Common Back Injuries From a Car Accident

Driver with hand on his back experiencing back pain after a car accident

It’s normal for people to feel sore after a motor vehicle collision. Back pain, in particular, is common after a car accident. However, while some back injuries resolve themselves with rest, others cause ongoing discomfort and can result in an inability to perform daily activities without pain.

It’s always best to seek immediate treatment after a car accident. (Remember that in Florida, you only have 14 days after an accident to seek care and qualify for coverage under your PIP insurance.) An orthopedic specialist can assess your injuries and administer care before the pain gets too severe. This is important because some people don’t experience intense back pain until several days later, and that delayed back pain can lead to more serious issues down the road if you don’t seek medical attention. Left unexamined, an undiagnosed injury can lead to chronic pain requiring longer treatment.

This post explores the symptoms and causes of common back injuries that can result from a car accident and explains potential treatment methods.

What Causes Back Injuries?

During a vehicle accident, Newton’s Laws of Motion come into play. As your car experiences an impact, your body is still in motion until something stops it: whether it’s a seat belt, an airbag, the steering wheel, or the windshield, something will abruptly halt your body’s movement. In the worst scenarios, your body stops when it hits the ground.

This violent motion can sprain, fracture, or severely injure numerous body parts, especially those affecting your neck, spinal cord, and back. While injuries are often noticed in head-on, side-impact, and rear-end collisions, even minor incidents can impact your mobility.

Areas of the Spine and Neck Affected by an Automobile Accident

An automobile collision can affect the lumbar vertebrae (lower back), thoracic vertebrae (upper back), and cervical vertebrae (neck). Each area consists of tissues, nerves, ligaments, bones, tendons, and muscles extending from your neck to your pelvis.

With 33 vertebrae spine bones, 31 nerve roots, and 32 muscles in your neck and back, any damage can have long-lasting effects. The most common injuries are to the lumbar spine, located in the lower back. There are five vertebrae in your lumbar spine, and soft discs with a soft nucleus and rugged outer ring sit between each of them.

Thoracic injuries are less common due to their rigid structure, but more serious as the upper back connects to the rib and chest region. Damage to one or more of these 12 vertebrae can affect your breathing, cause nerve damage, or lead to chronic pain. Strained, torn, or stretched cervical ligaments can also cause ongoing neck pain after a wreck.

Some severe injuries, such as soft tissue damage, may not appear immediately. Seeking immediate medical care can rule out critical issues and shorten your auto accident recovery time.

What Are the Symptoms of Back Injury After a Car Accident?

After a vehicle collision, it’s common to feel soreness all over, making it difficult to determine if your problem is back-related. Knowing what to expect after a car crash can help you decide what to do next.

Back pain after a car accident may stem from inflammation, fractures, or compressed nerves. The pain can radiate to many areas since your spine includes your neck and travels down your back. Symptoms can range from manageable discomfort to an inability to perform everyday tasks.

After a car accident, you may experience:

  • Muscle Spasms: The muscle may repeatedly twitch, feel like a hard knot, and feel tender on the outside of your body. Muscle spasms can vary in pain levels from mild to debilitating.
  • Burning Pain: A searing pain may move down your back and buttocks through the back of one or both legs. It can be a mild ache that goes away quickly or a burning pain that lasts for days.
  • Stiffness: You may not feel as flexible after a car accident or have as much range of motion, as your muscles tense up to protect your body. This stiffness may subside after light stretching or continue throughout the day.
  • Sharp Pain: Changing positions, such as sitting up upon waking or standing up after sitting for a while, can cause a sharp, acute pain in your back.
  • Discomfort When Walking or Standing: In some cases, any physical activity is uncomfortable, and you may feel a throbbing sensation or mild pain when attempting to perform daily tasks.
  • Tingling or Numbness: Since your spinal cord connects to your extremities, tense muscles may pinch nerves, leading to sensations of tingling or numbness in your legs, feet, arms, or hands.

However, headaches, dizziness, or disorientation can also occur due to cervical vertebrae injuries from whiplash. Likewise, a condition known as facet disease (or facet syndrome) can occur in which the facet joints in the spine cause neck or shoulder pain.

