Accident's and Disc Injuries

Dear Dr. Caraotta and Dr. Bowman:

I had a car accident last October and had right shoulder and arm pain that ran down to my fingers. I went to the emergency room after the accident and the Doctor told me I had a shoulder sprain and gave me pain medication. It felt better when I took the medication initially, but the pain gradually got worse. I went to my General Practitioner who took an x-ray of my shoulder and told me it was fine. He gave me more medication and told me that the pain would go with rest and time. I had good days and bad days, the pain was bearable. Last month I had a cold, was coughing hard, and one time I coughed my shoulder and arm pain increased, and I experienced severe neck and right arm pain. I went to the emergency room and they did a MRI of my neck which showed that I had a slipped disc, pinching a nerve. Could this disc problem have been there since the motor vehicle accident?

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Dr. Caraotta and Dr. Bowman's Response

Absolutely. The symptoms you were experiencing after the accident were probably due to the disc injury. Often times a person will have an accident such as a whiplash injury, and experience a "progressive slipping" of a disc. A patient may initially present with minimal to no neck pain or stiffness or have predominately shoulder and/or arm pain. This is one reason why we recommend patients to have a Chiropractic – Orthopedic check-up after an accident.

The Doctors in our office routinely find compensation in the skeletal system after a accident and document as well as caution and advise patients of what to look out for as far as potential problems following a accident.

There are certain orthopedic tests that should be performed during the examination process after a accident that will confirm or negate the possibility of a disc injury. If these tests are not performed, often times disc injuries are undetected and the seriousness or extent of the injury is not discovered until a later date; and sometimes even after the claim is settled.