BACK INJURY CLAIMS

Have You Suffered A Back Injury As Result Of An Accident That Wasn’t Your Fault? Contact Free Legal Justice Today To Make Your Back Injury Claim

You should be able to make a back injury claim if your back injury happened:

• In the last three years, and;
• Someone else was to blame for your injury; and
• If another person owed you a duty of care.

Back injuries are extremely common, and can include any injury to the bones, joints, connective tissue, muscles or nerves in your back. Back injuries not only cause great pain and discomfort, but can also be extremely dangerous. You can injure your back doing sport, working around the house or in the garden, by a sudden jolt in a car accident, or from a sudden movement, bump, knock or fall.

Most injuries forming the basis of back injury claims are a result of damage caused to an individual’s lower back. Common back injuries include sprains and strains, ruptured disks or fractured vertebrae, and can vary in severity depending on the cause of the back injury and severity of the damage that has been done. Severe back injuries include fractures (a break in a bone), wounds, extensive bruising and damage to your spinal cord and internal organs.

Besides serious back injuries, most people experience minor back problems at some stage in their lives. Our body movements usually do not cause problems, but it’s not surprising that symptoms develop as a result of everyday wear and tear, overuse, or injury. Your back is a crucial part of your body and injury to your back can drastically affect your mobility and overall quality of life.

Back pain can cause issues anywhere from your neck to the tailbone (coccyx). The back includes:

• Your bones and joints of the spine, more commonly known as vertebrae;
• The discs separating your vertebrae and absorbing shock as you move;
• The muscles and ligaments that hold your spine together.

Back Injury claims often arise from individuals using their back muscles in new or rare activities. These activities can range from playing a dangerous sport, lifting a heavy object, or doing yard work. You can easily suffer minor back injuries by tripping, falling from a height or tripping to the floor, or by excessive twisting of the spine. Severe back injuries may result from car crashes, falls from significant heights, suffering an attack, direct blows to the back, a heavy load falling on the top of your head, a high-energy fall onto the coccyx, or even a penetrating injury such as a stab wound.

Signs you may have suffered a back injury include:

• pain or tenderness (sore to touch)
• pain that worsens with movement, coughing, sneezing or laughing
• stiffness or difficulty moving
• difficulty standing up straight
• muscles in spasm on either side of the spine
• bruising
• swelling
• pain that radiates down one or both legs

It’s important to find out the cause of your symptoms so they can be treated properly. Generally, back injuries can be categorised as sudden, acute back injuries or more gradual, overuse injuries.

Sudden Acute Back Injuries

These injuries usually happen quickly as the result of a specific accident. Pain from an acute injury is often without warning, splitting and severe. Bruising and swelling may develop in the area shortly after the injury. Pain from an acute injury usually doesn’t last longer than 6 weeks, unless the injury is extremely serious. In very serious cases the injury could result in paralysis and permanent disability. Acute injuries include:

• An injury to the ligaments or muscles in your back, for example a sprain or a strain.
• A fracture or dislocation of the spine.

If you fracture your spine this is extremely dangerous, and any injury to the spinal area should be treated carefully and seriously. An injury of this severity can cause spinal cord damage that leads to permanent paralysis. If an injury this severe happens, it is crucial that you keep the person still, don’t move them and call emergency services immediately, as one small mistake can result in permanent paralysis.

• A Ruptured Disk

If the spinal column tears open and the vertebral discs protrude outward, they can press on, or “pinch,” nearby spinal nerves. This is often called a ruptured, or slipped disc. A ruptured disc can cause severe low back pain and sometimes results in shooting pains down the back of the legs.

If you experience any difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, numbness or pins and needles to the arms, legs, hands or feet, some form of paralysis, or blood in the urine after you have suffered a back accident, you need to seek medical assistance immediately if you have not done so already. These are warning signs of a severe back injury.

Gradual Injuries From Overuse

Many back problems that occur in the workplace are caused by physical strain, such as being in an awkward position for a long time, repeating the same motions over and over, and simply using your back too much. These back injuries occur gradually over time, from doing repetitive movements such as heavy lifting and carrying. These injuries can cause stress and strain on muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, blood vessels, or spinal discs, and are usually related to factors such as improper movement or posture while lifting, standing, walking, or sitting, or even while sleeping. Symptoms of gradual, overuse back injuries can include pain, muscle spasms, difficulties standing up straight or moving, pain and stiffness. The pain often goes away within 4 weeks without any treatment, but in other cases the back injury will require physiotherapy, and in sever cases can result in permanent damage.

