I was in a car accident about two and a half weeks ago. I was hit by a drunk driver. I was driving behind a truck, going north, and a car was coming south. The driver of the car was intoxicated, and he just came right over the center line in the road and ran right into the truck. I swerved to the right, to try and avoid any collision. However, I couldn’t swerve far enough in time, and I was hit on the driver’s side of the car. I was driving. The side air bag deployed, but the front airbag did not. Thus, the seatbelt was the only restraint in the front of me, and it definitely took its grip. I may or may not have also hit the steering wheel.
Whatever happened, I hurt my chest area. I would like to explain the string of circumstances that followed to help anyone else who is involved in a similar accident, so you will know what to expect. I found one of the worst things to be that I didn’t know what was going on, and I hope this knowledge will free your mind.
So, what do you do and what should you expect when you are in a car crash and receive a seatbelt injury?
First, you will feel an immense pain in your chest area, where your sternum lies. The pain will also most likely occur above your sternum at the top of your chest and to the sides of your sternum. The pain will be so bad that it will be hard to move at all.
This article focuses on no bones being broken or fractured, but this is a great possibility in this type of accident. As soon as the ambulance arrives to the scene, the EMT will start asking you questions. Does your back hurt anywhere or your neck? If so, you could have broken your neck, could have whiplash, or could have pinched a nerve or damaged your spine. If your sternum/ribcage area hurts, you may have fractured your sternum or broken a rib. So, what they will want to do is put you on a board and make sure you can’t move your head, neck, or the rest of your body.
In my case, I was able to get out of the car. Although I was in immense pain in my sternum area, I had so much shock and adrenaline that it allowed me to get out of the car. I was in great shock, because I didn’t even think the car was hit very hard. It seemed like I was in the twilight zone. I tried to open the driver’s door, but it wouldn’t open. The car had been hit right here in the accident. (The car actually was totalled!)
So, the first thing to expect right after the accident is great pain and shock, as well as adrenaline. It will seem like a nightmare. The shock means it is hard to believe that you were hit so hard.
Then, they put you in the ambulance to take you to the hospital. When you are constrained like this, it is somewhat scary. You can’t see anything but the ambulance lights above your head, and the EMT’s are taking your blood pressure and pulse. My blood pressure went up to about 130 over 80, from my normal 120 over 70. This was once I was in the ambulance- it could have been much greater at other points. This was due to the shock of the accident. My pulse was racing. I didn’t like not being able to move my head or neck, and I didn’t know what was wrong with me! At this point, I was told that I would have to get xrays.
The second thing to expect then, is an ambulance ride to the hospital, with EMT’s checking your vitals.
Once arriving at the hospital, they take you off the stretcher and into a hospital bed. I thought this was a bad idea. If my neck was broken or something, this could have made it worse. They actually took off the neck brace! But, I was told later, if they thought there was any chance of this then it would have been left on. I was told that I had to go get xrays then to see if any bones were broken. I was in so much pain that I could barely move. It hurt even when THEY took me off the stretcher. It hurt just to lie still! The xrays were awful. The xray technician wants you to stand up and take the xrays. There was no way I was going to be able to do this! They ended up putting the bed into a sitting position and propping me up to do the xrays. Even this hurt alot!
The third thing to expect is painful x-raying.
I was informed that nothing was broken, and so they gave me ibuprofen 800mg and vicadin, a narcotic controlled substance, for the pain. No matter what you take, the pain is immense, I think. They warned me that the pain would get worse in the morning, when all the adrenaline wore off. I was told that I would get really stiff and sore and that it would get worse before it got better.
So, then I tried to get out of the hospital. This was almost impossible. It took everything I had to endure the pain to sit up and then stand. The hospital staff seemed as if they were laughing at me that I was in such pain. They seemed somewhat resistant to help me. I had to have someone carry my belongings to the waiting area to wait for my ride. I found it treacherous to try walking, and lifting anything certainly wasn’t going to happen. Every time I took a couple of steps, the muscles in my chest area would have like a small painful spasm!
