“Why does my neck sprain take so long to heal? It’s been 5 months since I was in a car accident. My injury and I still feel a pain near my right shoulder when I move my neck.”
A recent question that comes up so often in our office after someone has had a car accident, has seen numerous other doctors and physical therapists but is still having pain.
Of course there is no way to know in a specific person without evaluating them. In general though many things could be related to someone developing chronic pain after a neck injury.
Diagnosing Neck Injuries From A Car Accident
I have to say that often the diagnosis of neck sprain isn’t very helpful in identifying the injury and often may not be the right diagnosis or the entire diagnosis.
Discs, nerves, and other things can be injured in the area.
If a person does have some type of neck sprain then it means that the person has stretched, torn, and somehow damaged ligaments in the area.
These injuries can be very mild all the way up to very severe with a complete ligament tear. This is why saying neck sprain often isn’t specific enough because we need to consider the severity.
Measuring Neck Sprain Severity
Ligaments connect bones and limit movement in certain directions. A standard x-ray of the neck won’t going to show a sprain.
A practitioner familiar with evaluating ligament injuries in the neck can do stress x-rays that put the ligaments under stress in order to measure excess movements related to ligamentous tearing. These x-rays are commonly not performed even in cases where they would be justified.
At 5 months post-injury, this might be something that could be done if it has not. If it has, then the amount of ligament tearing can provide information regarding severity of sprain as well as location.
Why Would Someone Develop Chronic Pain After A Neck Sprain (Or Other Injury)?
Several factors may be in play beyond the sprain’s severity and possibility of other injuries.
Some of these complicating factors in recovery from injuries include…
- Past injuries in the area,
- Past chronic pain in the area,
- Age of the person,
- General health/chronic diseases in the person,
- Inappropriate or incomplete treatment during the early healing of the injuries,
- Losses of motion in the neck that have not been addressed, and
- Many other factors.
I also want to mention that soft tissue injuries like a sprain can take up to 2 years to heal depending upon so many different factors. It is extremely important in recovery to see the right healthcare practitioner that understands neck injuries to properly evaluate and manage them.
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