You were in a car accident. You felt the jolt, and in the hours and days that followed, an intense, deep pain set into your neck, back, or shoulders. You go to the emergency room, but the X-rays come back “normal.” The doctor tells you that you have a “soft tissue injury”—a sprain or a strain—and sends you home with instructions to rest and take pain medication.
But the pain doesn’t go away. It affects your ability to work, to sleep, to live your life. When you tell the insurance adjuster about your ongoing suffering, they are skeptical. They treat your injury as minor, insignificant. Why? Because unlike a broken bone, they can’t see it on a film.
This is the central challenge in countless personal injury claims. Insurance companies build their entire defense strategy around downplaying these “invisible” injuries. But as medical authorities like the Cleveland Clinic explain in detail, a soft tissue injury is very real, very painful, and can lead to lifelong complications if not taken seriously.
The Medical Reality of a Soft Tissue Injury
Soft tissue injuries are damage to the muscles, ligaments, and tendons that support your entire skeletal structure. They are not minor aches; they are physical tears and inflammation.
- Sprains: This is an injury to your ligaments, the tough bands that connect bones together at a joint. A severe sprain is a partial or complete tear of that ligament, leading to joint instability.
- Strains: This is an injury to a muscle or a tendon (which connects muscle to bone). A bad strain involves tearing muscle fibers, causing pain, weakness, and loss of function.
- Contusions: These are deep bruises that result from a direct impact, causing bleeding and swelling deep within the muscle tissue.
The violent forces in a car accident or a sudden slip and fall are a primary cause of these acute injuries. The whiplash motion in a rear-end collision, for example, is notorious for causing severe cervical sprains and strains that can lead to chronic neck pain, headaches, and dizziness—a condition that can be as debilitating as a traumatic brain injury.
How We Fight to Prove Your Invisible Injury
Because an insurance company can’t see your torn ligament on an X-ray, they will argue you are exaggerating. Our job is to make your invisible injury visible to an adjuster, a judge, and a jury. We do this by building a fortress of evidence around your claim.
- Objective Medical Documentation: Your medical records are the foundation of your case. We stress the importance of immediate and consistent medical treatment. Every doctor’s visit, physical therapy session, and prescription creates an undeniable record of your pain and the steps required to treat it.
- Advanced Medical Imaging: While X-rays don’t show soft tissue damage, other tools do. We can use evidence from MRIs or CT scans, when medically necessary, to visually demonstrate the tears and inflammation in your ligaments and muscles.
- Expert Medical Testimony: We work with your treating physicians and other medical experts to provide professional testimony that explains the nature of your injury, how it was caused by the accident, and what your prognosis for recovery looks like.
- Documenting Your Story: We help you document, in detail, how the injury has impacted your life. We gather testimony from family, friends, and coworkers about your limitations. Can you no longer lift your child? Are you unable to perform your job duties? This human element is crucial for demonstrating the true value of your pain and suffering.
Do not let an insurance company bully you into believing your pain isn’t real. A soft tissue injury can have serious, long-term consequences, and you have the right to be compensated for every aspect of your recovery.
Contact Manoukian Law for a free and confidential consultation to learn how we can help you build the strongest possible case.
