Why Some Patients Experience Chronic Pain After Car Accidents
Car accidents can affect those injured far longer than most expect. Even if you had a minor injury, this incident might cause pain that lasts beyond the injury whether in your neck, back, head, or other parts of your body.
If you or someone you care about have suffered from persistent pain after a car accident, then understanding what causes and influences this chronic pain can help you recognize when professional evaluation and treatment may be appropriate.
How Can an Accident Lead to Chronic Pain?
Sudden forces can affect the bodies of the people involved in a motor vehicle collision whether it happened at high or low speeds. This can cause sprains, strains, inflammation, nerve irritation, or misalignment with recovery being often prolonged or incomplete. This non-recovery is key to pain persisting beyond the usual healing time.
Some people can even feel delayed pain that appears days or weeks after the accident, which can come as a result of inflammation, scar tissue, or structural damage affecting nerves over time and causing pain sensations.
Chronic injury pain can happen for a few different reasons depending on the injury sustained after the crash. There are several types of injuries that are considered common causes for chronic pain after accidents. They include:
- Soft tissue injuries: injuries such as whiplash and muscle strain happen when muscles, ligaments, and tendons are stretched or torn during impact, leading to chronic neck pain or/and headaches.
- Spinal disc injuries: the force of a crash can place extreme pressure on the spine, leading to disc herniation or disc bulging and thus to chronic low back pain.
- Facet joint injuries: after a vehicle collision, the joints connecting the bones of your spine may get irritated or inflamed, causing localized back or neck pain.
- Nerve damage: any injury that compresses, stretches, or damages a nerve after the car accident can fail to heal properly and cause neuropathic pain.
How Likely Do Collisions Cause Chronic Pain?
Not everyone who gets injured post-accident develops chronic symptoms, but they are highly susceptible to these symptoms. A 2023 French study showed that nearly half of road crash victims who visited the hospital and participated in the study experienced crash-related chronic injury pain after two years.
Further, a 2026 study found that 23.4% of people with whiplash developed a new chronic pain condition within one year of their injury. This is noteworthy because whiplash injury is considered the most commonly reported injury following a motor vehicle accident.
Despite the fact that low back pain is incredibly common overall, persistent back pain is highly associated with vehicle collisions. A study reported that people who sustained an injury in a collision had about 2.7 times the risk of subsequently experiencing low back pain compared with others who were not exposed to collision injuries.
While identifying predictors of chronic pain after an accident stays difficult, studies have found that several factors may be associated with poorer recovery and thus higher risk of chronic pain. Research found that people with higher initial pain intensity, women, people with pre-existing mental health conditions, and people with lower socioeconomic status were significantly associated with the likelihood of developing chronic pain disorders within one year of whiplash injury.
When to Seek Treatment for Chronic Pain After an Accident?
If a minor accident has already caused you major pain that lasted for more than 3 months, then consider seeking professional medical evaluation. Persistent pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness after a collision should not be dismissed also.
Clinics specialized in pain treatment are qualified to provide you with what you need to gain substantial relief, including whiplash pain relief. Treatments for post-accident chronic pain can vary from physical therapy, painkillers, and exercise to minimally invasive procedures like epidural steroid injections, spinal cord stimulation, and radiofrequency ablation.
It is advised that you visit a pain specialist like Dr. Samer Abdel-Aziz if your pain persists or starts to interfere with your daily activities after a car accident. Book an appointment with Dr. Samer Abdel-Aziz’s pain clinic today so we can evaluate your condition and discuss appropriate options for car accident pain treatment.
🗓️Book your first appointment here: https://samerpainclinic.com/contact-us/
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Feel free to email your questions or concerns to info@samerpainclinic.com
Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221414052300049X
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41662478/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19411766/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32438092/
