What are crush injuries?

The risk of crush injuries is not something that most people will have to deal with on a daily basis. However, they are still injuries that people should have an understanding of.

This is particularly true for people in industrial or construction industries, or people who drive or ride in cars. However, these are not the only potential victims.

Complications from crush injuries

Up To Date discusses crush injuries and how they impact people. These injuries are almost always severe in nature and can have life-threatening implications and complications.

Victims typically suffer from injuries to the torso and trunk, or injuries to the limbs or extremities. In some cases, both types of injury may occur at the same time.

Each type of injury has its own risks. For example, the risk of amputation and tissue necrosis is higher with crush injuries to a limb. On the other hand, victims who suffer from a crush injury to the torso will experience an elevated risk for organ failure as organs shut down and overwork to make up for the damaged ones.

Sources of crush injuries

So how do crush injuries occur in the first place? A crush injury can happen any time part of the body ends up compressed, flattened, run over or otherwise pressed by two or more large and/or heavy items.

The most common sources of crush injuries are industrial or construction jobs with heavy machinery, motor vehicle crashes, and natural disaster scenarios such as earthquakes or hurricanes where buildings are prone to collapse. Thus, just about every person could at some point be at risk of a crush injury.