What Is a Peripheral Nerve Injury?

Washington D.C. residents face lots of traffic every day and deal with many different drivers. Unfortunately, with more concentrated traffic comes a higher chance of getting into a crash. These crashes can leave you facing severe injury, including peripheral nerve injuries.

Mayo Clinic describes a peripheral nerve injury as damage that involves the peripheral nerves. They may have been crushed, cut, or otherwise harmed in the related incident. These are the outer nerves that connect to the brain and spinal cord. They are very delicate and are unfortunately quite easy to harm. The damage done to these nerves can vary from mild to severe, with even the mild injuries taking weeks or even months to heal from.

More severe injuries can lead to a permanent altering of sensation to the damaged area. For example, if you suffer from severe peripheral nerve damage on the arms, you may permanently lose the sensation there. You could be unable to detect touch, changes in temperature, or pain. This kind of severity is possible if you end up cutting the nerve itself, rather than just damaging the fibers or insulation of the nerve. If the latter occurs, you are likely to experience sensations like numbness, tingling, or weakness in the affected extremity. However, these injuries are more likely to heal.

Unfortunately, the process of recovering from nerve damage can be extensive and difficult to handle. If you are currently in the recovery process of a nerve injury or perhaps face the possibility of the damage being irreversible, consider looking into possible options for compensation for the medical costs and damages.