Car accident injuries: common types, medical records and your claim

The injuries crashes cause most often#

A crash puts sudden force on the body, and the head and neck can snap forward and back. NHTSA estimates that 2,422,195 people were injured and 39,254 were killed in US traffic crashes in 2024.

Some injuries are far more common than others. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), neck sprains and strains are the most frequently reported injuries in U.S. auto insurance claims. Rear-end collisions, the crash type IIHS says typically causes them, made up 27.2% of police-reported injury crashes in 2023. Motor vehicle crashes also caused 23.8% of nonfatal hospital stays for traumatic brain injury in 2018, and 37.1% of spinal cord injuries since 2015.

The guides in this section cover the injuries that come up most often in car accident claims:

Why same-day medical care matters#

The first reason is your health. Some serious injuries, such as bleeding in or around the brain, can get worse over hours, and only a medical check can find them.

The second reason is the claim. Insurers look closely at the time between the crash and the first doctor's visit. A same-day note that records the crash and your symptoms ties the injury to the crash in a way a visit weeks later cannot. Our guide to the first 72 hours after a car accident covers the other early steps.

At that first visit, many people say plainly that they were in a car crash and list every place that hurts, even minor pain. A doctor can only record what they are told and what they find.

Symptoms that can show up later#

Not every injury makes itself known at the scene. The CDC says some concussion symptoms may not appear for hours or days after the injury. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) explains that bruising of the brain can appear after a delay of hours to a day, and that some brain damage develops over hours, days or weeks after the first injury.

Other injuries follow a similar pattern. MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine's health site, says whiplash often causes neck pain and stiffness for the first few days, and that pain from a herniated disk often starts slowly.

A later diagnosis does not end a claim, but it invites a question: did something else happen in between? When each provider records when a symptom started, and you keep dated notes, the gap explains itself.

How an injury is documented for a claim#

An injury claim has to prove causationCausation. The link between someone's careless act and your injury. You must show the crash caused the harm you are claiming. Glossary: that this crash caused this injury. Most of that proof comes from records made in the normal course of care. A claim file usually builds in this order:

1. The first medical visit. The emergency room, urgent care or doctor's notes record the crash, your complaints and what the provider found on examination.
2. Follow-up care and referrals. Visits to your own doctor, specialists and physical therapy show how the injury developed and what treatment it needed.
3. Tests and imaging. X-rays, CT and MRI scans and other tests are part of the record, but they have limits. NINDS notes that today's imaging and blood tests cannot always detect damage from mild brain injuries, and MedlinePlus notes that a spine MRI can pick up age-related changes that are not the cause of current pain.
4. Records and itemized bills. Ask every provider for copies in writing. Under HIPAA, a provider must act on your request within 30 days. Our guide to medical records for an injury claim explains how.
5. Your own notes and photos. A short, dated journal of pain, sleep, missed work and missed activities, plus photos of bruises, cuts and casts, shows what the records leave out.
6. Statements from other people. An employer's letter about missed days, and accounts from family or friends who saw how the injury changed your daily life, fill in the rest.

Insurers read these records for when treatment started, whether it was continuous and whether your complaints stayed consistent. Gaps of weeks without care are among the first things an adjuster raises.

Maximum medical improvement and timing#

Many injury claims are not valued until the injured person reaches maximum medical improvementMaximum medical improvement. The point at which doctors expect no further recovery. Claims are often valued once you reach it. Glossary (MMI): the point at which doctors expect no further recovery, whether or not the person is fully healed. Before then, nobody knows the full cost of the injury, including any future care.

That is why many people wait to settle. A settlement is usually final: once you sign the release, you generally cannot claim more for the same crash, even if the injury turns out to be worse than it seemed.

Waiting has a limit, though. Your state's statute of limitationsStatute of limitations. The law that sets the last day to file a lawsuit. After it passes, a court will usually dismiss the case, however strong it is. Glossary keeps running while you treat and while you talk to insurers. For an adult's injury claim it is as short as 1 year in Tennessee and 2 years in Texas. For a serious injury that takes a long time to reach MMI, a lawsuit may need to be filed to protect the claim while treatment continues. The claim process guide shows how the stages fit together.

