St. Louis Whiplash Lawyer

Request Free Consultation

Whiplash is a painful and debilitating injury that’s often misunderstood by others—especially auto insurance companies who hold a general bias against whiplash claims and often dispute, delay, or deny claims for whiplash injury damages. Whiplash can occur even in low-impact and low-speed collisions with little property damage to vehicles. Unfortunately, many accident victims underestimate the severity of this neck injury until the pain and stiffness increase days after the injury, making it more challenging to recover the compensation they deserve. Call Miller & Hine, the St. Louis car wreck lawyers who can help.

St. Louis whiplash lawyer

Why Choose Us as Your Whiplash Injury Attorneys In St. Louis?

At Miller & Hine, our five decades of combined legal advocacy means we put our knowledge, experience, and respected reputation behind your whiplash injury claim with the following advantages:

Our history of recovering large settlements and court verdicts for clients—including a recent $610,000 recovery for a car accident injury victim—makes us a powerful and persuasive voice for financial accountability in your case.

What Is Whiplash?

Proportionately, the human head is a significant percentage of body weight sitting atop a narrow neck containing only a few vertebrae and 20 small, complex muscles and tendons. When a sudden powerful shake or jar occurs, the heavy head sometimes makes a whiplike, rapid back-and-forth motion. This often over-extends the neck, causing trauma and damage to the delicate support structures. In the cervical spine. Unfortunately, many whiplash injury victims feel only a slight stiffness, numbness, or heaviness in their neck immediately after the accident, meaning they may forgo medical treatment immediately after the accident—especially if it was only a minor fender-bender. As the hours and days pass, the growing inflammation around the whiplash injury begins pressing on sensitive nerves, generating symptoms that may become severe, causing the injury victim to seek medical care.

What are the Symptoms of Whiplash?

The portion of the spinal cord in the cervical spine (neck area) is responsible for sending and receiving messages between the brain and body. Inflammation in this area has a number of distressing symptoms. Common symptoms of whiplash injuries include:

Whiplash injury victims may have difficulty returning to work or may be unable to work in their former capacity during their recovery period. They may also require assistance with dressing, grooming, and accomplishing routine daily tasks.

Does Whiplash Get Better?

Whiplash symptoms are treatable with cervical collars, steroid injections, muscle relaxers, and medications to control pain and reduce inflammation. Most whiplash injury victims recover over time and return to their normal lives; however, research studies reveal that a portion of whiplash injury victims in St. Louis and elsewhere experience long-term symptoms. According to a 20-year study of over 500 whiplash injury patients, a significant percentage reported residual symptoms 20 years after the injury with the following results:

Whiplash injuries are significant, with the potential for long-term impacts on the injury victim’s life as well as temporary disability during the recovery period after a car accident.

Why Is It Important to Seek Medical Treatment After a Car Accident In St. Louis?

Many car accident victims experience a rush of adrenaline after a car accident. This sometimes masks subtle symptoms of injuries, including the earliest signs of whiplash. It’s important to seek medical treatment as soon as possible after any car accident, even if it seems as though you are uninjured. Going directly to an emergency room, urgent care center, or trusted physician for a complete medical examination can identify injuries with delayed symptom onset like whiplash and even traumatic brain injuries. Seeing a medical provider immediately after an accident not only provides the earliest possible medical treatment to improve outcome but it also documents that your injury occurred in the accident, preventing insurance companies from disputing a compensation claim.

Understanding Whiplash Injuries and Collision Crash Force In an Accident

Car insurance adjusters often dispute whiplash claims based on two points:

Collisions—especially rear-end collisions—are the most common cause of whiplash injury, but a person may also experience whiplash in falls, contact sports, or an act of violence such as a powerful blow to the head or face. The crash force in an accident is stronger than most people realize. A 100-pound person becomes a 3,000-pound force in an accident at only 30 miles per hour, often with little damage to a car.

What Damages Can I Recover In a Car Accident Injury Claim for Whiplash?

It often takes an experienced St. Louis whiplash injury attorney from Miller & Hine to gather ample evidence of whiplash damages and obtain compensation from an at-fault driver’s insurance. Common damages recovered in car accident whiplash injury cases in St. Louis include the following:

Whiplash is an expensive injury. Often, medical bills for treatment and prescriptions pile up at the same time that an injury victim is unable to return to work. A successful claim provides a whiplash victim with relief from temporary financial hardship and helps them recover a sense of financial accountability and justice for the harm caused to them by a negligent driver.

Reach Out to the Compassionate Whiplash Law Firm In St. Louis at Miller & Hine

The Saint Louis personal injury attorneys at Miller & Hine understand how frustrating, painful, and debilitating whiplash injuries are to our clients. Call our St. Louis car accident attorneys so we can take prompt action on your whiplash injury claim and increase your chances of a favorable result.