As the cliché goes, if something is impossible to ignore, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The reason for the expression is because you use your fingers so much, you always notice when one of them is in pain. While you may sustain a variety of injuries in any car accident because of a negligent driver, damage to your fingers may alter your quality of life forever.
For the first half of 2019, fatal car accidents in the Aloha State jumped 18% over the previous year. Still, you do not have to die in a car crash for it to be severe. An injury to an important part of your body, such as your fingers, may have life-altering consequences. Here are four types of finger injuries you may sustain in an automobile collision.
1. Dislocation
Each of your fingers has three joints. If you hit a finger on a hard object, such as the steering wheel or dashboard, during an automobile crash, you may dislocate one or more of these joints. Dislocations can be incredibly painful. While a medical professional may relocate the joint, you could develop scar tissue or arthritis later in life. You may also routinely dislocate your finger’s joints after an initial dislocation.
2. Amputation
Many sharp and blunt objects can sever your finger during a crash. A finger amputation may be partial, where only part of your finger goes missing, or complete, where you lose the entire finger. Because reattaching fingers is difficult, you may have to live with a missing digit after a car accident.
3. Lacerations
Because your fingers may tend to jut out instinctively during an automobile collision, you may cut them without suffering an amputation. Nevertheless, cuts can be quite serious. If you do not properly treat such an injury, you may develop an infection. Also, because your fingers have a significant number of nerve endings, a cut may cause you to lose sensation permanently.
4. Ligament damage
To facilitate movement, your fingers have ligaments. Like the connective tissues in other parts of your body, finger ligaments can stretch and break. Without a surgical repair, you may have difficulty opening and closing your fingers or gripping objects.
You can injure your fingers in an automobile accident in several ways. Because you likely use your fingers for thousands of tasks every single day, a finger injury may interfere with your quality of life.