You're stopped at the light on McLoughlin, foot on the brake, maybe checking which lane the Expressway turn is in. Then comes the sound of tires, and a jolt from behind. Most people step out, look at the bumper, say "I'm fine," and drive home. A rear-end collision neck injury often looks exactly like that on day one.
What your neck does in a hit from behind
The car gets pushed forward. Your body follows the seat. Your head, which weighs about as much as a bowling ball, stays put for a split second and then whips back, then forward. The muscles and ligaments in your neck get stretched much faster than they're built to be stretched.
None of that needs a big crash. A low-speed bump in a parking lot in Gladstone can do it, and so can a stop-and-go tap on I-205. The damage usually isn't something you can see from outside the car, and a bumper that looks fine doesn't tell you much about the person inside.
Why it can feel fine for a day or two
Adrenaline is a good painkiller, and it wears off. Stiffness tends to arrive the next morning, when you try to look over your shoulder to back out of the driveway. Some people notice it two or three days later. We go into that timing in more detail in our piece on pain that shows up days after a car accident.
Common things people describe after being hit from behind:
- A tight, sore neck that hurts to turn
- Pain between the shoulder blades or across the upper back
- A headache that starts at the base of the skull (more on headaches after a car accident)
- Tingling or a heavy feeling in an arm
- Trouble concentrating, or feeling more tired than usual
Whiplash is the name most people have heard for this. If you want the longer version, we wrote about whiplash symptoms and recovery.
Go to the ER first if you notice any of these
Some symptoms mean you should skip the chiropractor for now and get emergency care or call 911:
- A severe headache, or one that keeps getting worse
- Confusion, repeated vomiting, or trouble staying awake
- Numbness or weakness in an arm or leg
- Chest or abdominal pain, especially where a seat belt crossed you
- Loss of bladder control
Our guide to concussion red flags after a car accident covers the head-injury side of this list, and who to see after a crash covers how to choose between the ER, urgent care and a chiropractor.
What an exam looks like
If nothing on that list applies, a good next step is an exam. We'll ask how the crash happened, where you hurt, and what your day is like now. Then we check how your neck and upper back move, where they're tender, and whether anything points to a nerve being irritated. If something looks like it needs imaging or a medical doctor, we'll tell you that and send you there.
Where care makes sense, the plan may include gentle spinal adjustments, cervical traction to ease pressure on the joints and discs, therapeutic ultrasound and electrical stimulation for irritated soft tissue, and rehab exercises as things settle. Every person is different, so the exam decides the plan, and no one can promise how a given neck will respond. For a sense of how the pieces fit together over time, read about traction, decompression and rehab in whiplash recovery.
If you were hit from behind this week
Even if you feel okay, getting checked while the details are fresh is easier than trying to piece it together in a month. Whether you live in Milwaukie, Oak Grove or Oregon City, you can call us or send a message, and our new patient page explains what the first visit involves.
Hit from behind?
Get your neck checked, even if the car looks fine. We bill Oregon PIP directly.