Broken Back Compensation, Symptoms And Treatment

A broken back is when an injury occurs in the back section of the spinal column causing one or more vertebrae to fracture.

There are four sections that make up the back section of the spinal column: thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and the coccygeal.  There are 22 vertebrae in the back and each is referred to by their location and a number (C1 – C7, T1 –T12 & L1 – 5).  The vertebrae protect the spinal cord from most injuries.  In cases where vertebrae become fractured but the spine is not injured, the person will not experience paralysis.  If the spinal cord itself is also injured then paralysis may occur.   It’s important to be careful when healing from fractured vertebrae so that the spinal cord is not damaged in the process. 

Causes of a broken back include:

• Osteoporosis – vertebrae may break without even a fall involved
• Falls
• Car accidents
• Sports

Symptoms of a broken back:

• Pain in the back (usually comes on very quickly)
• Loss of height (due to osteoporosis)
• Slight numbness, and/or tingling (most times in the legs)

Treatment of a broken back

Someone should not be moved unless absolutely necessary if it’s thought they have a serious back injury.  Moving a person in the incorrect way could do further damage to the back.  The best first treatment is to keep the neck from moving and having trained staff move the person to a medical facility for further treatment.  A MRI or CAT scan will be done to access the damage to the back.  The severity of the injury will decide the treatment.  In many cases surgery will be necessary to fix the fractured vertebrae.  This is usually done by fusing the fractured vertebrae to the one next to it or taking it out and replacing it with a bone graft.  A back brace is put on to help the back heal by not having any movement.  In very severe cases a body cast is used instead of a back brace.  The body cast allows even less mobility than the brace.

The progress and the road to recovery can be slow after a back surgery.  Therapy will be used once the patient is out of the brace or cast to regain strength in the back.  Re-injuring a back that has been through surgery is common but can be avoided with gradual rehabilitation.

Compensation for a broken back

Many people are unaware that they can claim compensation for a broken or fractured bone but help is at hand. Whether you have been injured at work, on the road, playing sport, in hospital, in the street, in a shop, an office, commercial or public building, at home, a friend's house or any kind of slip, trip or fall.

In addition to claiming compensation for you or a loved ones suffering, you may also be able to claim for medical expenses, lost wages and any other out of pocket expenses.  For an idea of what you could get see some typical compensation amounts.

Pinstripe make it easy for you to claim compensation. All you need to do is complete the simple online form opposite and the experienced and friendly claims team will handle it from there. It's that easy!