Types of personal injury

There are numerous types of personal injuries that occur on a daily basis. These happen as a result of an accident, illness or trauma such as a physical assault. The type of accident or illness you experience will determine the type and extent of your injury.

This guide discusses a wide range of personal injury types which are grouped into the following categories:

• Accidents and illness abroad
• Brain and spinal cord injuries
• Crime and abuse
• Faulty products
• Industrial diseases
• Medical negligence
• Others
• Road accidents
• Serious injuries
• Sports injuries
• Transport
• Work accidents and illness

Each of these categories contains the most commonly experienced personal injuries, for example, slips and trips at work. Visit the category which contains your type of personal injury.

Personal injuries can be categorised as physical or psychological: but they also include illness or disease. Examples of physical or psychological injuries include injuries sustained followed a car accident or work related stress.

Examples of illness and diseases include developing food poisoning whilst on a cruise ship or mesothelioma from working with asbestos.

Most common types of personal injury

These include:

• Back injuries, e.g. caused by lifting heavy or awkward objects.
• Post traumatic stress disorder, e.g. road accident, military situation (for example serving in Afghanistan).
• Whiplash, e.g. car accident
• Hand/wrist injuries, e.g. RSI, carpal tunnel syndrome etc
• Ear injuries, e.g. noise induced deafness
• Head injuries, e.g. road accident, physical assault, sport etc
• Psychiatric injuries, e.g. stress, workplace bullying, accident etc
• Leg injuries, e.g. sport, cycling accidents, slips, trips and falls.
• Eye injuries, e.g. foreign body in eye, chemical splashes, sport, physical assault etc.
• Arm injuries, e.g. workplace, sport, falls etc

There are many others but these are the types of injuries often reported to claims assessors, solicitors or personal injury lawyers.

Car accidents –often known as ‘road traffic accidents’, account for a large percentage of personal injury claims. Others include workplace accidents, falls, and criminal injuries, faulty (defective) products and holiday accidents.

What you could argue is that there is the potential for any type of personal injury. Humans are physically active creatures who interact with the world around them in a variety of ways so there is always going to be a risk of an accident or injury.