Car Crash? Neck and Back Pain?

Get checked by a doctor who has experience with auto injuries
as soon as possible. Don't wait!

Did You Know...

• Not feeling any pain isn't a guarantee that you're not injured.
  Injuries can be delayed several days or weeks before they cause pain.
  
  
• Whiplash injury is one of the leading causes of disability and loss of productive years of life because it affect so many people early in life.
  
  
• In the logest study ever performed on whiplash injured patients (a study looking at the health status 17 years after the injury), 55% of the patients still suffer from pain caused by the orginal trauman/accident. (Accident Analysis & Prevention. 2002)
  
  
• 55% of persons with chronic neck pain attribute the pain to a past auto injury.
  
  
• Disc herniation or ligament injury of the spine may exist in addition to the soft tissue injury.
  
  
• Whiplash injuries not only increase the incidence of chronic neck and shoulder pain, it also significantly increases the incidence of other systemic ill health effects. In other words...whiplash injuries cause more than neck pain and headaches, it hurts the health of the entire body. (Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2001).
  
  
• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) are a leading cause of death and disability in the United States, and car accidents are one of the leading causes of TBIs. -230,000 people are hospitalized and survive, and an estimated 80,000-90,000 people experience the onset of long-term disability as a result -- currently,
  over 5.3 million people are living with disabilities resulting from a TBI.
  
  
• Auto and motorcycle accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries, accounting for more than 40% of new spinal cord injuries each year. A traumatic spinal cord injury may stem from a sudden, traumatic blow to your spine that fractures, dislocates, crushes or compresses one or more of your vertebrae.
  
  
• Automobile accidents often supply the sudden traumatic blow. The resulting damage affects ligaments in the neck or back which is the primary source of pain.

Choose an Injury Doctor With Experience

Dr. Brian Green

Dr. Green is also one of the only chiropractors in the State of Indiana who is certified in Colossus, the software used specifically by auto insurance adjustors to value injury claims. He understands how to correctly diagnose and document auto injuries so that you recieve the medical attention you need to recover. Dr. Green is certified in whiplash and brain traumatology; is an expert witness for auto accidents, as well as an accident reconstructionist. He has experience treating severe whiplash injuries, concussions, and many other musculo-skeletal injuries caused by auto injuries.

Dr. Green will work with your personal injury attorney from your initial treatment through testifying in court on your behalf. He and your attorney's will work hand-in-hand until your case is settled. If you have had a recent accident, please bring your accident report, your PI lawyers contact information (if you have a lawyer representing you), your auto medical pay information, and any other information that may assist Dr. Green with your case, including any recent MRI's or Xrays. We will work with your auto med pay, PI attorney and/or your claims adjustor in order to assist you with paying your medical bills.

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Did You Know Source(s): Spine Research Institute, http://www.srisd.com

Common Injuries and Symptoms Associated with Auto Injuries

Whiplash Injury

Whiplash is the most common traffic injury, leads to neck pain, headache and other symptoms, resulting in short or long-term disability.

Whiplash is an injury to muscles and ligaments of the neck. It is characterized by a collection of sysmptoms caused by a rapid movement of the head backward, forward or side to side. The disorder commonly occurs as the result of an automobile accident and may include injury to intervertebral joints, discs, and ligaments, neck muscles, and nerve roots.  In a whiplash injury, the supportive soft tissues in your neck are often over-stretched and spinal joints will become misaligned structures.

Whiplash injuries have been extensively studied and researched years; there are thousands of scientific studies describing every aspect of injuries, vehicle dynamics, short term affects, and long term consequences.

Common Symptoms:

• Neck Pain
• Headache
• Back Pain
• Extremity pain/weakness
• Cognitive difficulties
• Dizziness/light-headedness
• Facial pain and jaw related symptoms (clicking; closed lock; etc.)
• Auditory symptoms (phonophobia; tinnitus; loss of hearing)
• Vertigo
• Ocular dysfunction (blurred vision; photophobia)
• Dysphagia/hoarseness

Numerous studies have provided a clear understanding of injury symptoms as listed above. Auto collisions cause injury to the spine, which has long term consequences that will lead to degenerative changes within two years.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)/Consussion

Traumatic Brain Injury can cause any of a number of physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms. Of course, not every patient will have all of these symptoms, and some patients will have symptoms not listed here.

However, common physical symptoms can include:

• seizures of all types
• muscle spasticity
• double vision, blurred vision or low vision, even blindness
• loss of smell or taste
• speech impairments such as slow or slurred speech
• headaches or migraines
• fatigue, increased need for sleep, and
• balance problems.

