We live in a technological age. Every aspect of our lives is affected by technology, and new advancements are being made daily. Advances in technology can mean all sorts of different things for people. With video games, technological advancements can be fun. With data tracking, they can be terrifying. With GPS, they can be convenient. With BlueTooth, they can be annoying. With medical advancements, however, they can be truly life-changing.
Suffering a severe personal injury can be an incredibly frightening time that can leave you entirely uncertain about the future. Fortunately, many injuries that used to put extreme limitations on the life of a person, have been made far less limiting by technological developments.
Increased Independence
Many of the advancements in technology lead to greater independence for the victim of the injury. A victim of an injury that results in amputation is likely to have far more freedom today than they would have had 100 years ago. Especially for those who have had a leg amputation.
Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs used to be extremely uncomfortable rigid structures that restricted users to travel on well-maintained surfaces, with manual power being the only means of propulsion. If a person required a wheelchair and had limited or no use of one or both arms, they had to rely on someone else to push them around.
Now the options with wheelchairs are nearly endless. They are comfortable. They can come in manual or electric versions. There are even options for controlling an electric wheelchair with tongue or eye movements. Wheelchairs also come in all sorts of different types, including sports and all-terrain wheelchairs, both of which help active people stay active, even when confined to a chair.
The advancements of wheelchair technology have helped those confined to a chair live a far more independent life while continuing to pursue all of their interests, without being limited by the device they use to get around.
Prosthetics
While some people who have had a leg amputated remain in a wheelchair for a variety of reasons, others get prosthetics to provide them with even more freedom. Like wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs were once very limited in their functionality. Think pirates. Peg legs and hooks. With every passing year, the technology in prosthetics continues to advance.
It will still be a while before the more advanced prostheses become available to everyone who needs them due to the high costs of the technology. However, the fact that this technology exists at all brings a lot of hope to those who have had a limb amputated. Advancements in micro and nanotechnology are making it possible to connect a prosthesis to the severed nerves.
This all seems like stuff out of science fiction, but we have come to a point in this field of technology where we have caught up with most of the movies.
Hopefully, before too much longer, we will catch up to the rest of the movies and no longer require prosthetics at all. Instead, we will hopefully be able to repair any nerve damage and regrow any severed limbs. We aren’t quite there yet but stay posted.
Eye Tracking Technology
Eye Tracking has been a huge scientific development that allows quadriplegics to take control of their lives. Through the tracking of eye movements, a person using these devices can operate a computer that can be connected to any number of things, from their computer to their smart home system. A person who once would have been considered to be a complete invalid can now run a business without lifting a finger. Literally.
Benefits for Everyone
Undoubtedly, those that benefit the most from advancements in medical technology are the accident victims, but they aren’t the only benefactors. Responsible parties also get a win when accident victims have better recoveries. One of the largest costs that accident victims are able to recoup from responsible parties is lost future wages if the injury results in the loss of their ability to work.
With technology that allows for greater independence and for accident victims to be able to continue to work after their accident, responsible parties are off the hook for some of the larger potential financial costs that they might otherwise be hit with after an accident.
Seek Compensation
Even with continued improvements being made all the time, suffering a personal injury can still be quite traumatic and costly. In order to make sure you receive the compensation you need to get by and afford the most advanced tech to make your life as close to what you once considered to be normal as possible, you are going to want to bring on a qualified attorney.
Contact a personal injury lawyer to get a consultation and discuss your options in the event of a life-altering accident. The possibilities for what you can do following a major accident continue to grow. However, none of the technology that exists to help is free.
