Back and Neck Pain Injuries

Back and neck injuries can truly change your life. They can affect almost every aspect of your daily routine and might even prevent you from doing your job or enjoying activities you love. These kinds of injuries can happen suddenly due to a single accident, or they can develop slowly over time, often from repeated stress or strain. Many neck and back problems are related to specific types of work, especially jobs that involve a lot of heavy lifting or handling large, heavy items.

If your back or neck injury happened because of your job or because someone else was careless, you might be able to get money for your medical bills and other losses. Unfortunately, getting this money can be quite hard. Insurance companies often try to pay as little as possible to people who claim injuries. They often take advantage of individuals who try to handle their claims without a lawyer.

At Bailey, Javins & Carter, L.C., we’ve been helping injured people in West Virginia for more than fifty years. Our law firm focuses on personal injury cases, and we work really hard to get the most money possible for every client we represent. 

If you hurt your back or neck or suffered any other injury in West Virginia, we offer a free first meeting to talk about your case. 

The Human Spine: A Complex Structure

To really understand why back and neck injuries are so serious, it helps to know a little bit about the human spine. Our spine is an incredibly complex and vital part of our body. It’s made up of 33 bones called vertebrae, which are stacked on top of each other. Between most of these vertebrae are soft, jelly-like cushions called discs. These discs act as shock absorbers, allowing our spine to bend, twist, and absorb impacts without the bones grinding against each other.

Running through the center of the vertebrae is the spinal cord, a thick bundle of nerves that carries messages between your brain and the rest of your body. Nerves branch out from the spinal cord at different levels, going to your arms, legs, and internal organs. The neck, also known as the cervical spine, is the top part of this structure, supporting your head and allowing it a wide range of motion. 

The back, or thoracic and lumbar spine, bears much of your body’s weight and provides stability. Because the spine houses the spinal cord and so many nerves, any injury to its bones, discs, ligaments, or surrounding muscles can have widespread and debilitating effects, leading to pain, numbness, weakness, or even paralysis.

Common Types of Back and Neck Injuries

Back and neck injuries come in many forms, each with its own set of symptoms and long-term consequences. Some of the most frequently seen types of injuries include:

• Herniated Discs (Slipped or Ruptured Discs): This happens when the soft inner part of a spinal disc pushes out through a tear in its tougher outer casing. This bulging disc can then press on nearby nerves, causing intense pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness in the arms, legs, or other areas depending on where the herniation occurs. Sciatica, for example, is often caused by a herniated disc in the lower back pressing on the sciatic nerve.
• Whiplash: Commonly associated with car accidents, whiplash occurs when the head is suddenly jerked forward and backward (or side to side) with great force. This rapid movement strains the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the neck, leading to pain, stiffness, headaches, dizziness, and sometimes difficulty concentrating.
• Sprains and Strains: These are very common and involve damage to the soft tissues supporting the spine. A sprain is an injury to a ligament (the tough bands connecting bones), while a strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon (which connects muscle to bone). These can result from sudden twists, overstretching, or repetitive movements, causing localized pain, tenderness, and limited range of motion.
• Fractured Vertebrae: A fracture means a break in one of the spinal bones. These can range from minor compression fractures (where the bone collapses) to severe burst fractures. Fractures are often caused by high-impact trauma, like falls from heights or car crashes, and can be extremely painful. If the fracture causes bone fragments to press on the spinal cord, it can lead to neurological damage.
• Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI): These are among the most catastrophic back and neck injuries. An SCI occurs when there is damage to the spinal cord itself, disrupting the communication between the brain and the body below the injury site. SCIs can result in partial or complete paralysis, loss of sensation, and impact bodily functions. The higher up the spinal cord the injury occurs, the more widespread the effects.
• Nerve Impingement/Radiculopathy: This refers to a nerve being pinched or compressed, often by a herniated disc, bone spur, or narrowed spinal canal (stenosis). Symptoms include radiating pain, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness along the path of the affected nerve.
• Degenerative Conditions Aggravated by Trauma: While some conditions like degenerative disc disease or arthritis develop over time, a traumatic event can significantly worsen them, making them symptomatic or accelerating their progression. An injury might turn a pre-existing, silent condition into a painful, debilitating one.

Understanding the specific type of injury is crucial for proper medical treatment and for building a strong legal case, as each injury has different diagnostic criteria, prognoses, and associated costs.

