Q: What are the symptoms that put a doctor on high alert after an accident? 

A: Neck pain with numbness and tingling into the arms is the most alarming symptom following an automobile accident.

After a car accident, no matter the speed of either car at impact or place of impact, the soft tissue in the neck can be damaged. Soft tissue damage can cause the discs in your neck to shift out of place, pressing on the nerves in your neck, causing neck pain with numbness and tingling into your arms and hands. While this can be resolved by noninvasive treatments we provide at our office, it is important to rule out more serious conditions such as myelopathy (compression of the spinal cord in the neck). 

This is not a symptom that you can ice away or heal with time. You will eventually have to deal with the effect of this symptom and it is ideal to tackle it right after an accident. In doing that,  you take full advantage of the body’s natural healing process and have more control over the outcome of that healing process. Alternatively, waiting until the body’s natural process is done, can make for a longer and harder injury to recover from.

The takeaway here: neck pain with numbness and tingling into the arms is a serious symptom that cannot be ignored.