With such a range of possible symptoms, it’s vital to note how you feel, what activities increase your pain, and how often it occurs.

Can Back Pain Be Delayed After a Car Accident?

Back pain doesn’t always start right away. Some people report severe discomfort or symptoms several days—or even a week—after the accident.

Why Do Delayed Symptoms Occur?

Adrenaline and shock can mask pain immediately after a car crash. These stress responses dull your perception of personal injury, delaying awareness of pain. Over the following days, inflammation may increase, and car accident injuries like herniated discs, whiplash, or soft tissue damage become evident as symptoms worsen.

How Can I Tell If My Back Pain Is Due to the Accident?

Pain from an auto accident often originates from inflammation or compressed nerves within your spine. Look out for:

  • Tingling sensations
  • Sharp discomfort when moving
  • Burning pain radiating down your legs

Any of these could indicate the injury is accident-related. Consulting an orthopedist for a thorough medical evaluation is the best way to confirm this.

If you experience delayed symptoms, seek immediate medical attention. Early diagnosis can prevent minor issues from developing into long-term chronic pain, enabling more efficient pain management.

How Long Does Back Pain Last After a Car Accident?

The amount of time it takes to recover from back pain depends on the patient’s prior health and the circumstances of the accident itself.

Mild back pain can typically resolve within a few days or weeks. More serious pain, however, can last for months—or even years—especially if left untreated.

Herniated disc pain typically subsides in 2-6 weeks. Pain from muscle strains and sprains normally disappears within 1-2 weeks, while whiplash sufferers usually feel some relief within a few days and full recovery within three months. “Chronic” back pain is defined as lasting more than three months.

7 Types of Common Back Injuries from a Car Accident

Auto accidents can injure your back in many different ways. Typical injuries may include strains, sprains, herniated discs, and fractures. If you’ve had previous back problems, such as spinal stenosis, a car accident may cause the issue to accelerate.

Back injury symptoms after a car accident can vary greatly, and you may have one or more types of injury. Seeing a doctor for a thorough examination is essential because similar symptoms may occur for each of the following injuries.

1. Lumbar or Thoracic Vertebrae Fractures

A spinal fracture is when one or more vertebrae break, crack, or are otherwise damaged. The term “broken back” refers to the injury of one of the 33 bones that protect your spinal cord and make up your backbone.

Doctors may use the following terms to describe a back fracture:

  • Burst Fracture: When multiple parts of the vertebrae are crushed, it may cause bone fragments to scatter.
  • Flexion Fractures: A vertebra (or vertebrae) breaks, with fractures typically occurring in the middle or posterior columns.
  • Compression Fracture: Cracks or small breaks in the bones resulting from too much pressure.
  • Fracture-Dislocation: This combines a fracture listed above with the dislocation or movement of your vertebra or vertebrae.

2. Back Sprains and Strains

With a back strain, your soft tissue stretches too much, causing damage. A strain relates to tendons in your back, which connect bones to muscles. In contrast, a back sprain damages the ligaments connecting joints to bones or bones to other bones.

Both sprains and strains can cause annoying pain that’s difficult to eliminate. Since imaging doesn’t pick up this type of damage, it’s necessary to discuss the possibility with an experienced physician.

3. Herniated discs

During a car accident, discs can shift and compress nerves, resulting in a herniated disc. This happens when the inner part of the spinal disc pushes out through the outer ring.

Doctors may describe a herniated disc as “slipped,” “bulging,” or “ruptured.” This is a serious condition, because the protruding disc rubs against nerves, causing numbness, a burning sensation, or weakness throughout your body.

4. Spondylolisthesis

Spondylolisthesis is a vertebra displaced by a stress fracture. As the vertebrae move, they can compress the spinal canal or nerves. The amount of displacement and location affect pain levels and treatment. Typically, people experience weakness, pain, and numbness or find it hard to walk.

5. Facet Joint Injuries

Facet joints sit between the various bones of your spine, and nerve roots run through the joints into different parts of your body. Your facet joints let you bend or twist in different directions without hurting your spine. However, damaged facet joints can affect your nerves, causing pain.

