Understanding Muscle and Joint Pain After a Crash

Check out this go-to guide that helps you understand muscle and joint pain a car accident.

Written by CrashMD staff

Did you know that there are more than 650 muscles in the human body, and around 350 joints? So when the body is involved in a car accident, there is a very good chance that there will be some injury or trauma to muscles and/or joints, unfortunately. While both types of injuries might not be life threatening, they can have a significantly negative impact on the person’s quality of life, as well as the ability to work and enjoy ideal daily and lifestyle activities. 

There are hundreds of muscles and joints that can be injured during a car accident. When you remember that these muscles and joints are wildly responsible for keeping you mobile, it’s a scary situation when they become damaged. Muscles can become stretched, torn or swollen, and joints can become fractured, or the ligaments and tendons around the joints can become damaged. Most often, during an impending car accident, the body will try to brace itself for impact by bending or twisting the extremities, back or pelvis area. These sudden and unnatural movements (compared to just sitting in a car) combined with the force of impact can lead to damage of the joints and muscles. 

While some instances of muscle and joint pain after a car accident can be acute and remedied quickly with at-home or conservative methods, there are cases where the pain can become chronic. This means that a person experiences pain well after the standard period of recovery and the pain not only interferes with their lifestyle, but could also lead to additional complications and health problems. 

Without immediate medical treatment, damage to your muscles and joints could permanently impact both your mobility and overall quality of life. If you have recently been in a car accident and feel you are suffering from muscle and/or joint pain as a result of the crash, it’s important that you seek help from a pain management specialist who can accurately diagnose and recommend the best course of treatment for your specific injuries and pain symptoms. 

Muscle Pain After a Car Crash

Our muscles are a large reason why our bodies are so mobile because they attach to bones and help us move our limbs. Due to the fact that muscles are located throughout the body, they are very prone to injury during a car accident. Muscle injury symptoms depend on which muscles were damaged, and the extent of the damage. 

But what exactly causes muscle damage? The impact of the collision can damage both individual muscle fibers in the soft tissue, as well as break a bone that the muscle is attached to, which creates an abnormal muscle condition. Also, there is the physical trauma of the person hitting something in the car, say the door, roof or steering wheel, that can also lead to muscle pain and soreness. 

The best way to determine what muscle injuries you might be experiencing is to partner with a trained pain management specialist who can determine the extent of your pain and recommend treatment. The most common causes of muscle pain after a car crash are due to: 

• Whiplash: when the soft tissues that connect the head to the neck are whipped during the accident
• Muscle/tendon strains: both muscles and the tendons that connect the muscle to bone can become stretching or torn, which leads to strain
• Ligament sprains: ligaments attach one bone to another and they can become sprained when the tissue is stretched or town
• Herniated discs: when cushiony discs located between each vertebrae slip out of place or become torn, pain can be felt
• Facet joint injuries: these joints connect the bones of the spine and pain is felt when the bones are shifted out of place. It most commonly leads to lower back pain. 
• Pinched nerves: any of the 31 nerves in the spine can become compressed or pinches due to any injury in the back or neck that leads to inflammation
• Internal organ damage: trauma from seat belts and airbags can damage internal organs and muscles during the car accident, which could be a life-treating issue that deserves immediate attention (especially because a person might not know damage has been done)

While symptoms vary from person to person, and injury to injury, the most common symptoms a person with muscle pain can expect to feel include: 

• Swelling and inflammation
• Upper back/lower back pain
• Muscle spasms
• Headaches or migraines
• Stiffness and soreness
• Fatigue
• Burning, tingling or numbness
• Muscle aches
• Bruising or discoloration
• Skin above the injured area that feels warm to the touch

Additionally, while some symptoms of muscle injury can present themselves immediately following the car accident, there are other instances where it could take hours or days for the pain to be felt. It’s imperative to seek professional help so pain can be addressed immediately before it leads to additional symptoms or turns into chronic pain. 

Joint Pain After a Car Crash

A joint is any part of the body where two bones connect, so as you can imagine, there is a great opportunity for joint pain after a car accident! In addition, there are ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues that connect two bones together, which can all be damaged as a result of a traumatic event as well. There are six main joints in the body, including: 

• Ball and socket joints (shoulder)
• Hinge joints (elbow)
• Condyloid joints (wrist)
• Pivot joints (neck)
• Gliding joints (ankle)
• Saddle joints (thumb)

Any type of trauma to these joints can lead to injury of the joint. While there is any reason that a person could experience joint pain, a car accident is one of the most common. This is because if a person is able to “see” the accident happening, they might brace for impact by tightening their body or twisting/bending their limbs. These sharp and quick movements, coupled with the impact of both the car hitting another item and the body hitting the car/seatbelt, can lead to joint damage. 

