Hi all,

I was in a car accident (rear ended by large work truck doing 40 mph, pushed into SUV in front of me - my car totaled) back in June of 2014. I was whisked away by ambo to the ER, and eventually diagnosed with whiplash, concussion and PCS. After several months of PT, I felt better and most of my symptoms were gone or minimal. I got cleared to start slowly exercising again, so I did what they recommended. After two or so weeks of that, I started having symptoms again, especially the headaches, neck, shoulder and back pain. Back to PT. Not much relief this time. Chiropractic and cold laser therapy was suggested by a friend, so I started that. It's helping, but the headaches and neck/back pain are persistent. It's been almost 7 months since the accident. Is this relapse normal?

Also, has anyone here had success with chiro or cold laser therapy? I just want to feel normal again, and be out of pain most, if not all, of the time...

Welcome CatmidVa.

CatmidVa,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

It is very common to roller coaster through recovery from a concussion. I am concerned that you may have an upper cervical injury that is not responding to the treatment you are receiving. Chiro 'twist the had and pop the neck' adjustments may be too aggressive. You may need some gentle traction and mobilization of thew neck. It is also important to be disciplined in your posture, especially when resting or sleeping. Sleeping with your neck bent or crooked can easily undo any therapy. Sleeping with your head and neck straight for weeks is usually helpful. One bad night of twisted neck posture can undo weeks of disciplined posture.

Sometimes, it takes experimenting with different PT's and chiros to find the one that works best with your body and injury. My PT does myofacial release to release the spasming muscles in the neck and upper back. Many PT's just do range of motion exercises. Not much help for some of us.

What kind of exercising do you do ?

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the reply. PT did a lot of massage and trigger point massage, estim, ultrasound, moist heat, posture corrections, stretching, ROM and strength training of the supporting muscles.

The Chiro did complete xrays and my cervical spine is straighter than it should be, I have developed some bone spurs and have some disc misalignment, compression and bulging. I may be missing something there, but that's what I remember right now. My left hip is also 1.8 millimeters higher than the right hip. My piriformis muscles on both sides are also very tight and the one on the left sometimes compresses the sciatic nerve which is oh so painful!

So right now, the chiro is doing estim, ultrasound and cold laser therapy. I do moist heat at home, sometimes ice, but at this point, the heat usually helps more.

The chiro also does massage, trigger point massage/release, stretching, very gentle adjustment to thoracic and lumbar spine. Sometimes, he tries very gentle adjustment to cervical spine, but he doesn't force it. I am feeling better, but still have a long way to go to normal, and I have headaches almost every day that don't respond much to any medication.

The PT also had me on Flexeril, Aleve and Tylenol 3 with codeine for when it's really bad. They tried to give me a script for Percocet instead, but I'm allergic to it. None of those meds really made a difference, so I don't take them. The chiro told me to try 800 milligrams of Motrin when it's awful, and that does help some.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the insomnia is back and my blood pressure has consistently been up for a few weeks, so my PCP put me on BP med, Metoprolol. I don't know whether to attribute the BP to constant pain and headaches or the inability to exercise much for the past seven months. I just really want my normal life back, and to not have to go to several appointments every week.

Cat,

Sounds similar to me with different symptoms. I am 9 months out and cannot run yet. I can walk 2 miles now but my other exercises for neck and back need caution.

My difficulties seemed to increase around 7 months.

Sleep can be elusive for me also...never before.

Bud

That's where I am now, seven months! So frustrating, I thought I was just about back to normal when everything started up again. Thank you for replying, at least I don't feel like I'm all alone in this. I swear, sometimes I'll have a pretty good day and think that I must be nuts. Then the headache or pain kicks in, and I'm reminded that it's all too real. Also, some pretty brutal fatigue at times.

I'm also going a little stir crazy! I'm used to running 3 to 6 miles a couple times a week and blowing off some steam! Now that I can't do that, I really miss it. Plus, I'm gaining weight...not good...