Ruptured Ligaments Injury Claims

This is a topic I feel I can advise you on with relative ease and compassion. For the sake of example, I will focus on ruptured knee and ankle ligaments, although it can apply to most other ligaments in the body. Having been through multi ligament rupture from a traumatic dislocation of the knee, I think I know a thing or two about the trials and tribulations involved when suffering with such an injury! Hopefully my experience and advice can help you too.

First and foremost, rupturing ligaments is normally bad news. Torn ligaments that are surgically repaired do not always heal well, so rupturing one normally requires some form of reconstruction surgery. Sadly that means suffering for months with an injury and a huge stretch in physiotherapy.

The wonders of medical science today mean that you don’t have to lose a limb when rupturing ligaments. A ligament rupture is usually defined by a ligament completely breaking to the point where it has been separated. It is not a case of just stitching it back together like you can with a bone; bone on bone heals normally quite well, but a ligament normally needs to be reconstructed.

Reconstructing a ligament normally involves some form of autograft – where a ligament or tendon is taken from another part of the body and placed where the ruptured ligament once was. For knee ligaments, cruciate and collateral ligaments are normally reconstructed using patella grafts or hamstring grafts. Ligament / tendon tissue is taken from the patella or the hamstring and sections are either trimmed off and placed where the ruptured ligament once was, or cut and ‘diverted’ of sorts to where the ruptured ligament once was. For example, a section of my hamstring was cut and pulled round to form a figure of 8 in the knee joint to stabilise the cruciates (or something technical like that!). I actually didn’t suffer any cruciate rupture, but rather an avulsion fracture in which the ligament pulled its connecting piece of bone off instead. That was sewn back on, so technically I sort of have 3 cruciate ligaments. My collaterals were not so lucky – they were blown apart!

Anyway, enough of me rambling on about what happened in my incident – back to the main point about it fitting in with making a claim:

Can you make a claim for ligament rupture

Of course you can – if the injury was caused through the fault of someone else, like a company or a driver for example. If you slipped on a wet floor in a supermarket, then you can put in a claim; or perhaps if you have been hit by a driver as a pedestrian, or injured from a fall at work, you can make a claim. If we can prove that the duty of care that is owed to you has not been fulfilled, then we can make a claim for negligence against another party. Whether the claim wins or not is down to the circumstances, so you might want to contact us for advice about that.

Sadly, if you have twisted you knee or ankle from a sporting injury, it is not so easy to claim. If it was just one of those things from an awkward landing in basketball or a tackle in football, it is difficult to make a claim because, well, to put it simply, by engaging in sports you freely accept the risk of potentially injuring yourself. If there is no one to blame, you will find it hard to claim! (to reverse an old adage).

When it comes to poor surface of grass or Astroturf, it is still not easy to claim. The burden of proof is on you to prove a claim and it is hard to prove that the condition of the ground directly caused the injury, because you can sustain injuries like this from simply twisting awkwardly; like I did. It could be very difficult to prove that the ground was the specific and only cause of the injury.

How much can you claim for ligament injuries?

It all boils down to the severity and impact of the suffering. To be honest, it’s not something you can just average or guess, as these sorts of injuries often require you to have long term rehabilitating and rely upon a lot of help from family and friends, which is something that needs to be encompassed in to the claim.

There is a payout based on the suffering and inconvenience of the injury which is generally a case of – the more you suffer, the more we get for you. But given that you may be none weight bearing for 8 weeks or so, or unable to use an arm for a similar period of time, working may be very difficult, so we need to encompass lost earnings in to the claim. Any help that you do receive from people can be claimed back as a gratuitous care and assistance claim, whereby the carer can receive a sum for the help provided (at around £6 per hour) even if you’re not paying them yourself.

For expert advice about your potential ligament rupture compensation claim, call our dedicated claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today!