As I have written about before, personal injury is something that I have seen from both sides.
The injury I received is something I still struggle with today. I have leftover muscle spasms in my shoulder and back that has caused me distress over the years and has gotten much worse with age.
Specifically, if I overuse my left shoulder or left arm (something that is done more quickly than you would imagine as a writer), my rhomboid muscles will spasm and stiffen up, and no more moving for me until ice, heat, a muscle relaxer, and rest are applied. So, I can literally tell when I have been working too long because I won't be able to turn my neck.
It's a thing.
According to the Summit Medical Group:
"WHAT IS A RHOMBOID STRAIN OR SPASM?
The rhomboid muscles in your upper back connect the inner edges of your shoulder blades to your spine. A rhomboid strain is a stretch or tear of these muscles. A rhomboid spasm is a sudden tightening of the muscle that you cannot control.
WHAT IS THE CAUSE?
A rhomboid muscle strain or spasm is usually caused by overuse of your shoulder and arm. This can happen from:
Overhead activities, like serving a tennis ball or reaching to put objects on a high shelf, rowing, carrying a heavy backpack (especially if you carry it over just one shoulder), and poor posture (especially while you are using a computer for a long time).
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
A strain causes pain in the upper back between your shoulder blade and your spine. A spasm feels like a knot or tightness in the muscle. You may have pain when you move your shoulders or when you breathe."
It's lots of fun.
This, of course, exacerbated the whiplash that I received in my accident. Even with the excellent health care and knowledge that I did have, it is something that will stay with me forever.
According to The Hunter Law Group, P.A.:
"Permanent injuries, significant disfigurement or scarring, and enduring loss of important bodily functions all qualify as cause for legal action in the event of an automobile accident. Family members can also sue on a victim’s behalf in cases of death.
Compensation can also include economic damages, such as reduced future income, loss of appraised value to real property, and construction repairs."
Considering that at the time and now, I absolutely do make my living sitting for long stretches of time in front of a computer which can trigger my rhomboid muscles to spasm, I was incredibly lucky to be able to have as much help as I did, legally and medically.
I can only imagine how bad off I would be if I hadn't.
Have you suffered a personal injury? What have you done to overcome it and do you still suffer because of it? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Many years ago, I worked as a legal assistant. I was a young mother at the time and going to school to work as a paralegal.
It was incredibly interesting and exhausting at the same time.
The attorney I worked directly under took on a lot of personal injury cases. These cases were sometimes so heartbreaking, I didn't think I would be able to separate my emotional mind and logical mind.
According to HG.org's Legal Resources:
"Most personal injury cases are based on the doctrine of negligence. In essence, negligence requires every member of society to act responsibly and avoid putting others at risk. That is not to say that negligence will result each time someone gets hurt. The doctrine recognizes that some accidents are unavoidable. To establish liability, the plaintiff must show that a reasonably prudent person in the defendant’s position would have acted differently under the circumstances.
Examples of negligence include car accidents caused by drunk drivers, medical complications resulting from a physician’s carelessness, and dog bites that occur when vicious animals are permitted to roam free. In each instance, the responsible party ignored the risk posed to others, and as a result, the plaintiff was injured."
The American Bar Association also notes that other definitions of personal injury besides negligence are strict liability and intentional wrongs:
"Strict liability is an important and growing area of tort law. It holds designers and manufacturers strictly liable for injuries from defective products. In these cases, the injured person does not have to establish negligence of the manufacturer. Rather, you need to show that the product was designed or manufactured in a manner that made it unreasonably dangerous when used as intended.
Intentional wrongs can also be the basis of personal injury claims, though they are rarer. If someone hits you, for example, even as a practical joke, you may be able to win a suit for battery. Or if a store detective wrongly detains you for shoplifting, you may be able to win a suit for false imprisonment. While perpetrators of some of the intentional torts—assault and battery, for example—can be held criminally liable for their actions, a tort case is a civil proceeding in court brought by an individual or entity and remains totally separate from any criminal charges brought by the government."
Because of our military life at the time, I ended up leaving the firm as my husband was assigned a new duty station and we moved away. I can not go into specifics on the cases I was involved in working, but there were a lot of injuries involving children that still haunt me today.
I can only imagine the toll it takes on the attorneys who handle these cases. I began to wonder how they could reach out to their community to help in other ways. To the Google!
I found a Tampa area personal injury attorney practice that is heavily involved with the Make A Wish Foundation of Southern Florida. Not only are they committed to their clients, they are committed to their community in a wonderful way!
Personal injuries go unreported in a lot of instances and that is truly a shame. Having worked and studied in the legal field, I know for a fact that these attorneys do everything they can for not only their clients but their community as well. Should you ever find yourself (unfortunately) the victim of a personal injury, I implore you to reach out to a personal injury attorney in your area. Know your rights, and use them. You really don't have to suffer. There is always help available!
