If you've suffered a neck or back injury in a car accident, there's a good chance you've heard some version of this line from the insurance adjuster, "Our review shows your disc injury is degenerative. It wasn't caused by the crash."

It's the defense we see most often in neck and back injury cases, especially those involving a herniated or bulging disc. The insurer points to your MRI, highlights signs of degeneration, and argues the collision had nothing to do with your pain. It sounds authoritative. It sounds medical. And for many injured people, it's enough to make them doubt their own claim.

Don't fall for it. Here's what the insurance company isn't telling you.

Disc Degeneration Is Extraordinarily Common And Usually Painless

Degenerative changes in the spine are a normal part of aging, much like gray hair or wrinkles. Large imaging studies have found disc bulges and degenerative changes in a remarkably high percentage of people who have zero pain and have never been injured. In fact, if you pulled a random group of adults off the street and gave them all MRIs, a substantial number would show disc degeneration even though they feel perfectly fine.

That's the critical point the insurance company conveniently leaves out. The presence of degeneration on an MRI tells you very little by itself. Millions of people walk around every day with "degenerative" findings on imaging and no symptoms whatsoever.

The Real Question, Were You Symptomatic Before the Crash?

The legal and medical question in your case is not whether there is degeneration on the film. It's this:

Did you have neck or back pain before the crash, or were you living your life just fine until the collision?

If you were working, exercising, sleeping comfortably, and going about your daily routine without pain, and the crash is what put you in a doctor's office, that timeline matters enormously. A previously silent, asymptomatic condition that becomes painful and disabling after a collision points directly to the crash as the cause of your current suffering.

Your medical history, your work records, and the testimony of people who know you can all help establish that you were functioning normally before the accident. That evidence often speaks louder than any radiology report.

Illinois Law Doesn't Let At Fault Drivers Hide Behind Your X-Rays

Here's the part insurance companies really don't want you to know… even if you did have a pre-existing degenerative condition, the at fault driver is still responsible for aggravating it.

Under a long-standing legal principle often called the "eggshell plaintiff" rule, a negligent driver takes the injured person as they find them. If your spine was more vulnerable because of age related degeneration, and the crash turned a painless condition into a painful one, the driver who caused the crash is liable for that harm. Illinois law recognizes claims for the aggravation of a pre-existing condition, and juries are instructed accordingly.

In other words, the law does not allow the at-fault driver, or their insurance company, to escape responsibility simply because your MRI shows the normal wear and tear of living.

How Parente & Norem Fights the "Degenerative" Defense

Overcoming this defense takes preparation. Our experienced personal injury attorneys will:

• Gather your prior medical records to show you had no complaints of neck or back pain before the crash
• Work with your treating physicians to explain how trauma can make an asymptomatic condition symptomatic
• Consult medical experts who can educate the jury on how common, and how painless, degeneration is in the general population
• Document your before and after story through witnesses, employment records, and daily-life evidence

Insurance companies count on injured people accepting the "degenerative" excuse and walking away with a lowball offer or nothing at all. When the defense is challenged with the right evidence, it frequently falls apart.

Injured in a Crash? Don't Let an Adjuster Interpret Your MRI

If an insurance company is telling you that your herniated or bulging disc is "just degeneration," get a second opinion, from a lawyer. The attorneys at The Law Offices of Parente & Norem, P.C. have decades of experience holding insurance companies accountable and fighting for injured people throughout Chicago and Illinois.

Contact Parente & Norem at 312-641-5926 today for a free consultation. You pay nothing unless we win your case.