The crushing trauma of a dog bite can inflict lasting harm beyond torn flesh or broken bones. Nerve injuries represent some of the most severe and disabling damage dogs can impose when their strong jaws pierce vulnerable human limbs. Loss of sensation, paralysis, chronic pain, and permanent disability arise when nerves get crushed, stretched, or severed in a dog attack.
If you or a loved one suffered nerve damage from a California dog bite, understand what makes these sensitive structures so prone to harm. Recognize common signs and symptoms indicating nerve involvement after a dog attack. And explore medical and legal options with experienced dog bite lawyers to ease the burdens imposed by these potentially life-changing injuries.
By arming yourself with knowledge and seeking compassionate counsel, steps toward healing and justice come into view even during uncertainty.
To grasp why nerves are especially prone to injury when dogs attack people, it helps to understand nerves themselves. As the communication network between your brain, spinal cord, and the rest of your body, nerves control sensation and movement.
Bundles of delicate nerve fibers transmit electrical impulses rapidly beneath the skin. Nerves flow throughout the body to reach sense receptors, organs, muscles, blood vessels, and glands. Areas like the hands, arms, and face have numerous nerve endings near the skin’s surface – making them highly sensitive and vulnerable.
When a dog bites down, its strong jaws and sharp teeth exert hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch. Such immense biting force combined with the shaking of the victim’s body easily tears skin, muscles, blood vessels, and more. Nerves get crushed, stretched, or severed. Bacteria from the animal’s mouth also get introduced deep within these wounds, heightening infection risk and further harming nerves.
Nerves lack substantial protection from a dog’s damaging bite. When more aggressive dogs attack vulnerable areas of the body, severe nerve injuries sadly occur.
Dog bites cause three forms of nerve damage injuries:
This concussion-like trauma disrupts how nerves communicate but doesn’t structurally damage them. Severe laceration symptoms like numbness, tingling, or weakness last days to a few months as signals resume transmitting. Neurapraxia causes temporary nerve damage, with complete healing likely over time.
Here, a dog bite tears nerve fibers apart, leaving connective tissue intact. Signals can’t transmit past the injury site, prompting numbness and weakness distally. Axon regeneration across damaged areas may enable full recovery within 3-9 months when optimal healing conditions exist.
Most severe nerve trauma happens when dogs completely sever or crush nerves, disrupting all anatomical connectivity. Absent nerve regeneration surgery, degeneration, and permanent loss of sensation and function result below areas of neurotmesis injuries. Even with treatment, partial paralysis may persist long-term.
The puncture and factors like dog bite attack force, shaking intensity, and wound infection influence which nerves get damaged and to what degree. Unfortunately, when dogs viciously attack the face and neck region or mutilate hands, arms, or legs – areas with lots of delicate nerves near the surface – catastrophic permanent nerve damage can happen.
Imagine not being able to use your dominant hand normally for months or longer after getting bitten on the wrist. Or experiencing terrifying facial paralysis because nerves serving important facial muscles suffered irreparable harm. These nerve damage nightmares happen to dog bite victims regularly in Southern California.
Beyond difficulties in performing essential personal care activities, one shouldn’t overlook the emotional toll of severe nerve injuries. Depression, anxiety, and PTSD frequently stem from the psychological trauma and lasting impairments these wounds create. Victims describe profound frustration, anger, and sadness as they realize neurological deficits may plague them indefinitely.
While some milder nerve damage heals well over time, more extreme injuries cause lingering numbness, chronic pain, or permanent loss of critical sensations and abilities. Years after a dog attack, victims still undergo nerve damage treatment, hoping to regain even partial hand usage or facial expressions most take for granted.
Getting bitten by a dog can inflict immense physical pain and emotional trauma. But nerve damage from a dog bite represents one of the most severe and lasting injuries victims may endure. LA DOG BITE LAW has seen how excruciating and life-altering nerve damage can be. We want to empower dog bite victims by helping them understand this complex injury and providing the advocacy needed to take legal action against dog owners.
First, promptly seek emergency medical attention after any dog bite resulting in bleeding, tissue damage, or loss of sensation and movement. Quickly controlling infection and attempting nerve repair is imperative. Be sure to document details about the bite incident and the offending animal if possible.
Depending on the symptoms, doctors may order CT scans, MRIs, nerve conduction tests, or ultrasounds to pinpoint areas of nerve trauma. During the following days, clinical findings like numbness, weakness, and impaired mobility help confirm nerve involvement.
Treatments range from antibiotics and pain relievers to complex nerve grafting surgeries if severed nerves exist. Occupational and physical therapy further aid recovery. With close follow-up care and diligent wound management, even severe nerve damage from dog bites can sometimes improve over 12-18 months.
Yet, despite one’s best efforts at rehabilitation, the devastating neurological impairment may linger. Expanded healthcare costs, lost income, and reduced quality of life loom as real possibilities after suffering serious dog bite nerve injuries.
That’s why connecting with an experienced dog bite attorney offers such value. Through a free dog bite case review, we educate victims about their legal options to pursue financial damages from animal owners.
By shouldering litigation burdens for you, we fight to ease this injustice’s heavy hardships. While settlements or jury verdicts can’t erase all imprints of tragedy, getting compensation lessens the life disruption – empowering victims to access more treatments and better adapt moving forward.
LA Dog Bite Law takes no case lightly when helping those harmed by negligence or recklessness. Our personal injury attorneys approach each unique situation with care, patience, and diligence – beginning simply by listening to understand your experiences and needs.
Having represented nerve damage victims for many years, our law office knows prompt legal advocacy makes a real difference.
Our law firm ensures evidence preservation and negotiates optimum insurance settlements. We handle dog bite claims in Southern California. Most of all, we empower victims still reeling from this trauma – providing counsel and fighting on their behalf. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with our LA dog bite lawyers.
Our reach extends throughout California, from the sunny streets of San Diego to the bustling cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and beyond. We’re here to help victims across the state report dog bites, find the legal support they need, and ensure that justice is served. By reporting dog bites and seeking assistance, we’re all doing our part in making our communities safer while helping victims get back on their feet.
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