The MVA Time Bomb

The MVA Time Bomb

Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) can cause injuries that stay hidden for weeks. You walk away from a crash feeling sore but assume you are ok, then days or weeks afterward find yourself in pain. At Chambers Medical Group, one of the highest rated car accident medical care providers in Kentucky, it is common to see patients blindsided by aches that surface long after the wreck. This occurrence is frustrating and usually leads to increased levels of stress. Why do some injuries hide, and how do they grow into bigger problems? Dr. Aaron Workman of Chambers Medical Group discusses what causes delayed pain and how to catch it early.

The Delay

An MVA sends forces through your body, straining muscles, ligaments, or discs. These injuries can start small, result from tiny tears or mild swelling, and may not hurt right away. Inflammation builds over days or weeks, putting pressure on local nerves or stiffening joints. You may find yourself struggling to turn your neck for a month following a rear-end collision. Whiplash can become worse when scar tissue stiffens up the spine. Old injuries like a high-school sprain or previous MVA can make these delays more likely as previous damaged tissues take less stress to cause a flare up.

Stress Hides Pain

Your body can cover up pain early on. Adrenaline surges during an MVA, helping ease early pains while assisting you to get out of danger and past the first several days of injury. The continued stress following the accident can also drown out the small pains you will get. By the time things calm down, that mild soreness has grown into sharp pain. Many patients notice trouble only when lifting something a little heavy or performing certain activities weeks later. The longer pain hides, the harder it is to trace back to the MVA.

Hidden Damage

Whiplash can feel like a stiff neck for days, then irritate a nerve, sending pain or tingling down your arm. A bruised muscle or a contusion might ache only when you move a certain way. Discs in your spine can worsen until eventually irritating a nerve and cause back pain or leg weakness.  If you have arthritis, common in 1/5 adults over 50, these injuries hit harder and take longer to show. The injuries from an accident can be like a time bomb waiting to go off … you might not hear the tick of pain for weeks.

Early treatment is your best way to diffuse the situation. Having emergency services check you at the accident scene and following up with a healthcare provider is a good place to start. At Chambers Medical Group we find what is hiding. Detailed exams test joints, help find nerve irritation and spot strains or sprains missed by others. MRI’s can give a high-resolution picture of your soft tissues and show what is damaged or torn. Early diagnosis is best but if its weeks following an accident and you start noticing new problems Chambers Medical Group can still help. Do not let an MVA’s hidden damage blow up on you.

— This article is written by Aaron Workman, DC, one of the members of Chambers Medical Group’s team of car accident chiropractors who offer a variety of treatments and therapies ranging from diagnostic testing to various soft tissue therapies for car accidents and injuries in Kentucky.

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