All types of back injuries can cause pain and limit movement in individuals. Treatments for back injuries will vary dependent on the nature and severity, but include many different medicines, icing, bed rest and physical therapy, and in serious cases will require medical interventions such as steroid injections or surgery.

Should I See a Doctor For My Back Injuries?

In general, if the pain has any of the following characteristics, it is a good idea to see a physician for an evaluation:

• Back pain that follows an accident, such as a car accident or falling off a ladder
• Ongoing back pain that is getting worse
• Pain that continues for more than four to six weeks
• Pain that is severe and does not improve after a few days of typical remedies, such as rest, ice and common pain relievers (such as ibuprofen or Tylenol)
• Severe pain at night that wakes you up, even from a deep sleep
• Back and abdominal pain
• Numbness or altered feelings in the upper inner thighs, groin area, buttock or genital area

The bottom line is that if you are unsure about whether you should seek medical assistance, rather be safe than sorry, and visit a doctor. If you find that your back pain is getting worse over time, or if it does not feel any better despite you resting and medicating with over-the-counter pain remedies, then it is advisable to get a full medical assessment and treat any injury as soon as possible – before you do any further damage.  You will also need the medical report if you decide to make a back injury claim at a later stage, as this will be used to prove your injury and calculate your compensation claim.

What Is The Value Of My Back Injury Claim?

It is tough to set a general quantum of a back injury claim, no matter how the injury was caused. The total compensation that a claimant will receive will differ from person to person, and change depending on the type of accident and nature or severity of the back injuries. As a basis for how much compensation you may claim, it is useful to look at the purpose behind compensation claims.

General Damages in Back Injury Claims

Compensation in personal injury claims are intended to offer payment for the pain and suffering that an individual has wrongfully experienced as a result of the injuries that they have suffered. This includes both physical and psychological pain and suffering experienced as a result of the incident.

Special Damages In Back Injury Claims

Secondly, the compensation claim should seek to recover the costs and additional expenses that a victim has experienced as a result of their injuries. The special damages claim includes a calculation of loss of future and past earnings, as well as the cost of medical treatment that the person has undergone, or will in future undergo because of their injuries. Receiving financial compensation for these expenses is a lifeline for victims of accidents, especially if the injuries sustained leave them unable to return to work immediately, or able to return to work in a reduced capacity only.

As you can see, the amount of compensation that can be claimed in back injury claims will differ on a case by case basis, as the compensation sums are calculated according to the seriousness of the claimant’s injuries, and quantum of their past and future financial losses. To give you a general idea of the compensation that has been awarded in back injury cases, you can check your injury against the amounts in the table below.

Compensation in Back Injury Claims
Severity	Details or factors	Compensation
Extremely severe	This includes compensation for the most severe types of back injuries. This type of back injury would involve damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots resulting in a combination of serious consequences.	Between £69.200 and £122.350
Severe	Compensation for severe back injuries such as fractured discs. Pain is ongoing, and length of recovery period (if any) will be considered.	Between £56.375 and £67.200
Moderately Severe	This includes severe back injuries such as fractures of discs that result in continuing pain	Between £29.475 and £53.000
	compensation for a moderate back injury resulting in some incapacity (for example, a prolapsed disc that requires surgery)	Between £21.000 –   £29.475
Moderate	Moderate back injury, or aggravating an existing back injury.   Factors to be considered include recovery time, pain levels, treatment required, and what impact the injury has on individual’s ability to function.	Between £9.500  £21.000
Relatively minor	This includes minor back injuries that have a recovery time of between two to five years.	Between £6.000 and   £9.500
Mild	Minor back injuries with a recovery period of  between three month and two years.	Between £1.860  and   £6.000
Very mild	Minor back injuries such as soft tissue damage where recovery is within three months.	A few hundred £’s up to £1.860

The amounts in the table above are only to be used as a general guideline to possible compensation in back injury claims, and are not to be seen in any way as binding or fixed amounts of compensation available to claimants. If you have any questions about your back injury claim, the Free Legal Justice team is available to chat about the merits and value of your case, in a confidential, free discussion from the comfort of your own home. If you are unable to call us, simply fill in the online form and a team member will call you back for free, or request a complimentary home visit from one of our claims experts.

