Hidden Injuries Following Car Accidents

You walk into your doctor’s office. You tell the doctor that you were in a rear end car accident a few days ago. The car has bumper damage only.  You complain of neck pain, upper back pain and headaches.  In addition, your neck had reduced mobility.  The doctor tells you that you appear to be a “typical whiplash” case.

What you haven’t told the doctor is that you have a buzzing sound in both ears and a mild pain just in front of your right ear that is increased when you yawn or chews food.  You haven’t told the doctor about these latter symptoms because you haven’t connected them to the car accident although they started eight after the accident.

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and temperomandibular joint (TMJ) problems are two of the more common “hidden injuries” following car crashes.  They are hidden because:

(a) they are often unreported by patients like yourself

(b) when they are reported, they may be unrecorded and disregarded by doctors who, like the patients, haven’t “connected the dots.”

You should do a quick self directed “systems check” following a car accident and report any symptoms to your doctor immediately. The most common “hidden injuries” following a car accident, in no particular order are:

(a) tinnitus – a ringing or buzzing or any noise in one or both ears

(b) TMJ – pain in front of one or both ears, pain on chewing food, pain on yawning or opening your mouth

(c) dizziness – the room may be spinning or you may just feel disoriented

(d) concussion – may follow hitting your head – headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea, confusion, memory loss

(e) driving anxiety or PTSD – fear of driving or being in a car, panic attacks when in a car, extreme nervousness when in a car

(f) thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) – coldness and/or numbness going down one or both arms