Nerve Damage

Nerve Damage

Nerve damage is a common complication of serious injuries sustained in an accident or assault. Even after recovering from your primary injuries, you may be left with the chronic pain of nerve damage for the rest of your life.

Understanding nerve damage is crucial to successfully navigating many personal injury cases. 

Nerve Damage Overview

Nerve Damage Overview

There are three main types of nerves in the body: 

  • Sensory nerves:  Send information from the skin to the brain. These nerves allow us to feel sensations like temperature, pain, and pressure. 
  • Motor nerves: Control voluntary movements by sending and receiving messages between the muscles, brain, and spinal cord. 
  • Autonomic nerves: Control involuntary bodily functions like heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. 

There are two primary groups of nerves that branch out from the brain and spinal cord. There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves and 12 pairs of cranial nerves. The latter originates in the brain and branches out through the head, neck, and face. 

Types of Nerve Injuries

Nerve injuries can be classified in several ways. Common types of nerve damage or injuries include: 

  • Mononeuropathy, which affects a single nerve
  • Polyneuropathy, which affects a bundle of nerves 
  • Neuritis or inflammation of one or more nerves 
  • Mononeuropathy multiplex which means a few individual nerves in multiple areas are damaged, usually at different times 

Nerve damage may also be described depending on how the damage happens: 

  • Avulsion
  • Stretching of the nerve fibers 
  • Rupture or laceration 
  • Compression 

Nerve damage can happen when either the axon or the myelin sheath is injured. Nerves are made up of axons, or the cord-like fibers at the center of the nerve, and a layered myelin sheath or coating. This sheath functions like insulation. If it’s damaged, nerves may be unable to send electrical signals. 

The nerves and axons get smaller as nerves branch out through the body. In tiny nerve branches, axons may have no myelin sheath at all. 

What Are The Symptoms Of Nerve Damage?

Damage to the nerves can cause a range of symptoms that vary in severity. Symptoms will depend on the type of damage and nerves affected. 

The sensory nerves are likely to be damaged by injuries like fractures, lacerations, penetrating injuries, and blunt force trauma. 

You may experience symptoms such as: 

  • Tingling or numbness in the hands, arms, feet, legs, or shoulders
  • Difficulty with balance and walking
  • Neuralgia, or pain generated by a nerve

Nerve pain (neuralgia) may be a burning, stabbing, or shooting pain. 

Damage to motor nerves affects movement. You may experience muscle weakness, involuntary muscle twitches, painful cramping, muscle atrophy, and even paralysis. 

The sciatic nerve is unique because it has sensory and motor fibers. It’s the body’s largest nerve and runs from outside the spinal cord through the pelvis, buttocks, and back of each thigh. Herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, stenosis, and other spinal conditions can cause sciatica. This condition refers to inflammation, irritation, or compression of the sciatic nerve. 

Sciatic nerve pain can come and go, or it may be chronic pain. It causes muscle weakness, numbness, tingling sensations, and a burning or shooting pain down one or both legs.

What Causes Nerve Damage?

Nerve damage may be caused by genetic disorders, illness, medications, toxic substances, or injury. 

A wide range of accidents can cause nerve damage, including the following:  

Virtually any type of accident can lead to nerve injuries. Sometimes, even an accidental laceration or cut in the wrong place can cause a severed nerve. 

What Is a Nerve Damage Case Worth?

Every personal injury case is unique. It is essential to carefully analyze the details of your injury and how it will affect you. 

It may also be helpful to understand important factors that affect the value of a claim, including the following: 

  • The type and severity of injuries
  • How the nerve damage and symptoms affect daily life
  • Whether a return to work is possible or there’s a permanent disability
  •  Age at the time of the accident
  • The cost of medical treatment, rehabilitation, and future medical needs

Whether fault is shared for the accident and available insurance coverage may limit what you can recover. The best way to understand what a case may be worth is by scheduling a free consultation with a Baton Rouge personal injury attorney.

What Compensation Can Be Recovered for Nerve Damage In Baton Rouge, Louisiana?

When someone else is responsible for your injuries, medical expenses, and other damages, you have the right to seek full compensation for your losses from the at-fault party. 

You may recover two types of damages. 

Economic damages include compensation for financial losses such as: 

  • Lost wages while recovering
  • Future lost earnings and employment benefits
  • Medical bills, rehabilitation, and other medical costs
  • Future medical costs 
  • Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses
  • Property damage

Non-economic damages include compensation for the emotional and psychological effects of your injuries. This includes pain and suffering, reduced quality of life, mental anguish, disfigurement, and more. 

Contact Our Baton Rouge Personal Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation

Have you suffered nerve damage from an accident in Baton Rouge, LA? You could be entitled to compensation, and our Baton Rouge personal injury lawyers are here to help you. 

Since 1975, Palmintier Law Group has recovered more than $1 billion on behalf of our clients. We will put more than 80 years of combined legal experience to work for you. 

Contact our law office at (225) 344 3735 for a free consultation to discuss your case and explore your legal options for recovering fair compensation.