Low Back Pain After a Motor Vehicle Accident

As common as motor vehicle accidents are, the body was not designed to deal with force that occurs during a motor vehicle accident (MVA).

Sadly, MVA’s are the leading cause of death in the 18-29 year old age range. Fortunately, they are not always deadly, but can leave lasting damage on the body that must be handled under the care of a medical professional. One of the most common injuries we see as a result of these accidents is back and neck pain, and are most of the time, acute circumstances.

We begin by analyzing images on an MRI and the mechanisms of which the force originated from such as the twisting, bending and trauma of the incident. There are two categories of pain: radiating and non-radiating. Radiating would mean that the pain spreads throughout the buttocks or legs, whereas non-radiating means the pain remains in the area. The reason for separation is because they are treated differently.

Non-radiating pain tends to lend itself to a less invasive treatment plan such as the services we provide at Coastal Pain, whereas radiating pain could lead to a surgeon’s treatment plan. We can refer our patients to a local and well-respected surgeon in the area if the need arises. The sorts of treatments that we do are more for non-radiating such a nerve and disc injections; for radiating we will do joint injections.

If the pain remains after the injections have been performed, an evaluation of the patient and recommend more conservative therapies such as chiropractic or physical therapies. Our goal is to get our patients moving as soon as they are able. If things still do not improve after these measures have been taken, then a MRI may be in ordered to reevaluate the pain and do another series of injections. Finally a surgeon can get involved, if necessary.

New emerging technologies for treating low back pain and regenerative medicine, include platelet rich plasma injections (PRP), which is a scientifically proven treatment that we do offer our patients in our clinics. Stem cell injections are typically done for big back surgeries and only a few commercial products offer this. We are hoping to have this available for our patients with radicular and acute low back pain and disc problems in about 1-2 years.

To learn more about the treatments that we offer for our patients and discuss the right one for you, please visit us at one of our two clinic locations in Carlsbad and Mission Valley/San Diego.