Injuries from motorcycle accidents can range from minor scrapes and burns to severe and debilitating injuries. Many motorcycle accident injuries can significantly impact your day-to-day life. If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident, you may wonder about the average motorcycle accident recovery time.
Your motorcycle accident recovery time depends on several factors, including the severity of your injuries, your individualized treatment plan, and whether you need surgery. Below, the attorneys at The New York Personal Injury & No-fault Collections Law Firm explain the factors affecting motorcycle accident recovery time, the most severe motorcycle accident injuries, issues affecting recovery (specifically after a head injury in a motorcycle accident) and what you can do if you’ve sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident.
The time it takes to heal from a motorcycle accident depends on numerous factors. Below, we’ll describe some of these factors and how they may impact your motorcycle accident recovery time.
The Severity of Your Injury
The severity of your injuries after a motorcycle accident significantly impacts your recovery time. For example, minor injuries, like scrapes or bruises, will take less time to heal than a skull fracture or a spinal injury. Additionally, there are some particularly severe motorcycle accident injuries from which you may never fully recover.
Some of the most severe motorcycle injuries include:
- Head injuries–including skull fractures, concussions, contusions, hemorrhages, and traumatic brain injuries;
- Neck injuries–including whiplash, broken cervical vertebrae, and damaged neck muscle tissue;
- Spinal injuries–including spinal cord damage and paralysis;
- Third-degree burns–this is also called a full-thickness burn because all layers of the skin have been burned, and sometimes underlying muscle and bone have been burned too;
- Internal bleeding–caused by blunt force trauma, internal bleeding can happen to any organ, including your brain; and
- Organ damage–including bruised kidneys, damaged pancreas, lung damage, and liver trauma.
Severe injuries like these may require weeks or months in the hospital, surgery, rehabilitation, and medication. Sometimes, a person may never regain their full capacity after some of these injuries. Permanent damage from a motorcycle accident is an unfortunate possibility.
Need for Surgery
Sometimes directly after a motorcycle accident, a victim’s injuries are so severe that they’re rushed to the hospital and undergo immediate emergency surgery. Other times, a person may only discover the extent of their injury and need for surgery sometime after the accident. Surgery may be in your best interest. However, it can impact your recovery time.
Surgery can sometimes help you heal faster. If you have, for example, a shattered arm bone, not getting surgery may mean you will never be able to fully regain use of that limb. Surgery is certainly advisable and the best treatment method depending on your condition and the possibility of surgery should be discussed with your treating doctor.
However, surgery has the potential to slow your recovery time. Every surgery comes with certain risks. Some potential risks of surgery include:
- Thrombosis,
- Embolism,
- Adverse reaction to anesthesia, and
- Lung complications.
If you experience any adverse effects from surgery, your injury recovery will be significantly delayed. Before your surgery, discuss the risks of the surgery with your physician to determine if the surgery is the right course of action for you.
Your Age and Pre-Accident Conditions
No one likes to admit it, but age affects recovery time from injuries, including motorcycle accident injuries. Aging has been shown to slow down wound recovery time. Even among athletes, recovery time increases once a person reaches the age of 45. This means that the older you are when you’re in an accident, the longer it will take for you to recover.
Another issue that affects motorcycle accident recovery time is any pre-accident conditions. For example, if you had a back injury before your accident, it may become worse and take longer to heal after the accident. Or, perhaps you have osteoporosis which will cause a longer healing time for a broken bone sustained in an accident.
Certain medications you may use due to a pre-existing condition may also affect your ability to heal. These include:
- Anticoagulants (which prevent blood clots from forming),
- Corticosteroids,
- Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),
- Vasoconstrictors (including some types of migraine medications), and
- Antineoplastics (such as chemotherapy drugs).
You should speak with your doctor about whether you are on any medications that may impact your motorcycle accident recovery time.
Like any injury, the length of your recovery after a motorcycle accident head injury varies. Head injuries can range from relatively minor concussions to traumatic brain injuries. The more severe your head injury, the longer it will take to heal. Motorcycle accident head injuries may include:
- Concussion–caused by a blow or jolt to the head;
- Contusion–a bruise on the brain that can cause bleeding or swelling;
- Intracranial hemorrhage–brain bleeding within the skull;
- Diffuse axonal injuries–caused by nerve damage from the brain moving around inside the skull; and
- Skull fracture–a break in one or more of the bones of the skull.
Each of these can range from relatively minor and easily treatable to severe. Some may be classified as traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries may affect your ability to think, speak, walk, and move. Recovery after a motorcycle accident head injury that is traumatic could take the rest of your life. Unfortunately, some traumatic brain injuries are incurable and can only be managed with rehabilitation and treatment plans.
Recovery after a motorcycle accident head injury, or another type of injury, can be significant. If someone else’s carelessness or recklessness caused your accident, you may be eligible to seek compensation to help you while you recover. Compensation may include:
- Lost wages,
- Hospital bills,
- Medical treatment costs,
- Surgery expenses,
- Long-term rehabilitation costs,
- Loss of future earning potential, and
- Pain and suffering.
No person should have to suffer financially if another person harms them. Speak with a personal injury attorney at The New York Personal Injury & No-fault Collections Law Firm today to see if you may be eligible for compensation for your motorcycle accident.
Victims of motorcycle accident injuries in Long Island have zealous and competent advocates they can turn to for help obtaining the compensation they need to recover. The personal injury attorneys at The New York Personal Injury & No-fault Collections Law Firm bring a wealth of New York legal knowledge and a client-centered strategy to every case. Our highly experienced Long Island personal injury attorneys are compassionate with clients and aggressive with insurance companies. We will keep your needs central to the legal battle to ensure you get the fair compensation you deserve. Contact us online today or call 833-TONALAW.
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