there is evidence of any ligament tear. An MRI will show the tear in the ligament, and may be helpful when proving your case to an insurance adjuster.
If the ACL tear from the accident is severe, a physician may recommend surgical intervention. Sometimes, the decision to have surgery involves not only the severity of the tear, but also the age of the patient and their normal level of activity.
You can suffer a meniscus tear from a severe car accident. A meniscus tear occurs when the knee cartilage is torn. A meniscus tear is very painful because the tear leaves the knee with reduced cartilage, causing friction in the knee joint. The cartilage which usually protects can no longer offer the same degree of protection due to the meniscus tear. Torn meniscus symptoms include swelling, knee pain, tenderness, popping, clicking from the knee, and of course, limited motion of the knee joint.
If you’ve had a car accident where meniscus injury may be present, it’s important to have the meniscus of the knee examined by either a hospital or your doctor. The examination will generally include a visual evaluation of the knee and oftentimes the doctor will order for an x-ray or perhaps an MRI to confirm the tear.
Treatment for a meniscus tear usually requires a surgical intervention. As with most knee injuries, the insurance company will always want to be convinced there was a mechanism of injury. The accident usually has to be pretty severe to prove the connection between the car accident and the meniscus tear. Absent excruciating pain reported at the scene of an accident or later at the hospital, they usually doubt meniscus tears from accidents.
Robert Mansour can help advise you regarding your case. He serves the entire Santa Clarita Valley including Valencia, Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, and surrounding communities. Call Santa Clarita personal injury attorney Robert Mansour at (661) 414-7100 for a free consultation and evaluation of your case. You can also fill out our Free Case Evaluation form.