Thread: Car accident -> Neck/back pain

Not my body, but I figure this is still the right forum.

So back during the weekend of Nov 14th, 2009, my girlfriend was in a car accident.
She was cited at fault for not yielding to a red light runner when turning left at an intersection.
She was in her ’94 Dodge Spirit POS, hit square in the passenger door by a tiny Honda SUV at 55+ (red light running speed).
Both cars totaled.
Her passenger, had she had one, would have been severely injured or killed; the car nearly wrapped around the front of the Honda, smashing halfway into the passenger’s seat.
Neither had passengers, and both were OK on the scene.

The issues was, after a few days my girlfriend’s neck started hurting…
I dogged her for days until she got with her health and auto insurance and found a physical therapist center and had been going there a few times a week until about two weeks ago.
It wasn’t helping much.
She hated it, said it wasn’t helping; that they just hooked her up to machines and left her in a room for 15 min using the same program everyone else got.
I told her to get a 2nd opinion and she found a recommended place with two professional physical therapists who custom tailored her treatment to her and her injuries.
They found knots in her back along her spine the other place never bothered to check for, and had her doing specialized exercises for areas where she’s tense.
Again, however, she’s saying she doesn’t notice any improvement, only that she’s sore more often now after every session.
I can give her back and neck massages but they’re only temporary.
It’s been 3 ½ months and her insurance money is running low.
Does anyone have experience or advice on this?
I hate not being able to just make her not hurt anymore…

I am so sorry for your girlfriend's discomfort and pain. The first thing I would have insisted on, were I her doctor, was a complete set of xrays. If only to rule out any displacements, hair line cracks, etc.. Muscles are unpredictable in many cases of trauma. They can tighten up causing unbearable pain. This can at first be voluntary, then either spasm or become ridgid thinking they must go to protective mode and remain tight (ridgid). More often than not they need a message to tell them it is ok to relax. You say that by massaging you are able to give her some temporary relief. I believe her best option would be to see her primary care giver for a consult. It may be as simple as needing muscel relaxants, or her primary care giver may refer her to someone who deals with these types of trauma. I have seen back injuries that responded to leg rotations, which seems weird, but then our spines are so unprotected in the location of our body. If physical therapy isn't helping after weeks of therapy, by all means seek further help, don't wait until next week, go as soon as you are able to book an appointment. The reason I say first see your primary care giver, is the fact to see any specialist, should it be necessary, is you (she) will need a referal.
All the best to the young lady, someone will help her I am sure.

She went to her primary doctor first, and that's who referred her to that crappy physical therapy center.
It almost seemed to be some type of automatic response.
“Oh, your neck hurts after a car accident? Here, take this card. Now leave.”

Yeah, that does make sense about involuntary rigidity
Based on my other friend’s advice who had also been in a car accident, I told my girlfriend to see a chiropractor.
She went to her doctor instead, saying chiropractors don’t go to medical school.
I think I may push that suggestion again.

I honestly doubt it will be covered but it's worth looking into. See if you can find a massage therapist that specializes in deep tissue and fascia work. From what I understand most long term soft tissue pain issues caused by car accidents are because of bungled up fascia. The connective layer between muscle fibers and skin tissue. It pulls on the muscle fibers and causes all sorts of hell.

Anyway, if she can get herself to a massage therapist that specializes in such a thing she may find it helps tremendously. It usually takes several sessions and can be very intense because of the inner layers of soft tissues being 'un-bungled', but it can do wonders.

first tell her to get a new doctor, one that normally deals with car crashes.. and then take her to see ruby or just look in the yellow pages for a massage speciallist that deals with the kinda pain ur girls in..

Chiropractor FTW. My best friend's wife is one, she literally cured me when I had my first cochlear implant. The right side of my face was unresponsive, drooped when I smiled, etc. I couldn't swish water in my mouth when I brushed my teeth for it leaking out that side.

Do it!

when i had neck pain, i went to a doctor who just gave me drugs. I happened to go to a party that weekend and met a chiropractor, and she did some basic stuff on me there, which helped heaps, so i started seeing her further after that, and she did a great job. It could be the way to go. I was able to claim it all on my health insurance too. But i think health insurance is different here.

I hope she finds a way to sort it out

So she's saying she's not as sore after the sessions and that it seems to be helping, but she's still in pain every day.
Not to the point where she cant sit up straight and wants cry cuz it hurts, but still.

This new center she's at seems to know what they doing and has found and is targeting all the right areas, though they say its too late for an x-ray to help.
I'm just wondering if she should be seeing more improvement yet...