Cognitive symptoms can include:

• short-term memory loss, long-term memory loss
• slowed ability to process information
• trouble concentrating or paying attention for periods of time
• difficulty keeping up with a conversation, and other communication difficulties such as word finding problems
• spatial disorientation
• organizational problems and impaired judgment
• inability to do more than one thing at a time, and
• a lack of initiating activities, or once started, difficulty in completing tasks without reminder.

Emotional symptoms of a TBI can include:

• increased anxiety
• depression and mood swings
• impulsive behavior
• more easily agitated, and
• egocentric behaviors, difficulty seeing how behaviors can affect others.

If you have any of these symptoms after a whiplash injury, especially if they persist for more than a few days, you should be evaluated to see if you have a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injuries of any kind may result in one or more of the following signs and symptoms:

• Loss of movement or of sensation, including the ability to feel heat, cold and touch
• Loss of bowel or bladder control
• Exaggerated reflex activities or spasms
• Changes in sexual function, sexual sensitivity and fertility
• Pain or an intense stinging sensation caused by damage to the nerve fibers in your spinal cord
• Difficulty breathing, coughing or clearing secretions from your lungs

How Do Injuries Occur?

Frontal crashes

In frontal crashes, drivers and passengers can be injured by striking some part of the car's interior, from other objects or vehicles, or from their seat belt/shoulder harness or airbag. Frontal crashes at lower to moderate speeds are highly survivable, however, when restraints are not worn, the results of a crash are predicted by Newton's first law of motion. An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. So, in a 25 mph collision, when your car strikes an immovable object and stops, your body will continue forward at 25 mph until it is acted upon by your car's interior parts.

Seatbelt and shoulder harness webbing are designed to hold you safely in your seat and away from steering wheels, dashboards, and windshields. And, under significant loading, they will stretch a small amount, allowing additional ride down. In spite of this, however, even in low speed crashes, whiplash-type injuries do occur in frontal crashes, largely as a result of the forward momentum of the head which results in an acute bending moment and shear in the lower cervical spine. So, while more serious injury and death may be prevented, whiplash is still a possibility.

Side impact crashes

Side impact collisions are particularly dangerous because the driver or passenger has little in the way of structural protection in the event of a near-side impact. Seat backs, shoulder harnesses, and head restraints offer little protection in these crashes. Side airbags, which may be mounted in the B-pillar, overhead, or the seat back itself, provide some measure of protection in side impact crashes. In more severe crashes, the primary risk is to thoracic and abdominal viscera (internal body cavity), as well as to the head. In lower severity crashes, lower back injuries are common, as are neck injuries. Lower back injuries are more common because the subject's body mass and lap belt anchor the pelvis as the torso flexes laterally resulting in shear and bending moments in the lumbosacral disc and facet region.

Rear impact crashes

Upon impact, the target vehicle begins to move forward into the occupant, making contact through the seat back. As the seat back continues to move forward, the occupant must stop. Initially, the thoracic curve is flattened by the seat back. This results in a vertical compressive force which is transmitted through the spine. As the vertical force extends upwards into the neck it initiates flexion of the upper cervical motion segments and hyperextension of the lower segments. Compression then quickly gives way to tension as the upward moving head and now downward moving torso attempt to disengage. Also, as the torso moves forward with respect to the head, significant amounts of horizontal shear force occur in the neck roughly parallel to the facet joint line. As this is initiated under conditions of compression, the overall stiffness of the neck may be diminished as a result of ligamentous slack.
As the torso continues to move forward, the neck begins to pull the head along with it. This has the effect of further flexing the upper cervical spine and hyperextending the lower cervical spine (primarily the C5-6 segments) and the spine assumes an S-shaped configuration The head also is induced to extend along with the neck as the head takes up the backset distance during the head lag phase.

Any stored energy in the seat back from its deflection (usually about 5-15 degrees) will be released as the occupant begins to move forward into the re-entry phase. This effectively increases the torso and head speed (overspeed) over that of the torso.

Depending on the initial position of the occupant with respect to safety harnesses, the lap and shoulder portions will eventually restrain the forward moving torso which will effectively aggravate the neck's bending moment since the forward moving head's inertia again is behaving in accordance with Newton's 1st law of motion-this time in the forward (x) direction with some angular momentum and acceleration.

