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The force of a collision in an automobile accident can cause injuries to your neck or back. These injuries are often painful and limit your range of motion. They can also cause other symptoms like headaches, pain, and numbness that spreads into your arms and legs.
If you’ve been in an accident, you should always visit a medical professional for an examination. Even if you don’t feel any pain, you may have a neck or back injury with symptoms that haven’t fully developed yet. After a day or two, you may begin to notice pain. By this point, your injury may be more challenging to treat, and it will be more difficult to make an insurance claim with your auto insurance provider.
We’ve highlighted four of the most common neck and back injuries that can occur in a car accident below, so you can understand more about what may be affecting you if you’re in an accident.
1. Whiplash
The force from an accident can cause your head to jerk forward and back in a whipping-like motion. This rapid jerking of the head can stretch and tear the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your neck. This is painful, limits your range of motion and puts a strain on your spine, which can cause more problems.
2. Lower back sprain
If your lower back absorbs a lot of the force from an accident, its ligaments can become strained. Similar to whiplash, this increases strain on the spine, which can put pressure on the nerves and cause other issues.
3. Herniated disc
The force of an accident or a direct impact to the back of the neck can cause one or more discs in your spine to burst. This is known as a herniated disc.
The discs are supposed to cushion your vertebrae from impact and friction. They’re filled with a jelly-like fluid that can burst out of the disc’s shell if enough force is applied. When this happens, the fluid puts pressure on the nerves in your spine, which is painful and limits your range of motion.
4. Spinal stenosis
Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of your spinal canal where the nerves running through your spine are located. It affects many people naturally as they age, but traumatic incidents like a car accident can cause spinal stenosis to develop. It usually occurs as an effect of another spinal injury like a herniated disc or a fracture.
Visit the iRISE Spine and Joint Institute for car accident injury treatment
Whether you feel pain in your neck or back right after an accident or not, you should visit a medical professional for an examination. You may have the symptoms of a neck or back injury building up under the surface of your skin. Our team at the Florida Spine and Joint Institute provides many treatments that can help you recover from your injury. Contact us today to talk to our team about car accident injury treatment or to schedule an initial appointment.