Back Injuries At Work

Back injuries that occur at work are extremely common when it comes to back injury claims. Whether you have dull and achy pain, or experience a sharp and stabbing pain as a result of an accident at work, back pain can easily happen as a result of your job, and make it difficult for you to continue doing your job. Unfortunately, many occupations — such as nursing, construction and factory work, can place significant demands on your back and leave you highly at risk to accidents that can cause back injuries.

According to the International Labour Organisation, more than 337 million work accidents happen each year. In Great Britain, an estimated 581 000 workers suffered a non-fatal injury at work, for the period between 2018 and 2019. Many of these accidents involved back injuries.

A work accident is generally an incident that happens during the course of employment, which leads to some form of physical or mental occupational injury to those involved. Back injury claims that our solicitors deal with on a daily basis typically result from the following categories of work-related accidents:

• falls from a height;
• exposure to some form of an explosion or a dangerous chemical substance;
• attacks by humans and animals;
• slips and falls on floors, pavements or staircases;
• defective machinery;
• injuries caused by moving objects or heavy loads; and
• traffic and vehicle collisions.

An injury at work can be caused by a combination of unsafe behaviour and poor working conditions. When accidents happen and a worker is harmed, it is crucial that an employer has adequate safety processes and policies in place to deal with the incident.  An employer has a duty of care towards their workers, and if they breach this duty of care by failing to ensure the safety of workers in accordance with the health and safety laws, then the employer will be liable for any injury suffered from an accident at work.

If your back injury was caused by the negligence of another worker, you should not worry that this person will be personally liable to pay you compensation. As a result of a principle known as vicarious liability, your employer will be responsible for all actions of their workers. This means that an employer will be liable for the back injury that you as a worker have suffered at work, if the accident was caused by something a co-worker did or failed to do. To protect both the employer and the worker in the event of an accident a compensation claim being made, employers are required by law to take out liability insurance to cover claims by workers that have suffered injuries during the course of work.

Back Injuries In A Car Accident

We know that being in any form of car accident is a traumatic experience for everyone involved. Besides the emotional stress and shock, damage to the cars and possessions, a car accident often results in injuries to one or more parties. Back injuries can easily result from a car accident, and some of these injuries can have severe and long-lasting consequences for the victims.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident that was not your fault, you may have a valid accident claim, and be entitled to financial compensation. Our team of dedicated and knowledgeable accident claims solicitors are here to help you institute a back injury claim if you have suffered any injuries and financial loss as a result of a car accident. We know that being injured in any type of accident is scary, and we want to lend a helping hand to guide you through the compensation claim process. We will take over all the hard work during the claims process, leaving you with less paperwork and minimal stress.

I Have Been In A Car Accident That Wasn’t My Fault. What Should I do?

1. Seek medical assistance

If a person has been injured in the car accident, emergency services should be called or a doctor must be consulted if the injury does not appear to be serious. You will need a medical report for any type of compensation claim that you intend making.

2. Call the police

In many cases, it will be necessary to call the police or report the accident at the nearest police station:

• Within 24 hours should a person be killed or severely injured; or
• By the end of the next working day after the car accident if no person has been killed or injured.

If you have been in a car accident where the driver was uninsured, make sure that you take careful note of the accident case number, as you will need this detail for purposes of making the claim. Write down the name of the police officer spoken to and the accident report’s reference number. We will request this reference number when dealing with your case.

3. Co-operate with all emergency personnel and police who respond to the accident

They are here to help. A car accident is stressful for everyone. Make sure that all those who need medical assistance get it as soon as possible. If the wreckage from the car accident is in the middle of the road and obstructing traffic for example, then the police will need to take steps to remove the obstacle as far as possible out of the way so that it does not disrupt the other road users.

4. Get the details of all other cars involved in the accident

This includes details such as the drivers’ names, identity or passport numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, description of the motor vehicles, the registration numbers, and any relevant details from the licence discs; the date, time and address of the accident; the weather and road conditions when the accident occurred; and any other information that may be relevant. If an employee is driving a car on behalf of his/her employer, then you should record the details of the driver and the employer.

5. Write down the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all potential witnesses of the accident.

Depending on how the matter runs and whether it goes to trial at some stage in the future, you may need witness statements. Your car accident claims solicitor will guide you on this.

