Crush injuries can happen to anyone in any industry, or even in everyday life. Despite that, not many people know about these injuries or what they mean for victims.
So what exactly are crush injuries and what do they mean for the people who suffer from them?
How crush injuries happen
Up To Date discusses the impact of crush injuries. Crush injuries occur as a result of something large and usually heavy impacting, running over, pinning or squashing part or all of a person’s body. Examples can include someone’s hand getting crushed in a conveyor belt, someone’s foot getting run over by a large truck, or a person trapped inside of a building that collapses due to an earthquake.
Generally speaking, crush injuries impact either the limbs or the trunk, except for instances where the entire body ends up crushed, such as in the collapse of a large structure.
Risks of crush injuries
These two types of injuries have their own primary risks, too. For example, with injuries to the extremities, the biggest risks come in the form of gangrene, necrosis and tissue death which could lead to the necessitation of an amputation.
On the other hand, with trunk injuries, the biggest risks usually involve organ failure. The organs may overwork to compensate for ones that cannot currently do their job, which can result in a chain reaction of organ failure that can easily lead to death.
In almost every case, crush injuries are severe. They require immediate medical treatment in order to avoid the worst possible outcomes and can still impact a victim for a lifetime.