Broken Bones From Car Accidents: What You Need to Know About Your Recovery and Your Rights

Car Accidents

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You heard it before you felt it. The sickening crack. The collision happened so fast — metal slamming into metal, your body thrown against the door, the steering wheel, the dashboard.

Now you’re in the emergency room, and the X-ray confirms what you already knew: your arm, leg, ribs, or collarbone is broken. The doctor discusses surgery, pins, plates, and months of physical therapy.

You’re thinking about work, bills, and how you’re going to manage daily life with your dominant arm in a cast. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re wondering: what happens now?

Broken bones are among the most common serious injuries from car accidents. They’re painful, disruptive, and expensive.

They require immediate treatment, often surgery, and lengthy recovery periods. And despite what insurance companies might tell you, they’re not “minor” injuries. This guide explains what you need to know about broken bone injuries from car accidents, how to protect your health, and how to protect your legal rights under Montana law.

How Car Accidents Cause Broken Bones

Car accidents generate tremendous forces. Even at relatively low speeds, collisions create impacts strong enough to fracture bones. Your body absorbs these forces, and bones break when the stress exceeds what they can withstand. Common mechanisms of bone fractures in car accidents include:

Direct impact: Your body strikes the steering wheel, dashboard, door frame, or another part of the vehicle. Ribs, arms, legs, and facial bones are particularly vulnerable.
Crushing forces: In severe collisions, the vehicle structure crumples inward, crushing occupants. This commonly causes pelvic fractures, leg fractures, and foot injuries.
Twisting and torquing: The sudden rotational forces during a collision can twist bones beyond their capacity, causing spiral fractures, especially in arms and legs.
Ejection: Unbelted occupants thrown from the vehicle suffer multiple fractures from striking the ground, pavement, or other objects.
Airbag deployment: While airbags save lives, the explosive force can fracture wrists, arms, and facial bones, particularly in improperly positioned occupants.

The severity of fractures depends on impact force, angle of collision, whether you were wearing a seatbelt, airbag deployment, your age and bone density, and pre-existing conditions like osteoporosis.

The Most Common Broken Bones in Car Accidents

Rib Fractures

Broken ribs are extremely common in car accidents, typically caused by seatbelt restraint or steering wheel impact. While painful, most rib fractures heal on their own in 6 to 8 weeks. However, complications can be serious: punctured lungs, internal bleeding, or flail chest (multiple rib fractures creating an unstable chest wall). Rib fractures make breathing, sleeping, and any upper-body movement excruciating.

Arm and Wrist Fractures

Drivers and passengers instinctively brace for impact by extending their arms. This commonly causes fractures of the radius, ulna, or humerus. Wrist fractures are particularly common when hands grip the steering wheel during impact. These injuries often require casting, sometimes surgery with metal plates and screws. Recovery takes 6 to 12 weeks for simple fractures, longer for complex breaks requiring surgical repair.

Leg and Femur Fractures

Leg fractures are among the most serious car accident injuries. The femur (thighbone) is the strongest bone in the body — when it breaks, you know the impact was severe. Femur fractures almost always require surgery with metal rods inserted through the bone. Recovery takes 4 to 6 months minimum, often longer. Tibial and fibular fractures (lower leg) also typically require surgery and extensive rehabilitation.

Pelvic Fractures

Pelvic fractures are catastrophic injuries common in high-speed collisions and side-impact crashes. The pelvis contains major blood vessels, and fractures can cause life-threatening internal bleeding. These injuries require emergency surgery, lengthy hospitalization, and months of recovery. Many victims never fully regain their pre-accident mobility and function.

Collarbone and Shoulder Fractures

Clavicle (collarbone) fractures typically occur when the shoulder strikes the door or when the seatbelt forces concentrate on the shoulder. While many heal with sling immobilization, severe fractures require surgery. Shoulder blade (scapula) fractures indicate very high-energy impacts and often accompany other serious injuries.

Facial and Skull Fractures

Facial bones and skulls fracture when occupants strike the steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield. Nose, cheekbone, jaw, and eye socket fractures are common. These injuries often require specialized reconstructive surgery by oral-maxillofacial or plastic surgeons. Skull fractures can cause traumatic brain injuries and require immediate neurosurgical evaluation.

