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How do crush injuries happen after crashes?

Crush injuries are often associated with natural disasters or fields like construction and industrial complex jobs.

However, crush injuries can and do often happen after car crashes, too. How and why do they occur even in these situations?

What are crush injuries?

Up To Date takes a look into crush injuries and how they may impact people. Crush injuries are an umbrella term for any injury where a part – or the entirety – of the body ends up trapped, pinned, run over, squashed, rolled over, or otherwise pressed by larger or heavier objects.

These injuries are often associated with construction or industrial industries because of their use of heavy machinery and equipment, and the many horrific stories of accidents that occur on said machinery.

In natural disasters, it is also not uncommon to hear stories of buildings collapsing and people getting trapped beneath the rubble.

What are crush injury risks in cars?

However, in car crashes, a lot of crush injuries are prevented thanks to crash cages. This keeps the main body of the car from crumbling inward if it rolls or otherwise gets impacted.

There are areas the crash cage does not protect, though, including the hood of the car. Because of that, leg injuries are not uncommon, especially for the driver and any front-seat passenger. Crush injuries to the hands are also common due to how easily hands can end up stuck in small spaces.

On top of that, if a person ends up ejected from the car and gets pinned between the vehicle and a hard surface, this will also result in crush injuries. However, this is largely the big risk for people who do not wear seatbelts.