Getting into a crash with a large vehicle, like a commercial truck, puts you at risk of crushing injuries. These injuries result in many different symptoms and complications that you need to understand.
Crushing injuries immediately cause bruising and bleeding, but they may also lead to compartment syndrome, lacerations, nerve injuries, infections, and smashed muscles and bones. Immediately following a crushing injury, individuals need to seek medical attention.
What happens when the body is crushed?
Immediately following a crushing injury, the body suffers severe trauma. Bones break under pressure, ligaments tear, bruising occurs and other injuries develop. While it doesn’t happen in every case, rhabdomyolysis could develop. This is a serious complication and one reason you don’t want to remove pressure from a pinned body part without emergency care available.
What is rhabdomyolysis?
Rhabdomyolysis occurs when the muscles of the body are crushed by another object. When this occurs, the muscle ruptures, which means the cells burst. Their contents enter the body but have nowhere to go because of the weight against the muscle. As a result, the particles stay in one place until the weight releases. At that point, the built up of toxins and myoglobin head to the kidneys where they block the kidneys. This forces toxins back into the body instead of being able to release them through urine. Up to 33 percent of people with rhabdomyolysis end up with kidney failure, but with consistent care immediately following an accident, it’s treatable. Treating this condition is the only way to avoid death, which could occur after only a few days as toxins build up in the body.
Rhabdomyolysis sometimes requires amputation, which is another thing to consider as a victim of a crushing accident. Get immediate medical attention for the best chance of recovering well without further complications to your health.