Davis’s Law
What Is It, What Does It Mean for Accident Victims, and How Can It Affect Your Recovery?
When an individual suffers an injury because of an accident, their life suddenly becomes a substantial array of unknowns. They often have no idea what actions they are supposed to take next, what these injuries mean for their future, and when will their life return to normal.
Unfortunately, depending on the accident, sometimes this “normal” will never be the same. Many people understand that accidents can lead to devastating injuries. However, very few realize that these injuries can result in a lifetime of issues and problems that sometimes has nothing to do with the accident itself. Sound confusing? Don’t worry: We plan to clear it up for you.
In this blog post, we will discuss a topic that many people have never heard of, called Davis’s law. By going over this law and what it entails, we hope to help you understand why injuries can worsen over time and how proper medical treatments and physical therapy are the best solutions to helping you get back to living your life following an accident.
What Exactly Is Davis’s Law?
Davis’s law was named after fellow orthopedic surgeon Henry Gasset Davis who in the late 19th century worked on improving traction methods after a soft tissue injury. According to his book Conservative Surgery, Dr. Davis discovered that when it comes to our mobility and flexibility, the soft tissues in our body learn to adapt to the loads placed on them over time. Basically, meaning, we become what we are every day.
For instance, let us say you work at a computer, with your back rounded and your head hunched forward. After spending four to eight hours in this position daily, your inelastic collagen fibers will learn to rebuild in that fashion. In comparison, if we continuously stretch our muscles, they will begin to lengthen over time. A physiological principle states that soft tissues will heal according to how we mechanically stress them.
Davis’s law is very similar in principle to Wolff’s law, which states that over time bones that are forced to carry heavy loads will reform, adapt, and become stronger in response to the strain they are placed under. This means that bones that are not given heavy loads to handle will become weaker over time.
In fact, this is a big issue for NASA, which is often concerned about their astronaut’s bone density when they return to earth after a long space flight. Since these astronauts do not have to carry heavy loads due to the lack of gravity, their bones lose calcium and become brittle and weak the longer they are away. Thus, once these astronauts come back home, their bones often cannot handle the stresses of jumping or running in earth’s gravity.
What Does Davis’s Law Have to Do With Accident Victims and Their Injuries?
Unfortunately, if you are involved in an accident, it is not just the crash itself that can impact your life. It is also the months of healing that can result from these accidents and subsequent injuries. For example, following a motor vehicle accident, you may have broken your arm in the collision. Consequently, you will have to put your arm in a cast so that you can immobilize it and allow the bone to heal. However, what ends up happening during this process is the surrounding tissue starts losing strength and flexibility as they are no longer being used.
This can mean bad news for recovering victims, as their tendons, tissues, and even muscles can become incredibly weak while they are recovering. Especially if they suddenly become loaded with weight during the healing process and end up rupturing or tearing. In these situations, victims will often need surgery or further medical treatments years after suffering their initial injury.
How Can a Medical Professional Stop Problems From Arising During the Healing Process?
If you were harmed in an accident, seek medical help immediately. However, it is not enough to head to the emergency room, get treated for your pain and visible injuries, and call it a day. If you genuinely want to ensure that your injuries heal properly, you need to keep following up with your doctor’s treatment plans months or even years after the accident.
This may also mean that you need to take part in appropriate physical therapy to help you with the recovery process. Physical therapists are skilled medical professionals that understand what exercises can help strengthen your soft tissues, muscles, and tendons without causing any unneeded strains after an accident.
Get the Answers You Deserve—An Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help
Attorney, George Salinas
If you are in an accident, most of your injuries will result from the specific incident. However, our bodies are unique, and we must take proper care of them following a collision, crash, or fall. Numerous other injuries can also result, sometimes months to even years down the road.
Fortunately, when you work with an experienced personal injury attorney, you do not have to try to figure out this challenging ordeal by yourself. That is why it’s important to seek legal help right away after a personal injury has disrupted your life. An experienced and knowledgeable personal injury attorney can help you understand the events that led to your injury, and more importantly, how best to begin moving forward.