How Back and Neck Injuries Occur

Back and neck injuries can arise from countless scenarios, but they broadly fall into two categories: those directly related to one’s job and those that happen due to someone else’s carelessness or negligence in other situations.

Work-Related Accidents: High-Risk Industries and Scenarios

Workers in West Virginia’s coal mining, logging (foresting), and fracking industries frequently face dangerous conditions that can lead to severe back or neck injuries. These injuries are also very common in many other jobs, such as construction, landscaping, power line and utility work, and even office jobs if proper ergonomics are not followed.

Here’s how these injuries often happen in a work setting:

• Heavy Lifting and Repetitive Motion: Many jobs require workers to lift heavy objects, often repeatedly, or to maintain awkward postures. This can lead to strains, sprains, and herniated discs over time, or cause acute injuries from a single improper lift. Construction workers, nurses, and warehouse staff are particularly at risk.
• Falls from Heights: Workers on scaffolds, ladders, roofs, or elevated platforms in construction or utility work can suffer devastating back and neck injuries if they fall. Even falls from relatively low heights can cause significant trauma to the spine.
• Slips, Trips, and Falls on the Same Level: Wet floors, cluttered walkways, uneven surfaces, or poor lighting can cause workers to slip or trip, leading to sudden impacts that jolt the spine. This is common across almost all industries.
• Machinery and Equipment Accidents: Workers operating heavy machinery in mining, construction, or manufacturing can be injured if equipment malfunctions, rolls over, or if they are struck by moving parts. The vibrations from operating heavy equipment for extended periods can also contribute to chronic back problems.
• Motor Vehicle Accidents (on the Job): If an employee drives for work—whether it’s a delivery driver, a sales representative, or a construction worker traveling between sites—a car accident on company time can result in severe back and neck trauma.
• Struck By or Against Objects: Being hit by falling objects, swinging loads, or collapsing structures can cause direct impact injuries to the spine. Similarly, workers can injure their backs or necks if they run into stationary objects or are pinned between them.

These scenarios highlight the inherent risks in many occupations and underscore why workers’ compensation systems are so vital.

Accidents Caused by Negligence: Beyond the Workplace

While many back and neck injuries occur at work, a significant number happen outside of employment due to the carelessness or wrongful actions of another person or entity. These fall under the umbrella of personal injury law.

Common non-work-related causes include:

• Car Accidents: This is one of the leading causes of neck and back injuries, especially whiplash, herniated discs, and spinal fractures. The sudden forces of a collision can violently jolt the body, impacting the delicate structures of the spine. Rear-end collisions are particularly notorious for causing whiplash.
• Slip and Fall Accidents: Similar to workplace falls, these can happen on someone else’s property—a grocery store, a restaurant, a friend’s house, or a public sidewalk. If a property owner failed to maintain safe conditions (e.g., leaving a spill uncleaned, having broken stairs, or neglecting icy patches), and you fall and injure your back or neck, they might be held responsible.
• Motorcycle Accidents: Due to the lack of protection, motorcyclists are highly vulnerable to severe back and neck injuries in collisions, often resulting in devastating spinal cord damage.
• Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents: When pedestrians or cyclists are hit by vehicles, the impact can be severe, frequently leading to serious spinal injuries as they are directly exposed.
• Truck Accidents: Collisions involving large commercial trucks can be particularly devastating due to the immense size and weight of the trucks. The force generated can cause severe and complex spinal trauma, often requiring extensive medical intervention.
• Sports and Recreation Injuries: While many sports injuries are accidental, some can result from negligent coaching, unsafe playing conditions, or defective equipment provided by others. Diving accidents, for instance, can cause severe neck and spinal cord injuries.
• Medical Malpractice: In rare but serious cases, a back or neck injury could be caused or worsened by a medical professional’s negligence during diagnosis, treatment, or surgery.
• Defective Products: Beyond the workplace, faulty consumer products (e.g., a defective car seat, a collapsing chair, or unsafe exercise equipment) can directly lead to back or neck injuries if they malfunction as intended.

In these situations, proving that another party’s negligence directly caused your injury is key to recovering compensation.

Free Initial Consultation with an Experienced Back and Neck Injury Lawyer in West Virginia

Neck and back injuries can be a major disruption in a person’s life. If this has happened to you and someone else was at fault, you deserve to be compensated. Before too much time passes, contact us to discuss your case with our legal team. To schedule your free consultation and case assessment, message us online or call our office today at (800) 497-0234 or (800) 296-6979.

We work on a contingency basis. We don’t get paid unless you do.