Hi Kelsy, unfortunately a car wreck can cause neck pain after two years- especially if you did not seek treatment right away. It also depends on the severity of the car accident in the first place. The car accident you describe sounds quite severe. At our Glastonbury Chiropractic Office we treat many car accident patients- the majority of patients seek treatment right away, within a few days- to a few weeks. However, sometimes they come in with pain many months after the accident. These cases can be more complicated and take longer to see relief of pain, just because of the distance in time. Also there can be a more build up of scar tissue, severely tightened muscles and also misalignment's in the cervical spine.
I am not sure the type of injury you sustained, and what type of treatment you received afterwards. Hopefully you received some type of physio therapy or chiropractic treatment. Also, sometimes something else in your life can trigger the neck pain. It may be an area of weakness, and a simple forceful sneeze or sleeping on the wrong type of pillow can even trigger severe neck pain. Even something as simple as driving for a long period of time or some type of repetetive motion can bring the neck pain back.
A few things that I would reccomend to you:
- if you have not had any x-rays, please have those done. There may be degeneration going on in your neck from this car accident, especially if you did not get the treatment that you needed right away. If the neck pain also involves shooting pains, weakness, numbness and tingling, I would also recommend an MRI of the cervical spine
- see a chiropractor. They can assess what is going on in your neck area and recommend a treatment protocol. They can also recommend home treatment that you can do such as neck exercises.
- see a massage therapist
- use ice or heat at home. In most cases if the pain has been going on for some time, you want to use heat therapy. If this is pain that came on suddenly, than ice will be the way to go.
- use a proper neck support pillow at home. Using a flat pillow or for that matter, too many pillows can be the cause of more neck pain and it can aggravate existing neck pain
- you may be a candidate for neck traction - this simple stretching of the neck can of great benefit for neck pain. If you have a herniated disc or bulging disc this can be of benefit as well
The Glastonbury Chiropractor is located in central Connecticut- CT Spine and Disc Center specializes in patients who suffer from sciatica, disc degeneration, bulging disc or herniated disc in the lumbar spine. Call our chiropractic office at 860-633-8756 to schedule an appointment and to see if you are a candidate for non surgical spinal decompression
Additional Reading Resources:
- What is Causing my sciatica?
- What to do after a motor vehicle whiplash accident
- Research shows Chronic Pain Can result after a Car accident.
- Non Surgical Spinal Decompression in Connecticut
- Contact the Glastonbury Chiropractor
