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How Long Will My Recovery Be After An Auto Accident?

After you’ve been in an auto accident in St. Petersburg, you’ll quickly come to find out that your immediate injuries aren’t all you have to worry about. Auto accident injury recovery takes time and you should be properly compensated for these damages whether your recovery lasts for days, weeks, or months. Because all auto accidents in the region are unique it’s impossible to determine an “average” recovery time. A soft tissue injury that isn’t too severe may be fully healed in a matter of weeks, while a traumatic brain injury could take months or more before a person’s recovery can be considered complete.

How To Determine The Length Of My Recovery Time


The best way to determine what the length of your recovery time may be is by consulting with your medical team. Through your diagnostic tests, monitoring of your current healing process, and having a professional plan in place, your medical team should be able to give you a ballpark estimate of the recovery time you’re looking at. In some instances a person may beat this time and recover faster than anticipated, but this can swing in the other direction as well.

Your recovery time is important to your auto accident claim case. As you recover you’ll be amassing more medical bills from surgeons, physical therapists, specialists and more all while you’re losing out on the work wages you need. Your continued recovery will be factored into your car accident settlement case in St. Petersburg so these damages may be covered alongside those from the immediate accident aftermath.

With the help of your St. Petersburg personal injury lawyer you can build a strong case for your damages related to your prolonged recovery.

Auto Accident Injuries That Commonly Come With Longer Recovery Times


Some common auto accident injuries frequently come along with longer recovery times. While a small laceration with a few stitches may not cause you to lose any time at work, a severe case of whiplash can be far more daunting. Some of the most common auto accident injuries that come along with longer expected recovery times are:

  • Back and spinal cord injuries – Back and spinal cord injuries can be debilitating, and they often require surgery and physical therapy to help the body to heal. These accident injuries are some that can take months or longer before a person makes a full recovery.

  • Broken bones – Broken bones can take a long time to heal, and this includes those that don’t require surgery. In some broken bone cases a person may be able to “work around” their broken bone, like in the case of a finger or toe, but a broken leg or arm may be incapacitating for weeks to months.

  • Internal injuries – Internal injuries can be some of the most dangerous auto accident injuries and often require surgery in cases of internal bleeding or severe damage. These surgeries can leave a person on the road to recovery for a number of weeks.

  • Traumatic brain injuries – Traumatic brain injuries can occur when the head makes contact with the steering wheel, window, or dashboard, but you don’t have to have contact to experience this type of injury. Severe cases of whiplash that cause the brain to make contact with the skull can lead to traumatic brain injuries as well. These are difficult and complex injuries to treat and they can leave a person with life altering symptoms for undeterminable amounts of time.