Headache After Car Accident – Headache is nothing shorts of a curse that people often suffer due to many reasons. If you have a headache due to cold then it’s a matter of time to heal with the intake of simple medicine. But if it’s a chronic issue then you know how tough it is to handle and how irritating it is to spend time recovering from it.
Suppose, an accident happens with you while traveling by car, no matter if you’re driving or not. All the injuries like fractures, lacerations, etc. that you might have gotten on the exterior part of your body will show immediate symptoms, such as pain and this may be treated and healed on the spot. But if the injury is to the interior of your body, and no immediate signs of pain are felt or recognized by you, that’ll be a matter of concern. In that case, one common but serious problem that you may often face is a headache. Maybe this problem shows signs a little later after the accident, but the worst thing is that it may continue much longer after the accident. Apart from natural annoyance, this will be enough to damage your brain as well if not taken care properly.
The Common Reasons for Headache After Car Accidents
There are many reasons for having a headache after a car accident, and some of them are commonly seen. One of most popular reasons is a blow or strike to the head with any part of the inside of the car which is called whiplash. How severe the injury depends upon the impact of the collision during the accident.
Types of Headaches After the Accident
As there are different kinds of injuries that may occur during a car accident, you can also experience different types of headaches. Here they are some of them:
Post-Traumatic
This type of headache is usually brought about by sudden collision or trauma to the head and neck at the time of the accident. This kind of headache starts from the neck, with muscle spasms, nerve roots sensitivity, and discomfort at the base of the skull area. This type of headache appears days or weeks later.
Post-Concussive
This type of headache occurs when you have an injury to the brain that may be caused by a sudden blow on the head during the car accident. There are two types of symptoms for this kind of headache. Vomiting, and sensitivity of light and sound, even of certain smells and movement are some of the short term issues, memory loss, anxiety, depression, dizziness, sleeping problem, balance problem are some of the long term symptoms.
Muscle-Contraction
This is another type of headache which may appear due to a car accident if the injuries occur within the muscles of the upper back, neck, and head. A sudden impact of collision at the time of the accident can tear the soft tissues of that area, this may cause spasm, and strain to the muscles. And as a result, a headache may start that can make your movement slower and besides redness and swelling may be seen in the affected area.
Whiplash
A sudden force on the head and neck during the accident which jerks your head from far forward to far backward may cause this kind of headache. Neck pain, stiffness, dizziness, and fatigue all these things are common symptoms of this problem which may appear after a week or two of the accident.
Fracture
This intense kind of headache may happen due to a fracture on the neck or skull bones. The pain appears at the back of the head and neck. Usually, you cannot rule out brain injury as a reason for this kind of headache. Apart from the headache slurred speech, vomiting, stiff neck may occur as some of the common symptoms that you may face for this accident.
Pinched Nerve
Pinched nerve means compression of the roots of spinal nerves. This is where the compressed upper cervical nerves start pinching and you feel a terrible headache due to this. Commonly, you will experienced tingling from the neck base to the back of the head.
What to Do After Car Accident
All these multiple symptoms clearly indicate how fatal headaches could be if they are not attended or taken care of in time. It can cause permanent damage to your nervous system leaving you partially or completely affected. Therefore, you need to know what is to be done after having experience headaches when you have been in an accident. Let’s find out what to do.
Visiting A Doctor
Even a child can advise you to visit a doctor after having an accident. But the question is what type of doctor you need. A regular doctor can treat any kind of injuries but for a car accident, you need something more. That’s why you need to visit a car accident doctor.
Visiting A Car Accident Doctor
A car accident doctor is the better choice for those who have experienced a car accident.
Firstly, the doctor has vast experience in treating injuries that are the result of a car accident. They can identify the type of injuries and can understand better how fatal the injuries could affect you in the future.
Secondly, insurance is an important factor for those who are injured in a car accident. Because you need Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance so that you can be eligible for coverage under this policy.
An accident doctor has specialized in filling claims in a proper way so that you don’t have to worry about your accident claim while your treatment is on going. Therefore, it is important to visit an accident doctor soon after an accident to avoid any kind of health risk in the future and also to file a PIP claim as soon as possible.
Visiting A Physical Therapist
After a car accident, most of the invisible injuries happen in your muscles and joints which may not only provide you a painful experience but also affect your normal movement. Therefore, apart from major and minor surgery is special cases, it is necessary to visit a physical therapist immediately after an accident. A physical therapist reduces pain and restores your movement following special techniques such as massage and ultrasound therapy.
Visiting A Neurologist
When facing intense headaches and discomfort in your head region, a neurological issue could be behind headaches and dizziness you may experience after an accident. The nerves that go through the brain and spinal cord to your whole body might be affected in a car accident. Here comes a neurologist into action. He or she can identify the injuries at an early stage and start treating them properly so that the injuries could never get worse and affect your lifestyle.
Bottom Line
So, at the end of this discussion, one major thing that comes out is that, though a car accident is always considered as a most unfortunate incident, it should be handled carefully as it may have a long term impact on your body and mind. Such an example of this could be headaches that could arise for many reasons to spoil your days and if unattained may ruin your life. Therefore, please follow the advice on this article and treat any symptoms you may experience after a car accident.