4 Clear, Common Symptoms of a Back Injury from a Car Accident

Some injuries can be difficult to diagnose. For example, concussions have only in recent years been more clearly identified because the common symptoms have been more specifically defined. Even if you don’t necessarily feel head pain, the medical field now acknowledges that nausea, confusion, pupil dilation, and others are obvious indicators of this injury. For back injuries from a car accident, being familiar with common symptoms can help you understand what is wrong and what you need to do.

Burning or Sharp Pain

Throughout the body, a sure sign of trouble is pain. Nerves in various parts alert the brain when an injury occurs in those areas. When it comes to car accidents, your spine suddenly becomes unable to keep your body straight as well as your head perfectly balanced. In a fender bender situation, for example, your head can snap forward or backward as you screech to a halt upon impact and then overcompensate the other direction, not only straining your muscles but also placing stress and pressure on the nerves in your spine. Driving for a long time or with bad posture can cause consistent, dull pain, but an injury typically feels acute. The burning or sharp pain that results can make even the smallest movements of your core, head, or other joints unbearable.

Stiffness

When your muscles become tight without warning, such as when your body reacts to a car accident, it can take a while for them to calm down and relax. In fact, you may find your range of motion is much smaller than usual. Simple actions can be much more challenging or take you longer because you don’t have the same level of flexibility as before.

Difficulty with Standing or Walking

Perhaps you don’t necessarily feel a huge amount of pain after a car accident, but if you have trouble walking or standing for longer than a couple of minutes, it could indicate that your body is has sustained an injury and requires additional help to get back to normal health and mobility.

Numbness or Tingling

Although many nerves communicate issues through pain, they can also point to a problem when they feel nothing at all. Numbness and tingling show that something is interrupting the signal with the brain, which may not seem serious at first because it doesn’t necessarily hurt. However, without proper nerve function, you wouldn’t be able to tell if something more urgent, such as an open wound or serious burn, happens. As a result, your risk of infection or other complications drastically rises.

If you notice any of these symptoms following an auto accident, you have a high chance of a back injury. In this situation, you should call your chiropractor, who can correctly reposition your spinal cord, vertebrae, joints, and surrounding soft tissues to relieve pain in a non-invasive way.

About the Author

Dr. Zinovy Chukhman or Dr. Z has been involved in injury rehabilitation for more than 20 years. Certified in all four levels with the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, he has proven himself proficient in many techniques, including Graston, flexion-distraction, Thompson, and Gonstead. If you have experienced a car accident, whether you are showing symptoms of a back injury or not, contact our Dallas office online or call us at 972-907-2800 to schedule an appointment today!