6. If possible, you should take photographs or a video of:

• the scene of the accident, from different angles;
• the surrounding area;
• the physical injuries of anyone involved in the accident; and
• any damage to property.

Once you have decided to institute a back injury claim, we may ask you to share any evidence and supportive documentation that you have to be able to make your back injury claim. In addition to the information listed, you can even sketch a picture to show the scene of the accident- make sure that it contains a fixed point so that it can easily be traced. Also make sure to record what happened and why it happened in writing, whether it be in a formal statement with the police or otherwise. This sketch and statement will help you to remember the details of the car accident at a later stage and will allow one of Free Legal Justice’s car accident claims experts to properly evaluate the merits of your claim.

Back Injuries Suffered In A Public Place

If you have an accident in your own home which results in a back injury, this will not easily result in a claim for compensation. If you are injured in a public place however, for example if you a slip and trip in a shop, at the library or at the park, this could result in a personal injury claim. Back injury claims could arise in public places when someone slips and falls on a wet surface which has not been demarcated with a warning sign, or where someone slips and falls on a lubricant cleaning product or other fluid that has been spilt and not cleaned up timeously in a public space. Back injuries can also be the result of a member of the public falling into a hole in the ground, and has not been sufficiently marked or sufficient warning signs erected to warn the public of this danger.

If you have suffered a back injury due to the negligence of another in respect of the maintenance and safety of a public place, you may be entitled to make a compensation claim.  This is conditional on you being able to prove that the injury was entirely caused by the incident that you were involved in, and further that the person responsible had a duty of care to the public to prevent such an accident from happening.  Put differently, you will have to be able to prove that there is a specific third party that is directly to blame for the back injury that you have suffered. This means that if you simply trip over a fallen tree in the woods while on your morning run, this can’t be attributed to someone else. On the other hand, if you trip on a missing pavement slab, or exposed wires on the pavement outside your house, this could lead to a compensation claim against the local council, as they have a duty of care to the public and breached this duty of care by failing to monitor and remove the hazard.

Back injury claims arising out of accidents that happen in a public place can become complicated and you will most likely need the help of a legal professional to make this type of claim. Free Legal Justice will guide you through your entire back injury claim, and can help you get the compensation you deserve. Contact Free Legal Justice today for a free, no obligations discussion about your back injury claim. A member of our team will be able to estimate the value and merits of your case once they have been through the details of the incident with you. The sooner you get started on your back injury claim, the sooner we can get you the justice you deserve.

How Long Do I Have to Make My Back Injury Claim?

Generally, you need to make a claim for back injury compensation within three years of the date of the accident, or of the date of diagnosis of your injuries. There are exceptions to this rule, for example you may be allowed a longer time period if you are claiming on behalf of a child or protected person. On the other hand, if the accident was the result of criminal activity such as a hit and run car accident, time limits may vary.

What Will It Cost To Make A Back Injury Claim?

Free Legal Justice is happy to offer No Win No Fee agreements for a variety of personal injury claims. Put simply, a No Win No Fee Agreement is a way for you to take legal steps necessary to claim compensation for wrongful injuries, even if you don’t have the financial resources to do so on your own. A No Win No Fee agreement means that we cover all the upfront legal costs of running your claim, and will only get paid if we help you to win your case and receive financial compensation for your claim. If we win your case, we will charge you a success fee of 25% of the total compensation received, as payment for all the work that we have done on your case. On the rare occasion that we can’t help you win your case, then you won’t owe us any money! Your appointed solicitor will make sure to discuss the success fee with you before you start your back injury claim.

Why Choose Us For Your Back Injury Compensation Claims?

Whether you were injured at work, in a public space such as a shopping mall or in a street, or in a car accident, we can help you to claim rightful compensation for your injuries, and get you the justice you deserve. Our dedicated and friendly team is available around the clock here to answer any questions you have about what happened, why it happened, what your next steps are, and whether you can claim compensation for the back injury that you have suffered.  Best of all, this professional advice effectively comes free of charge!

At the end of the day, making a back injury claim with Free Legal Justice is a financially savvy way to take the legal steps necessary to get the justice you deserve. Free Legal Justice carries the risk of your claim being unsuccessful. If your compensation claim is unsuccessful, we will not charge you any anything for the work done on your case. Contact Free Legal Justice today on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 and get the compensation you deserve as soon as possible.