Problems with your facet joints may occur from thinning cartilage or previous, untreated trauma to the spine. Your muscles may tighten or spasm, you may feel tenderness on the outside of your back, or experience radiating pain.

6. Discogenic Pain

Damage to your spinal discs causes discogenic pain: these are typically sharp pains or shooting sensations. This can result in sciatica, in which pain radiates to your buttocks, feet, groin, or one or both legs.

With discogenic pain, people can feel uncomfortable in many different ways. Some feel better when lying down; for others, lying down causes more pain. Doing anything for an extended period, such as standing or sitting, can worsen the pain.

7. Degenerative Spinal Disorders

Traumatic injury to your back during an accident can result in a degenerative disc disorder months or years down the road. It can also speed up a health issue that you didn’t know you had before the accident. As your body ages, previous damage combined with degeneration can result in:

  • Bulging discs
  • Degenerative scoliosis
  • Spinal osteoarthritis
  • Bone spurs
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Herniated discs
  • Sciatica
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Pinched nerves
  • Foraminal stenosis

Back Pain After a Car Accident: What To Do

Even if you don’t head to the emergency room after an accident, you should make an appointment with an orthopedic specialist as soon as possible. Doing so helps you rule out potential problems and get the all-clear before attempting activities that could aggravate your pain or any hidden injuries.

For example, carrying laundry up the stairs or lifting up a young child could worsen the pain after a car accident. Exacerbating the problem can lead to a longer recovery time or further damage.

Your doctor may request an X-ray or MRI to see if there’s disc damage or degeneration, followed by a discography to pinpoint specific problematic discs. They can examine your injuries and mobility limitations and suggest potential therapies.

Treatment for Back Pain After an Accident

The treatment for back pain after an accident varies by the injury type, location, and severity. A back brace, gentle stretching, and rest can sometimes help symptoms from whiplash subside. However, you may need additional care or referral to a spine surgeon for back pain. Possible treatments may include:

  • Physical Therapy: Strengthen and stabilize your spine through guided exercises.
  • Anti-Inflammatory Pain Medications: Reduce inflammation and manage discomfort while you recover.
  • Corticosteroid Injections: Minimize localized inflammation.
  • Spinal Surgery: Reserved for severe injuries requiring more invasive solutions.

What Can I Do at Home to Support My Back Injury Recovery?

After you’ve received professional treatment, there are several ways to speed your recovery at home:

  • Decrease physical activity and exercise for 2-3 weeks to reduce inflammation and pain.
  • Avoid heavy lifting and twisting for six weeks.
  • Sleep in a curled-up sideways position with a pillow between your legs. If you sleep on your back, put a rolled towel or pillow under your knees instead.
  • Apply ice to the affected area for the first 2-3 days, then apply heat.
  • Use over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
  • Follow any other instructions given by your orthopedist or physical therapist.

What Happens If a Back Injury Goes Untreated?

If a back injury goes untreated, accident victims can suffer from:

  • Prolonged nerve irritation
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Radiculopathy
  • Nerve damage
  • Long-term damage and pain
  • Depression
  • Poor sleep

Get Back on the Road to Recovery at Alexander Orthopaedics

Back pain after a car accident can make it difficult to recover, both physically and emotionally. Fortunately, the specialists at Alexander Orthopaedics Associates can assess your injuries and design a recovery plan personalized to your needs.

If you’re experiencing back pain, schedule an appointment today to discuss your treatment solutions with Alexander Orthopaedics.

FAQs about Back Pain after a Car Accident

Can a Back Injury Go Untreated?

Untreated back injuries can lead to chronic pain, prolonged nerve irritation, limited daily life activities, or even permanent spinal damage.

What Should I Do If My Symptoms Worsen?

Contact your doctor if the pain intensifies or doesn’t improve within a few days. They may adjust your medical treatment or refer you to a specialist.

Should I See a Chiropractor or an Orthopedist?

Both professionals offer benefits for treating accidents. However, while a chiropractor can provide spinal adjustments to relieve tension, an orthopedist has access to advanced tools like MRIs, CT scans, and x-rays to diagnose a wide range of conditions and can provide a full spectrum of treatment, including non-surgical care, prescription medications, injections (like corticosteroids), physical therapy referrals, and surgical interventions when necessary.