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The 3 most common serious motorcycle injuries

On Behalf of | Jun 18, 2020 | Injuries

As a motorcycle rider, did you know that your likelihood of dying in a motorcycle accident is 26 times the chance of dying in any other type of motor vehicle accident? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers sobering statistics on the risks of riding. 

Even if you survive a crash, you may not escape unharmed. Due to the nature of cycles, these vehicles provide you with practically no protection in the event of a motorcycle accident. In fact, they can become the source of serious injury if the bike falls on you or drags you down the road at high speed. While your injuries can range from mild to severe, the following are the three most catastrophic you can receive: 

1. Traumatic brain injury 

Even if you wear a helmet while riding, it cannot adequately protect your head in a crash, especially a high-speed one. By definition, a TBI is one in which your brain becomes so badly injured inside your skull that it begins to malfunction in some manner. A TBI can negatively affect virtually everything about you, physically and mentally: 

  • Vision 
  • Hearing 
  • Speech 
  • Balance and mobility 
  • Thinking and language processing 
  • Personality 

2. Spinal cord injury 

A motorcycle crash injury to your back or neck can result in an SCI that can leave you partially (paraplegia) or completely (quadriplegia) paralyzed, depending on which area of your back or neck you injure. It takes surprisingly little force to “break your back,” far less than the force that occurs when your back hits the pavement, a guardrail, a tree or any number of other possible objects on the road. 

3. Crush injury 

Unfortunately, your arms and legs have almost no protection in a motorcycle crash. Whether you get violently thrown from your bike or it falls on top of you, your limbs are at great risk for injury. Your bones could break so severely, plus the underlying nerve damage could be extensive enough, that you lose your limb to amputation. 

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