Hip Pain After a Car Accident: Pain You Shouldn’t Ignore

If a car accident has left you with hip pain, you’re not alone. It’s common for car crash victims to report feeling pain in their hips. And because hip functioning is so vital to movement, hip pain can be debilitating, and can even lead to larger issues down the road if you don’t get it treated.

Whether your hip pain began right after the car accident or several days later, there could be a variety of potential causes. Here are some common hip injuries resulting from car crashes, as well as what you should do next if you’re suffering from hip pain after a car accident.

Common Causes of Hip Pain After a Car Accident

The hip is a complex area of the body where your legs connect to your trunk. The femur (or thigh bone) meets your pelvis and is connected by a ball-and-socket joint. Sudden, extreme force from a car accident can damage the bones, muscles, soft tissues, and other structures surrounding the hip joint.

Here are a few of the most common hip injuries:

Hip Fractures

The pelvis is made up of three different bones: the ilium (top of the pelvis), the pubis (low part of the pelvis), and the ischium (the bone forming the base of each half of the pelvis). When the pelvis fractures, it can fracture in any of these three areas. Additionally, the hip can fracture along the hip bone sockets, which is called an acetabular fracture. Regardless of where the fracture is located, however, a broken hip is almost always a serious injury that requires immediate medical treatment.

Hip Dislocation

A sudden, violent jolt can push the rounded head of your thighbone (femur) out of the hip socket. Dislocated hips can make movement very painful and difficult and require medical attention to correct. They may also damage nearby soft tissues, nerves, and blood vessels. If you dislocated your hip in a car accident, the pain will likely be impossible to ignore, and you should seek medical help immediately.

Hip Sprains

When the ligaments supporting your hip joint stretch or tear, you are experiencing a hip sprain. Ligaments are connective tissues that attach bones together and provide stability to a joint; a hip sprain will often lead to pain, tenderness, reduced range of motion, and weakness in the muscles surrounding your hip. Symptoms tend to worsen the more you use your hip.

Hip Tendonitis

Tendonitis occurs when the tendons that connect muscles to your pelvis become inflamed and swollen. Although this injury is usually the result of overuse, sudden and extreme forces (such as car accidents) can also cause tendonitis. Symptoms are typically minor at first, but gradually worsen over time. If left untreated, tendonitis can make future movement limited and painful, so pay attention in the days after an accident for hip stiffness and pain that increases as you move.

Hip Bursitis

Around your hip joint, the bones are padded by small fluid-filled sacs called bursae. The sudden impact of an auto accident can irritate and inflame them. Common symptoms include pain and tenderness along the point of the hip and outer thigh, along with stiffness in the hip joint. Pain tends to be sharp at first, then gradually develops into duller aches and soreness over the following days and weeks. Symptoms are often worse when lying on the injured hip or when getting up after sitting.

What to Do When You Experience Hip Pain After a Car Accident

Seek Medical Attention Promptly

Since hip pain can take days or even weeks to appear, you should see a doctor as soon as possible after any motor vehicle accident, even if you do not think you are injured.

Each of the common causes of hip pain listed above can worsen over time, which can lead to serious long-term effects. Untreated hip pain can become chronic and lead to changes in your gait, affecting how you move. Because almost every activity you perform requires moving your hips, untreated hip pain can eventually lead to lower back pain, knee pain, and many other problems. This is because other parts of your body must handle increased stress to compensate for your damaged hips.

Most hip injuries can be treated with proper care, physical therapy, medication, or in serious cases, surgery. By seeking medical treatment early, you can catch injuries sooner and avoid unnecessary pain and suffering.

If a medical crew arrives on the scene of the accident, allow them to treat you—again, even if you think you are uninjured.

Seeking Medical Care Right Away Can Help Your Legal Case, Too

On top of benefitting your physical health, seeing a medical provider for hip pain soon after a car accident (ideally in the first day or two) can help your legal case.

By seeing a doctor early on after a crash, you will have medical records that can help prove that your hip pain was a direct result of the accident. This is very valuable for your legal case and when working with insurance claims, because it makes the causal relationship between the accident and the injury much more evident to the insurance company (or a jury). Additionally, keep detailed notes on your hip pain in the days and weeks following a crash to help your case.

While seeing a medical professional can sometimes be expensive, you shouldn’t be financially responsible for damage that you didn’t cause. Don’t let the cost of medical care, even the specialized care of an orthopedic surgeon, dissuade you from seeing a doctor. An experienced legal team can help you file a claim for damages, which can include your medical bills and any treatment for hip pain.

Notify Insurance

Notify your insurance company of your accident and injuries as soon as you can. Having a police report to reference is especially helpful here.

Remember that, while insurance is in theory designed to protect you from financial hardship, both your insurance company and the insurance company representing the at-fault driver have an ulterior motive—to save as much money as they can.

Do not sign or agree to any settlements presented to you from the insurance companies without first consulting a personal injury attorney specializing in car crashes. Insurance companies’ first offers are almost always lower than what the case truly deserves.

Remember that, while insurance is in theory designed to protect you from financial hardship, both your insurance company and the insurance company representing the at-fault driver have an ulterior motive—to save as much money as they can.

An Experienced Legal Team Can Help You Maximize Your Settlement Amount

By working with a lawyer after a car accident, you can be sure that your case receives care and attention from someone who knows the law well and truly has your best interests at heart.

A personal injury attorney can best determine the true value of your case by factoring in current losses (such as medical bills and lost wages due to missing work) and projecting future losses related to the accident (such as continued treatment for hip pain, future lost wages). Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and other non-economic damages may also be considered, as well as punitive damages if the at-fault party acting particularly recklessly.

RELATED: How to Calculate Your Damages After an Accident

A lawyer can also protect you and your case by thoroughly investigating the crash, ensuring critical evidence is preserved, working with expert witnesses (including doctors, accident reconstructionists, and more), and handling all aspects of the case, including negotiations with the insurance company and their adjusters.

Cases that are not backed by an experienced legal team typically settle for much less than cases that have the expertise of a lawyer. Why do all the hard work yourself, just to wind up with a smaller settlement in the end? Study after study shows that working with an experienced personal injury lawyer not only saves you time and stress, but returns larger settlement amounts (even after subtracting lawyer’s fees) on average.

Why do all the hard work yourself, just to wind up with a smaller settlement in the end?

Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys Are Here for You

Insurance claims, settlements, and medical bills are all complex and confusing to navigate, especially when you’re dealing with hip pain on top of it all! Here at Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys, it’s our goal to take care of everything so all that’s left for you is to focus on healing.

If you’re experiencing hip pain after a car crash, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Andy Citrin Injury Attorneys. After 25 years of helping thousands in Mobile, Biloxi, and elsewhere throughout Alabama and Mississippi receive the fair settlements they deserve, we’re not afraid of fighting for you, even in the toughest cases!

With a free legal consultation, you don’t have to wonder what your options are after suffering a hip injury in a car crash. Our expert legal advice can help you get started on the road to healing. Give us a call today at 251-888-8888 or schedule your free consultation online.

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.