St. Louis Muscle Crush Injury Lawyers

Muscle Crush Injury

A muscle-crush injury is one in which the muscle is crushed during an incident such as an auto accident, natural disaster, or high energy fall. As the name implies, injury occurs from a compressive or crushing force that causes diffuse damage to the cells of the muscles releasing proteins, potassium, and other components of the cells into the blood stream that then cause body-wide damage.

Symptoms and Treatment of a Muscle-Crush Injury

Initial symptoms are typically pain with some possible swelling and bruising. However, over the next couple hours, you may notice you have a decreased urine output and are becoming dehydrated. During this time, other organs such as the intestines, liver, heart, and or lungs may be sustaining damage but there are little outward signs and symptoms of this until very late in the course. Additionally, you may develop symptoms of shock, including rapid heartbeat, fast and shallow breathing, pale skin, and lightheadedness.

Treatment consists of massive quantities of IV fluids to help flush the cellular waste from the blood stream. Other supportive measures such as oxygen, blood transfusion, pain medication, etc may also be given.

Prognosis

Crush injuries have a high death rate. They are associated with multi-organ damage at times that may not be reversible. Function of the injured muscle should return if the tissue did not die. Individuals may have long term kidney or liver damage from the proteins and other cell contents released into the blood stream at the time of injury.

Advocates for Seriously Injured Victims

Severe muscle injuries have long-lasting implications. Our dependable St. Louis serious injury attorneys understand how much physical, emotional pain a serious injury can cause you and your loved ones. We have dedicated our practice to representing victims of all types of different catastrophic injuries. Call our firm today at (314) 322-8515 to see how we can help you.