Spinal Fractures

Vertebral fractures in the neck or back are extremely serious. Depending on location and severity, they can cause paralysis, chronic pain, or permanent neurological deficits. These injuries require immediate stabilization, often surgery, and prolonged rehabilitation. Many victims never fully recover.

Types of Bone Fractures and What They Mean

Not all fractures are the same. Understanding the type of fracture affects treatment and recovery:

Simple (closed) fracture: The bone breaks but doesn’t pierce the skin. Usually requires casting or splinting.
Compound (open) fracture: Broken bone fragments pierce through the skin. High risk of infection. Requires immediate surgery, antibiotics, and extensive treatment.
Comminuted fracture: The bone shatters into multiple pieces. Requires surgery with plates, screws, and sometimes bone grafting.
Greenstick fracture: Incomplete fracture where the bone bends and cracks (common in children, rare in adults).
Spiral fracture: Twisting injury creates a spiral pattern around the bone. Often requires surgery.
Compression fracture: Bone is crushed or compressed. Common in spinal injuries. It can cause permanent height loss and chronic pain.
Avulsion fracture: A tendon or ligament pulls off a piece of bone. Requires either surgery to reattach or immobilization to heal.

What to Do Immediately After Breaking a Bone in a Car Accident

Your actions in the first hours and days after the accident can significantly affect both your medical recovery and your legal case:

Call 911 and don’t move. If you suspect a broken bone, don’t try to move the injured area. Wait for paramedics. Moving a broken leg or spinal fracture can cause severe damage. Let professionals immobilize and transport you.
Go to the emergency room immediately. Even if you think it’s “just” a fracture, go. Some breaks are obvious, but stress fractures or small bone chips might not be apparent until swelling develops. Get X-rays. Get examined. Get it documented.
Follow all treatment recommendations exactly. If the doctor says surgery, don’t delay. If they say non-weight-bearing for 8 weeks, don’t cheat. If they prescribe physical therapy, attend every session. Failing to follow medical advice can permanently compromise your recovery — and insurance companies will use it against you.
Document everything with photos. Take pictures of your injuries, bruising, casts, surgical incisions, and scars. Photograph the accident scene and vehicle damage. These images become powerful evidence.
Keep every medical bill and receipt. Emergency room visits, surgery, hospital stays, medications, medical equipment (crutches, wheelchair, shower chair), physical therapy — save everything. This documentation proves your economic damages.
Don’t give recorded statements to insurance companies. The other driver’s insurance will call within days asking for your statement. Don’t do it. They’re looking for anything to minimize your claim. Politely decline and tell them you’re consulting an attorney.
Contact a personal injury attorney immediately. Montana’s statute of limitations gives you three years, but evidence disappears quickly. The sooner you get legal help, the stronger your case.

The True Cost of Broken Bones: More Than Just Medical Bills

Insurance companies love to treat broken bone injuries as straightforward: a few weeks in a cast, some physical therapy, and you’re good as new. That’s not reality. The true costs include:

Immediate Medical Expenses

Emergency room treatment and X-rays: $2,000 to $10,000
Ambulance transport: $1,000 to $3,000
Surgery (if required): $20,000 to $100,000+, depending on complexity
Hospital stays: $2,000 to $5,000 per day
Prescription pain medications: $100 to $500 per month

Long-Term and Future Medical Costs

Physical therapy: $100 to $300 per session, often 2-3 times weekly for months
Follow-up imaging (X-rays, CT scans): $500 to $2,000 per scan
Hardware removal surgery (if needed): $10,000 to $30,000
Treatment for complications: infections, non-union, malunion
Future arthritis treatment in the affected joint

Lost Income

Broken bones prevent you from working. If you have a physical job, you can’t perform your duties. Even desk jobs become difficult with dominant hand injuries. Lost wages can quickly add up.

Reduced Earning Capacity

Some injuries cause permanent limitations, reducing your ability to earn income long-term.

Pain and Suffering

The physical pain, emotional toll, and loss of independence are significant and compensable damages.

Complications That Make Broken Bones Even Worse

Infection
Non-union
Malunion
Compartment syndrome
Blood clots
Nerve damage
Post-traumatic arthritis
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

What Compensation Can You Recover in Montana?

Medical expenses (past and future)
Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
Pain and suffering
Permanent impairment
Loss of enjoyment of life
Property damage

Under Montana’s modified comparative fault rule, you can recover damages if you are not more than 50% at fault. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault.