The most common car accident injuries tend to occur in the back, head, or neck, but the entire body is left vulnerable during a collision. You may not know that wrist and hand injuries are also common occurrences after a car accident. In these cases, it’s common to not notice symptoms for hours or even days, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t serious or do not require care. One way these injuries often begin to appear is in swelling of the hand, fingers, or wrist as a result of the injuries. If you notice swelling, it can be a sign that it’s time to seek treatment to prevent further injury.
Most Common Hand Injuries from Car Accidents
Hand injuries can range from minor cuts or bruises to more severe damage, depending on the accident’s severity and where your hands were at the time. While headaches after an accident are common, here are some of the most common car accident injuries to the hand.
Fractures
The bones in your hand and wrist are particularly small and delicate, meaning they are not only fragile, but there are a lot of them in a relatively small space. 13 individual bones extend between the wrist and the palm, and 14 are in the fingers and thumb on each hand. Blunt trauma, like bracing yourself during a car accident, can easily lead to a fracture in these bones. Hands often move during impact, hitting the steering wheel, windshield, airbag, or other parts of the car. Knuckles, wrists, the scaphoid bone, and individual fingers are all commonly broken. Fractures can also occur if a hand is crushed.
Sprains
You may have sprained your wrist during a fall in the past- when the wrist bends backward, the ligaments meant to hold the bones in place can be damaged. This also commonly happens when the wrist collides with a hard surface or moves unnaturally. Sprains are graded based on the severity of the injury.
Dislocations
When bones are dislodged and moved out of their natural position, this is a dislocation. Grabbing the steering wheel to brace for impact can cause this to happen. Some dislocations are easy to fix, but a severe case can lead to damage in the surrounding soft tissue or permanently impact bones. The middle knuckle of each finger is particularly vulnerable to dislocation- you may notice your finger is crooked or misshapen, swollen, bruised, or painful. You should never pop a bone back into a joint yourself.
Tendon Damage
Tendons connect the bones and muscles in your hands. When these tendons are subject to blunt force trauma, they may become inflamed or damaged, leading to pain or more severe problems in the future.
Nerve Damage
Trauma to the hand can damage nerves and blood vessels. Common symptoms of a pinched or severed nerve include numbness, weakness, or pain. Any numbness or circulation problems in the hand can indicate severe damage and should be evaluated quickly.
Treating a Swollen Hand
If you notice your hand swelling after a car accident, you may have sustained one of the injuries listed above or another. The swelling is often accompanied by pain, discoloration, bruising, numbness, or trouble moving. You can take some steps at home to reduce these symptoms, such as elevating the hand and using ice, in the short term. You may also limit movement as much as possible.
The best thing to do when you notice swelling is to contact a local doctor but make sure you know which doctor to see after an accident. They will be able to diagnose and treat the cause of the swelling, creating a plan to address the underlying injury. Sometimes these injuries can worsen when they aren’t diagnosed and you continue using your hand as you did before. Early care can offer rehabilitation and pain management that ensure you do not further damage your hand and can return to normal use after a time.
You should always take hand injuries seriously. Your hands are an integral part of almost every daily task you perform, from typing to brushing your teeth to getting dressed. A chronic hand injury not only makes these activities more difficult, but may also impact your ability to do your job, especially if you do manual labor or work on a computer. This makes it even more important to treat your hand quickly just like you would other car accident injuries.