Even if you don’t experience pain immediately after the accident, it’s very important to have a pain management specialist review your overall health condition to ensure something isn’t getting worse over time. The best time to address issues is as quickly as possible and from the most highly trained pain management specialist as possible. 

While there could be an joint injury experienced as a result of a car accident, the most common include: 

• Whiplash: the pivot joints in the neck can become damaged due to the quick back-and-forth whipping motion experienced during impact
• Dislocations: most dislocations occur in the shoulder, elbow, hip and knee, and happens when a bone is forced out of its normal position. This can lead to pain, swelling and reduced functionality. 
• Fractures: breaks in the bone around a joint, which might happen to the wrist, hip or elbow
• Shoulder injuries: most often when the shoulder comes out of the joint, generally from the force of hitting the steering wheel or dashboard
• Wrist injuries: broken wrists are common in car accidents, and sometimes from the airbag going off, or from the wrist hitting the door or ceiling. Depending on the severity of the fracture, surgery might be the best option. 
• Knee injuries: a person can suffer from a shattered kneecap, ligament injuries or a torn meniscus if their knee hits the dashboard or steering wheel
• Facet joint injuries: any trauma to the back could result in facet joint injuries, including fractures, torn cartilage, dislocation, and more
• Tendonitis: inflammation of the tendons around the joint that are a result of a traumatic event
• Post-traumatic arthritis: inflammation of the joints that most commonly affects the ankles, knees, hips and elbows after a car accident

While symptoms of joint injury pain can vary, patients who have suffered from a joint injury can expect to experience:

• Limited range of motion
• Decreased functionality
• Cracking noises when attempting to use the joint
• Numbness or tingling in the extremities
• Joint instability (when it feels like the joint locks up or catches)

Even if you believe that you didn’t suffer from any damages during the car accident, or that you believe your pain is minimal, it’s important to seek help from a pain management specialist who can either ensure that your pain will benefit from at-home remedies, or that you need to begin treatment as quickly as possible. 

Treatments for Muscle and Joint Pain After a Crash

The best way to determine which treatment option can help remedy your pain symptoms is to partner with a pain management specialist who can accurately diagnose and recommend necessary treatment. 

In addition to performing a physical and medical exam, your provider will utilize diagnostic tools (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, etc.) to get a clear and in-depth picture of your injury. They will also ask questions about what your pain feels like, when you most often feel pain, if there’s anything that makes the pain better or worse, etc. 

Once your provider fully understands your muscle and/or joint pain, they will recommend a comprehensive treatment plan that could include: 

• RICE: rest, ice, compression and elevation are great at-home methods that can help alleviate some minor instances of pain
• Medications: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are great options for both alleviating pain and reducing inflammation. Most often, medications are recommended so that patients can more comfortably enjoy physical therapy. 
• Physical therapy: partnering with a physical therapist who can recommend specific movements and exercise can help to alleviate pain symptoms as well as strengthen the muscles and body with the goal to avoid future injuries
• Alternative therapies: acupuncture, chiropractic care and massages can all help to alleviate stress on the body, relax the muscles and provide pain relief
• Bracing: depending on the location of the injury, a brace could be recommended to help stabilize the area so that the body can heal properly
• Joint injections: injecting a corticosteroid and anesthetic into the affected joint can help to reduce both pain and inflammation. For muscle pain, trigger point injections have also proven helpful because the medication is directly injected into the trigger point in the muscle and helps to keep the muscle from spasming or contracting. 

If the pain continues to get worse, your pain management specialist could recommend minimally-invasive treatments such as spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) that target the affected nerves to prevent them from sending pain signals to the brain, thereby reducing pain sensations. 

If you have recently suffered a car accident and are left with muscle and joint pain, please schedule an appointment today with the CrashMD team. We are dedicated to helping our family of patients experience immediate pain relief as quickly and comfortably as possible, with a goal to help them improve their quality of life and reduce their chance of chronic pain. We look forward to hearing from you and helping to resolve your pain issues!