Personal injury accidents, such as car, motorcycle, and slip and fall accidents, can expose the ligaments in the victim’s knee to intense trauma. The ligaments in the knee can tear from direct trauma, pressure from the knee twisting, and landing awkwardly on the knee. Some ligament tears that can result from personal injury accidents include anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears, and medial collateral ligament (MCL) tears.
Victims of personal injury accidents that suffer knee ligament tears can file personal injury claims with the at-fault party’s insurance company to attempt to recover compensation for damages. Negligent behavior like driving recklessly, speeding, and leaving wet floors without caution signs can expose people to personal injury risk. They can be held liable for damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, which a personal injury lawyer can offer advice on how to pursue.
How Can a Personal Injury Accident Cause a Ligament Tear?
Personal injury accidents can cause ligament tears, resulting in intense pain, loss of mobility, and swelling. Ligaments are bands of flexible tissue that connect bones throughout the body. They facilitate movement in the bones, allowing people to walk, run, stretch their arms and legs, and move their fingers. The strong bands of tissue can stretch or strain beyond normal capacity, resulting in a ligament tear.
Knee injuries can result from personal injury accidents when the knee is impacted by blunt-force trauma. The damage to the knee and ligaments can result in enough pressure to cause a ligament tear. During a personal injury accident, the knee can also twist and contort unnaturally, causing intense stretching that can tear the ligaments. Falling accidents can cause knee ligament tears, as direct impact with a hard surface can strain the ligaments beyond their normal capacity.
What Personal Injury Accidents Cause Ligament Tears?
Knee ligament tears ordinarily occur during automobile accidents. Drivers can cause car accidents through negligent driving behavior, such as distracted driving, speeding, and drunk driving, exposing other drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists to knee ligament tear risk. Knees can receive a direct impact from an accident involving an automobile accident that can result in damage to the knee or a twisting impact that can cause a severe ligament tear.
The following are some automobile accidents that can cause knee ligament tears:
Slip and fall accidents can also cause knee ligament tears, as your knee colliding with a hard surface can cause enough damage to stretch the tissue bands to the point of tearing. If you suffered a ligament tear from a personal injury accident, you could file a personal injury claim to hold the at-fault party accountable for causing the damage that resulted in your knee ligament tear.
ACL Tears Caused by Personal Injury Accidents
One of the most common types of knee ligament tears is an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear. This is the ligament found in the middle of the knee that prevents the shin bone from sliding in front of the thigh bone. It helps to stabilize the knee joint from excessive forward movements of the tibia and rotational movements.
ACL tears often occur as sports injuries but can also result from personal injury accidents. The ACL can tear when it receives tremendous pressure from blunt-force trauma or overextending the knee joint. Some symptoms of ACL tears include intense pain when putting weight on the knee, swelling, instability, and popping sounds when moving the knee.
Trauma from a Personal Injury Accident Can Cause a PCL Tear
The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is the knee’s strongest ligament that runs along the back of the knee and stretches from the top of the tibia to the bottom of the femur. It helps to prevent excessive movement in the tibia that could cause it to move behind the femur. This vital ligament helps keep the bones that affect the knee in pace and facilitate movement.
A PCL tear can majorly affect a person’s mobility, as a severe tear can prevent you from moving your knee at all. In less severe cases, a person may still be able to move their knee but could experience intense pain as they walk. They may also experience inflammation, swelling, instability, and stiffness.
MCL Tears Caused by Personal Injury Accidents
The medial collateral ligament (MCL) runs from the upper shinbone to the bottom of the thigh bone and helps to keep the tibia in place. This ligament stretching can cause significant pain due to how much distance the ligament covers across the knee. Direct trauma and twisting can cause the MCL to stretch, strain, and possibly tear, leading to symptoms like bruising, instability, and swelling.
Personal Injury Accidents Can Cause LCL Tears
The lateral collateral ligament (LCL) is a band of tissue outside the knee that connects the thighbone to your lower leg, helping the knee from bending outward. This knee ligament is commonly injured in personal injury accidents because it is on the outside of the knee. Blunt-force trauma like direct impact from a car accident, hitting your knee on a dashboard, or falling onto concrete can cause the LCL to tear. Those who tear their LCL from a personal injury incident can feel pain, tenderness, and instability on the outside of their knee.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You Recover Fair Compensatory Damages?
Recovering compensation for damages caused by a knee ligament tear from a personal injury accident requires victims to file a personal injury claim. This can involve a long process of proving the at-fault party’s liability and negotiating a settlement with their insurance company. Personal injury victims likely do not have the proper experience handling personal injury claims to handle this process properly. Handling it independently can lead to mistakes that can hurt their ability to recover fair compensatory damages.
The best chance for a personal injury victim to recover damages caused by their knee ligament tear is by hiring a personal injury lawyer. They can help you determine the value of their claim, collect evidence, prove the at-fault party’s liability, and negotiate a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurer. Experienced personal injury lawyers can use their experience to inform the claims process to help you along as you recover from your severe injury.
Contact The Russo Firm for Help With Your Personal Injury Claim
At The Russo Firm, our personal injury lawyers have over 100 years of combined experience helping victims recover compensation for severe injuries like ligament tears. We understand how ligament tears can affect your physical health and cause economic damages like medical bills, lost wages, and lost earning potential. We also understand the non-economic damages that can affect your quality of life, such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.
Our personal injury lawyers can use their extensive experience and vast resources to help you through the claims process. They will collaborate with you to ensure they craft a personalized legal counsel plan you are comfortable with that can put you in the best position to recover fair compensatory damages. Contact us for a free consultation today at (561) 270-0913 or leave a message on our online contact page.
