Rotator Cuff Tear

Experienced South Carolina car accident attorney who is conversant with the complexities of rotator cuff tear injuries and who is well prepared to help guide your claim toward an optimal outcome

A rotator cuff tear is a painful injury that is common in car accidents. If another driver’s negligence leaves you with a rotator cuff tear, you’re looking at a long, slow recovery that can keep you off the job and that requires considerable medical attention. If this is the difficult situation, you find yourself in, discuss your concerns with an experienced car crash lawyer in South Carolina today.

Rotator Cuff Tear Defined

The Mayo Clinic defines the rotator cuff as a band of tendons and muscles that encase the shoulder joint –keeping the upper arm bone’s head safely within the shoulder’s shallow socket. Sometimes, rotator cuff tears are caused by a single, sudden incident, such as a car accident (rather than being a repetitive motion injury). These sudden tears often require immediate medical attention to attend to emerging healthcare needs. Although some tears are not repairable, joint replacement or tendon replacement may be a possibility.

The Pain Associated

The kind of pain and symptoms associated with a rotator cuff tear include the following:

Experiencing a dull ache in your shoulder
Experiencing weakness in your arm
Suddenly experiencing sleep disturbances
Having difficulty reaching up to comb your hair or reaching behind your back

If you experience immediate weakness in your arm after a car accident, it’s time to seek immediate medical attention.

Treatment

Without the appropriate treatment, your rotator cuff tear can lead to a permanent loss in the range of motion of the shoulder or permanent weakness. A complicating factor is that, although resting your shoulder is critical to your recovery, keeping your shoulder still for a prolonged period can cause the connective tissue that encloses the shoulder joint to thicken and tighten, which refers to a syndrome known as frozen shoulder.

In order to deal with the pain of rotator cuff tears, sufferers who don’t get the relief they need from more conservative methods often require steroid injections into the shoulder joint. While these shots can offer immense relief, they can also weaken the tendon if not used sparingly, and they have the potential to decrease the success rate of surgery if the need does arise. Additionally, physical therapy, which can help restore lost flexibility and help strengthen the shoulder itself, is often prescribed for those afflicted with rotator cuff tears. If surgery is required, physical therapy is often integral to the recovery process.

Rotator cuff tears often require surgery, such as the following types:

Arthroscopic tendon repair, which employs small incisions and a tiny inserted camera to reattach the torn tendon to the bone
Open tendon repair, which is a surgery that involves a larger incision to reattach the tendon to the bone
Shoulder replacement, which replaces the shoulder joint entirely. There is also an innovative reverse procedure that helps to improve the stability of the new, artificial joint

Answering the Difficult Questions

If a car accident that was caused by another driver’s negligence leaves you with a rotator cuff tear, the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions out there may help answer your own questions.

What are my damages likely to be?

If you’ve suffered a rotator cuff tear in a car accident that was caused by someone else, the damages you can seek/include:

Your healthcare expenses
Your lost income
Your pain and suffering

All told, these can be immense.

How do I prove the other driver’s fault?

Proving fault in a car accident is often very complicated and is a job that is best left to your savvy car accident attorney.

How can I help my car accident lawyer help me?

There are things that you can do to help protect your car accident claim, including (as applicable):

Drive your car out of the line of traffic
Call 911
Render aid if needed and you can
Accept any medical attention that’s offered (or seek the medical attention you need as soon after the accident as possible)
Keep your comments about the accident to yourself (they can come back to haunt your claim)
Answer any questions posed to you by the attending officer as honestly and precisely as possible (no need to elaborate)
If you’re able, gather photographic evidence at the scene and take eyewitness testimony
Consult with an accomplished car crash attorney as soon after the accident as possible
Refrain from posting on social media (the insurance company is waiting to turn your posts against your claim)

What do I need to know about the insurance company?

The main thing that you need to know about the insurance company is that it is not on your side. It is in the business of making money, and it errs on the side of profits. If the insurance company tries any of the following, consider it a red flag:

Offers you a surprisingly early settlement offer
Denies your claim out of hand
Makes the claims process agonizingly long and complicated
Shifts blame onto you
Calls your damages into doubt

Leave the insurance company in the capable hands of your car accident attorney.

Discuss Your Claim with an Experienced Charleston Car Accident Attorney Today

The trusted car accident lawyers at David Aylor Law Offices in South Carolina are on your side and are committed to skillfully advocating for your claim’s favorable resolution. For more information about how we can help, please don’t wait to contact or call us at 843-548-1574 today.