It is likely that in many instances injury occurs in the initial phase as a result of head lag, compression/tension, and shear effects along joint lines. Lower cervical hyperextension during the S-shaped phase is also likely to be associated with injury. Global hyperextension of the neck can occur, depending on head restraint geometry, but we and other researchers have produced injuries in volunteers well within the normal physiological range of motion of the neck. It is also possible that further injury can occur during the forward phase, and this is somewhat more likely in females (and small males) because of their lower inertia and higher resulting acceleration. It should be pointed out that second collisions may also aggravate this second phase by imposing additional decelerative effects and accentuating neck bending moments and shear forces.

Source: http://www.srisd.com/consumer_site/

Call for a FREE Injury Consultation.
317.881.8119

For your first visit you will need to bring:

• Your accident report
• Personal Injury lawyers contact information. (If you do not have a PI Lawyer representing you, Dr. Green will be able to refer a lawyer who may be able to represent you.)
• Auto medical pay information, including all insurance adjustors information.
• Any MRI's or Xrays taken after your accident.
• All doctors and/or facilities that have treated you after your accident, or for
  any condition caused by your accident.

We will work with your auto med pay, PI attorney and/or your claims adjustor in order to assist you with paying your medical bills.

Your First Visit will Consist of:

• Initial Consultation
  
  
• Examination
  During your initial exam, Dr. Green will check your vital signs (blood pressure/pulse/respiration), messure your neck and back range of motion, and perform a orthopedic/neurological evaluation. These tests will allow him to properly evaluate your condition. He may also examine and document any other injury caused by your accident.
  
  
• X-Rays
  Dr. Green will review your films in x-rays to determine any issues with your spine, hips, neck, extremities (knees, hands, etc.), which may be the cause of your pain or discomfort. You wil be able to see your x-rays; Dr. Green will show you any misalignments, whiplash injuries, bone spurs, disc dengeneration or other disc diseases, etc.
  
  (If you have X-Rays taken within the past 6 months, or MRI reports please bring them with you).
  
  
• Report of Finding
  Once Dr. Green has reviewed you history, symptoms and x-rays, he will go over a suggested treatment plan.
  
  
• Treatment
  Most patients are treated the 1st day.
  
  
  Treatment plans may consist of:
  • Chiropractic Care
  • Inferential Electro Stimulation
  • Spinal Decompression Therapy
  • Therapeutic Exercise/Stretching
  • Massage/Triggerpoint Therapy
  • Nutrition/Lifestyle Counseling and/or Nutritional Supplement suggestions.

Auto Accident/Personal Injury

Dr. Green is a expert witness for auto accidents and an accident reconstructionist. He has 20 years of experience treating severe whiplash injuries, brain trauma, as well as many other musculo-skeletal injuries caused by auto injuries.

Dr. Green is one of the only chiropractors in the State of Indiana who is certified in Colossus, the software used specifically by auto insurance adjustors to value injury claims. He understands how to correctly diagnose and document auto injuries so that you recieve the medical attention you need to recover.

If you have had a recent accident, please bring your accident report, your PI lawyers contact information (if you have a lawyer representing you), your auto medical pay information, and any other information that may assist Dr. Green with your case, including any recent MRI's or Xrays.

We will work with your auto med pay, PI attorney and/or your claims adjustor in order to assist you with paying your medical bills.

Your First Visit will Consist of:

• Initial Consultation
  
  
• Examination
  During your initial exam, Dr. Green will check your vital signs (blood pressure/pulse/respiration), messure your neck and back range of motion, and perform a orthopedic/neurological evaluation. These tests will allow him to properly evaluate your condition. He may also examine and document any other injury caused by your accident.
  
  
• X-Rays
  Dr. Green will review your films in x-rays to determine any issues with your spine, hips, neck, extremities (knees, hands, etc.), which may be the cause of your pain or discomfort. You wil be able to see your x-rays; Dr. Green will show you any misalignments, whiplash injuries, bone spurs, disc dengeneration or other disc diseases, etc.
  
  (If you have X-Rays taken within the past 6 months, or MRI reports please bring them with you).
  
  
• Report of Finding
  Once Dr. Green has reviewed you history, symptoms and x-rays, he will go over a suggested treatment plan.
  
  
• Treatment
  Most patients are treated the 1st day.
  
  
  Treatment plans may consist of:
  • Chiropractic Care
  • Inferential Electro Stimulation
  • Spinal Decompression Therapy
  • Therapeutic Exercise/Stretching
  • Massage/Triggerpoint Therapy
  • Nutrition/Lifestyle Counseling and/or Nutritional Supplement suggestions.