Pain treatment after a car accident or injury

Medically reviewed by Joshua L. Hare, DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), Founder & Medical Director

What we treat after a car accident or fall

Accident injuries tend to land in the spine and the joints. A rear-end collision snaps the neck forward and back; a fall lands on a shoulder, a hip or a knee. Pain that seemed minor at the scene can settle in over the following days and weeks. Common reasons patients come to us after an auto accident or a fall:

• Neck pain, including whiplash
• Headaches that begin after a crash
• Back pain, including disc and facet-joint injuries
• Radiating arm or leg pain where a nerve root is involved
• Shoulder, hip, knee and other joint pain

The medical detail is on the condition pages above and the procedures index.

Why pain can start days after a crash

The most common neck injury after a collision is a cervical sprain, a soft-tissue injury of the neck. Most often it takes the form of whiplash-associated disorder,[1] which results from an acceleration-deceleration mechanism, typically in a motor vehicle accident. Neck pain is the most common symptom, followed by headache; stiffness, pain between the shoulder blades, arm pain or tingling, and dizziness are also reported.

Imaging is often normal in whiplash-associated disorder, so the diagnosis rests on the history and the examination. Most symptoms of a neck sprain or strain go away in 4 to 6 weeks,[2] but some people develop persistent pain. Since symptoms can be delayed, get your neck checked after a crash even if you feel fine at the time.[2] If the pain is still there past that six-week window, or it is getting worse, have your neck evaluated by a pain specialist. The whiplash page explains what that visit looks at.

Pinning down what was actually injured

An X-ray or MRI taken after a crash often shows changes that were there before it. Degenerative findings are common on many adults’ scans and frequently painless, so imaging alone cannot always say which structure is generating the pain. A diagnostic injection under live X-ray guidance can help identify the structure responsible, and treatment then goes in by the same route.

The treatment plan and the recovery timeline rest on that answer. It also gives a clear record of what was injured.

Common starting points: cervical facet joint injection, lumbar epidural steroid injection and radiofrequency ablation. Each of these has risks, and each has alternatives. The physician lays both out, with what each is likely to achieve, and only then is anything booked.

How treatment is paid for after an accident

If an attorney is arranging care for a client, the same applies — call (706) 847-0826 to set it up.

What auto medical payments coverage is, and whether you have it

Georgia requires drivers to carry liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident[3] for bodily injury, and $25,000 per incident for property damage. Medical payments coverage is an optional coverage in Georgia, so not every policy includes it.

Bring or photograph the declarations page of your auto policy. It lists every coverage on the policy, so the clinic can see whether medical payments coverage is there before the first visit. Those figures are Georgia’s. In either state, bring the declarations page and our team verifies coverage before the first visit.

Getting started

Call the clinic nearest you and tell the team it is an accident case. The direct lines are in the clinic list below. Bring any imaging discs or reports you already have, the declarations page of your auto policy, and your attorney’s contact details if one is arranging your care. What to expect at a first visit is on the new patient page.