How the type of injury shapes a claim#

An injury claim is made up of economic damagesEconomic damages. Losses with a receipt or a paycheck behind them: medical bills, lost wages, repairs and other out-of-pocket costs. Glossary, such as medical bills, future care and lost income, and noneconomic damagesNon-economic damages. Losses without a price tag, such as pain, suffering, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. Glossary, such as pain, emotional distress and the loss of activities you used to enjoy. The type of injury decides which of these come into play and how hard each is to prove. Our guides to types of damages and pain and suffering explain each category.

Future losses need more than a guess. In California, for example, a jury can award future medical expenses only for care the injured person is reasonably certain to need in the future. Other states use similar standards.

A health problem you had before the crash does not end a claim. Under the eggshell plaintiffEggshell plaintiff rule. The rule that a person who causes an injury is responsible for all the harm it does, even if the injured person was unusually fragile, for example because of an old injury or an illness. Glossary rule, the person who caused the crash is responsible for the harm it did, even to someone more fragile than average. California's jury instructions, for example, allow damages for the effect of the crash on a physical or emotional condition that it made worse, but not for the old condition itself.

This guide does not estimate what any injury is worth: two people with the same diagnosis can have very different claims.

No-fault states and the serious injury threshold#

In most states, you can claim against the at-fault driver for all of your losses. In 12 states, your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays your medical bills and some lost income first, whoever caused the crash. In return, you can sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury passes a serious injury thresholdSerious injury threshold. A rule in some no-fault states that lets you sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury meets a legal definition of serious, or a dollar level of medical bills. Glossary.

States use two kinds of threshold:

• Verbal thresholds describe the injuries that qualify. They are used in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In New York, a serious injury is one such as death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, or a permanent or significant limitation of use of a body organ, member, function or system. In Florida, the injury must involve significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury (other than scarring or disfigurement), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.
• Monetary thresholds look at medical costs, usually alongside a list of serious injuries. They are used in Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah. In Kansas, the medical treatment must be worth at least $2,000, unless the injury is one the law lists, such as a fracture to a weight-bearing bone. In Utah, the line is medical expenses over $3,000, again with listed injuries that qualify on their own.

In Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, drivers choose whether to accept the limit on lawsuits when they buy their policy, so the answer depends on the policy.

In these states, the type of injury can decide whether a pain-and-suffering claim exists at all, and whether an injury meets the definition is often argued over using the medical records. Each state guide in our state-by-state list shows that state's fault system and insurance rules.

Guides in this section#

1. 01Injury typesWhiplashWhiplash is a soft-tissue injury of the neck, most often from rear-end crashes. How it is documented, and why insurers look hard at these claims.Reviewed October 29, 2026
2. 02Injury typesBrain injury (TBI)Concussion and other traumatic brain injuries from crashes: symptoms that can appear later, the limits of scans, specialist testing and how the injury is…Reviewed October 29, 2026
3. 03Injury typesSpinal cord injuryNational data on spinal cord injuries from crashes, complete and incomplete injuries, long-term care needs, life care plans and why these claims take longer…Reviewed October 29, 2026
4. 04Injury typesBack and neck injuriesHerniated discs, sprains and spine fractures from crashes; what X-rays and MRIs can show; how claims handle age-related wear and old injuries; and independent…Reviewed October 29, 2026
5. 05Injury typesBroken bonesA fracture can bring surgery, time off work and follow-up care. This guide explains how those losses, your medical records and any impairment rating fit into…Reviewed October 29, 2026
6. 06Injury typesBurn injuriesBurns are described by how deep they go and how much of the body they cover. Here is how burn care, long recovery, scarring and disfigurement fit into a car…Reviewed October 29, 2026
7. 07Injury typesPTSD and anxietyEmotional harm after a crash, including PTSD and anxiety, can be part of an injury claim. This guide covers what official health sources say, records, privacy…Reviewed October 29, 2026
8. 08Injury typesWrongful deathWhen a crash takes a life, state law lets the family, or the estate on their behalf, bring a claim. This guide explains who may file, the deadlines, the…Reviewed October 29, 2026