JUSTICENTER Personal Injury Lawyers | January 14, 2026 | Personal Injury
Some injury symptoms develop over time. For example, you might feel dazed after a car accident, but otherwise feel fine until hours or days later.
The steps you take after experiencing delayed pain and other symptoms after an accident could determine whether you receive injury compensation for any resulting costs and losses. The following steps can help you collect sound evidence to document your case:
1. Seek Medical Care
Delayed pain is common after an accident. At the scene, adrenaline can mask symptoms, so you may not feel the full effects until later that day or even the next day. Soft-tissue injuries and concussions can also take time to show clear signs.
If you develop new symptoms, get medical care as soon as you can. A doctor can identify what is going on and rule out serious problems that may not be obvious at first. Your provider can also recommend treatment, which may include rest, medication, physical therapy, or further testing.
Medical records also help protect your injury claim. They create a clear timeline showing when symptoms began and what your doctor found. If the insurer questions your delayed pain, this documentation can help show the injuries are real and related to the accident.
2. Include Your Injury in Your Claim
You are entitled to seek injury compensation for accidents caused by someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. However, to win or settle a personal injury claim, you must prove the other party’s liability for your injuries.
Most injury cases assert negligence. For example, a restaurant might be liable for a slip and fall accident that happened when a server spilled a drink, but the manager carelessly forgot to tell a busser to mop it up. In this case, the restaurant may have breached its duty to provide reasonably safe premises for customer use.
You are entitled to include in your claim any injury caused by the accident, regardless of when the symptoms emerged. Specifically, you can include any injury that was the natural and foreseeable result of the negligence, even if the symptoms only emerged hours or days after the accident.
However, the at-fault party and their insurer will often argue that delayed symptoms imply that you exaggerated or fabricated your injuries. You can counter this argument using the records from your medical visit.
3. Keep a Personal Record of Your Symptoms
Along with medical records, your own notes can help document delayed pain after an accident. Symptoms can change from day to day, and small details are easy to forget over time. Writing things down helps create a clearer picture of how the injury affected you.
Consider keeping track of:
- When each symptom first appeared
- Where you feel pain or discomfort
- Activities that make symptoms worse
- Sleep problems, headaches, or fatigue
- How the injury affects work or daily tasks
These notes can support your medical records and help explain how the injury has progressed. If an insurance company questions why symptoms appeared later, a personal timeline can help show that the pain developed naturally after the accident. This information can also help your lawyer present a more complete and accurate claim.
4. Talk to a Lawyer if the Insurer Denies Your Claim
Insurers can deny claims for pre-existing injuries and injuries that resulted from other causes. Thus, whenever your symptoms begin after you leave the accident scene, the insurer may argue that you either had the injury before the accident or suffered the injury in a different, later accident.
A lawyer can help you prove the connection between your delayed pain and the injuries from car accidents or other incidents for which you filed an insurance claim. The lawyer will use witness statements, medical records, and your testimony to establish a causal connection.
Contact the Van Nuys Personal Injury Lawyers at JUSTICENTER Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
The law treats immediate and delayed injuries the same. The only difference is the evidence needed to establish causation. Once you prove that the accident caused the injury, you can include it in your claim.
If you’ve been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence in Van Nuys, CA, JUSTICENTER Personal Injury Lawyers is here to help. Contact our Van Nuys personal injury attorneys for a free initial consultation today at (833) 852-3600.
Our main office is in Encino, CA, but we serve all through Los Angeles County.
JUSTICENTER Personal Injury Lawyers
16633 Ventura Blvd suite 1011,
Encino, CA 91436
