A rear impact moves the torso before the head follows, and the neck absorbs the difference over a fraction of a second. The tissue that takes it is mostly muscular and ligamentous, and that kind of injury is at its most painful two or three days later rather than at the scene. People who walk away feeling lucky and wake up on Wednesday unable to turn their head are not unusual. They are the normal case.
Chiropractic has a real place once the picture is clear. Early care is about settling the guarding and restoring the movement that fear and pain have taken away, with technique chosen for an irritable neck: drop-table and Activator are low-force and do not involve the twisting motion patients are picturing, and both are used routinely in the first weeks.
The other half is documentation, which is care as well as evidence. What hurt on the day, what appeared later, what you cannot do now and how it has changed week to week are clinical findings first, and they are far more accurate written down as they happen than reconstructed months afterwards.
Some necks after a collision should be assessed before any manual treatment. Arm weakness rather than only pins and needles, numbness that is spreading, clumsiness in the hands, unsteadiness on the feet, severe midline tenderness, or a neck that has not moved at all since the impact are all reasons to be examined first and treated second.
A head injury with confusion, repeated vomiting, worsening headache or drowsiness is an emergency, not a chiropractic visit.
Where the problem outlasts conservative care, the next step is in the same building. Pain Management for the facet joints that commonly generate persistent post-collision neck pain, Physical Therapy for the capacity that is missing, and Acupuncture where muscular guarding is the limiting factor. Our whiplash treatment page covers the whole picture, and headache after a car accident covers that specific pattern.
Three adjusting techniques are used here and which one you get depends on you rather than on habit. Diversified is the hands-on adjustment most people picture, with the audible release. Drop-table, also called Thompson, uses a table section that drops a short distance so the force needed is smaller. Activator is a handheld instrument delivering a single light impulse, and it is the usual choice for an irritable joint, an older patient, or anyone who would rather not be twisted.
Spinal decompression is available where a disc is involved and there are leg or arm symptoms, and dry needling for the muscular component that survives the adjustment. What you do between visits is usually the part that decides whether the change holds.
The escalation runs on one chart. If the picture changes, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management are in the same building, so a change of direction is a conversation rather than a new referral and another wait.
Under Medicare, chiropractic coverage is spinal manipulation only. The examination, imaging and any therapies performed alongside the adjustment are billed separately and are not covered under that benefit. What Medicare covers for chiropractic care goes through it in full, and our Medicare Advantage page covers the plans that add to it.
On commercial plans, Chiropractic is commonly covered with an annual visit cap counted across every provider you have seen this year. Our team verifies your benefits before your first visit, so the number is known in advance. The insurance page has the full payer list for both states.
Colorado (16 clinics) — Academy in Colorado Springs, Arapahoe, Central Park, Downtown Denver, Greeley, Harmony in Fort Collins, Highlands Ranch, Interquest in north Colorado Springs, Lafayette, Lakewood, Lone Tree, Lowry, Northglenn, Southlands, Tenderfoot in south Colorado Springs, Wadsworth.
Arizona (6 clinics) — Chandler, Deer Valley, Dunlap in north Phoenix, Mesa, Peoria, Westgate in Glendale.
Each clinic page lists the address, the hours and what a first visit involves. No referral is needed for Chiropractic, and our goal is to get you in within the same week.
It is worth being examined. The point is not to find something wrong, it is to establish what is normal for you now, which is what makes a change in week three meaningful rather than ambiguous.
Because that is how this injury behaves. Muscular and ligamentous tissue is usually at its most painful two or three days after the impact rather than at the scene. It is the normal course, not a sign that something new has happened.
Yes, once the examination has ruled out the findings that call for assessment first. Early care settles the guarding and restores the movement that pain has taken away, with technique chosen for an irritable neck.
Drop-table and Activator adjustments are low-force and do not involve that motion, and both are used routinely in the early weeks. Say so at the first visit and nothing will be done that has not been explained.
Usually auto insurance or med-pay rather than your health plan, and in Colorado we can hold the lien directly so treatment does not wait on a settlement. Our car accident coverage page sets out how it works.
Most cases improve over weeks. The pattern over the first fortnight is more informative than the intensity on any one day, and symptoms that keep spreading rather than settling are worth reporting promptly.
Confusion, repeated vomiting, a worsening headache or drowsiness after a head injury. Also arm weakness, spreading numbness, hand clumsiness or unsteadiness on the feet. Those need urgent assessment.
No. Chiropractic at Mountain View Pain Center does not require one, and neither do Physical Therapy, Pain Management or Acupuncture. If your own plan requires one, our team will tell you when they verify your benefits.
Day or night, seven days a week — and we’ll text you back to get you scheduled. No referral is needed, and our goal is to see you within the same week. Colorado scheduling runs through one number for every Colorado clinic: (720) 749-5599.