In the morning, the doctors were right. I could barely move. It hurt to even shift from one side to the other in bed. I had to basically lie on my back, but even this was painful. Not moving was painful. Moving was painful. All I wanted to do was find ways to avoid using any muscles in my chest. I found that this is next to impossible. For almost anything you do, you use your chest muscles. The first few days I was sore, in other areas than just my chest. I was sore in my neck, and think I had some whiplash. I could hardly move my neck for about three days. My wrists hurt and my joints in my feet hurt. My leg muscles and arm muscles also seemed to tighten up for a few days.
Fourth, expect soreness and pain. The soreness is in areas other than the greatly injured chest area, with great pain in the chest area.
The next couple of days was a living nightmare. Every time I moved in bed, I felt pain. Trying to sit up in bed or lay down was very hard. I had to roll out of my bed, by putting my feet on the floor and then sliding the rest of my body out. I couldn’t use my chest muscles to sit up or to lay down. For these first couple of days, doing anything with my chest muscles made them more sore and stiff, and induced great pain.
For the next week, I couldn’t use my chest muscles. If I did, I caused a new pain. I couldn’t carry even my small purse without my chest muscles hurting. I had trouble going from a sitting to standing position, and still had to roll in and out of bed. If I was even a little late with ibuprofen, I would feel my chest starting to become inflamed and hurt even when not moving. The mornings were the worst, because overnight the pain medication wears off. I tried to take it right before bed. The ibuprofen alone made me sick. Everything seemed to make me sick on my stomach. Although I didn’t throw up, I had other problems. I didn’t have much of an appetite and seemed to crave chocolate to ease the pain. I lost much of my motivation, and found it easy while bedridden alone to start thinking about everything. I had to hold my chest muscles just when sitting up or walking. The worst thing of all was sneezing. If you sneeze, forget about it! The pain will be so bad that it is almost unbearable, even if you’ve taken your pain medication. It almost feels like you’e reinjured the muscle.
I did find that by holding my chest muscles, I could avoid them moving much, and this helped a little with the pain.
Fifth, expect having a hard time moving and/or doing anything for over a week.
By ten days after the accident, I was still in a lot of pain. I still had to roll in and out of bed and couldn’t lift anything. I found that if I was really careful and didn’t miss any medication times and basically stayed in bed, I wouldn’t have too much pain other than in the morning. I still felt sick though, and my appetite had not returned. I can’t bend over to put on socks- I have to bend my leg up so I can put the socks on level.
By two and a half weeks after the accident, I still had pain. Now, I also had trouble breathing after walking. I think this is because the lungs and muscles had become weakened after not being able to use them much. I still roll into and out of bed. I still can’t lift much, although I can lift a plate now for dinner, or something one or two pounds. I have found a way to stand up just using my leg muscles so I don’t have to use the chest muscles and hurt them.
From what I have heard, it can take up to 6 to 8 weeks for bruised muscles to heal. And, once they don’t hurt so bad, then you have to deal with building them back up again. This injury is no joke- it’s serious. The recovery doesn’t happen overnight.
So, finally expect pain for at least two to three weeks, and then a long recovery process.
Here are some tips I learned to help things:
1. When you are in great pain, trust your body. If certain things hurt, don’t do them. If it hurts to lie on your side, lie on your back. Trust your body’s instincts.
2. Try to avoid using the muscles that are injured during the period when there is still sharp pain. Once the pain dulls, in say two to four weeks, you can start to rebuild the muscles slowly. If something hurts with sharp pain, avoid it. If it just feels a little stiff, try it briefly but don’t overdo it!
3. Don’t carry things, as this will aggravate the injury. Let others help you.
4. Don’t sneeze! Do whatever you can to avoid this. This seems as if it can set you back for days. Put your finger under your nose or something to try and stop it!
5. Understand that the body is working to try and heal itself, so don’t freak out when it takes time. The more you can relax, the faster the healing process will be. It was hard for me, because I didn’t understand all of this (which is why I wrote this article.)
All in all, I know at least twenty times I thought to myself that if I hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt, it couldn’t have hurt me so bad. But then I instantly realize the alternative would have been for me to hit the steering wheel (harder) or to go through the windshield. I might have been killed instead of just badly injured. My advice- deal with the seatbelt injury pain and don’t even think about not wearing one!
I hope this article helps you to understand what happens and what to expect when you are injured in a car crash and have a seatbelt injury. Good luck and be glad you are alive!
