Some car crash injuries are obvious and immediate. A complete spinal cord injury could leave someone unable to exit their vehicle without assistance. A traumatic brain injury could render someone unconscious. Broken bones can be both painful and visibly obvious in some cases.
People expect to be able to quickly identify severe injuries after a crash. However, it is more common than the average person realizes for those involved in serious crashes to have internal injuries. Someone might leave the scene of a wreck assuming that they are unhurt, only to uncover warning signs of serious injuries later.
Certain types of injuries have delayed symptom onset and are possible for people to overlook immediately after a collision. For example, internal bleeding can be a life-threatening injury that people fail to notice immediately after a wreck occurs.
What causes internal bleeding?
Internal bleeding is typically the result of trauma to the chest, abdomen or head. People may begin bleeding internally because they hit their heads or stomachs during a crash. Other times, it could be safety restraints that cause trauma to someone’s soft tissue and result in internal bleeding. Internal bleeding often involves a slow but constant loss of blood. Therefore, people may not realize they have any injuries immediately after a crash.
Why internal bleeding is dangerous
Someone bleeding because of a laceration knows that they need medical attention because they require stitches. Those with internal bleeding may not realize that they are at risk. They could continue losing blood for an extended amount of time before they realize that there is something wrong. Internal bleeding can put pressure on the organs near the injury. It can also cause potentially deadly symptoms related to blood loss. People often only begin noticing the signs of internal bleeding when their symptoms reach a dangerous level.
Proper evaluation by a licensed medical professional is often necessary to diagnose and treat internal bleeding after a crash. Someone’s chance of a positive outcome depends on getting treatment as soon as possible after a collision. Ultimately, realizing that some injuries are internal and invisible at first can help people better handle the aftermath a car crash if one occurs.
