Car Accident Care
Car accident injuries: see an orthopedic spine specialist
If you were in a crash and your neck, back, or a limb is still bothering you, the question isn’t whether to see someone. It’s who.
Dr. Miguel Jimenez is an orthopedic spine surgeon who has been evaluating and treating accident injuries in Georgia for more than 23 years. You can speak with him by phone within 24 hours of contacting us — before you commit to anything.
No referral needed. No attorney needed.
First — if any of this applies, don’t use this page
Go to the nearest emergency room or call 911 if you have:
- New or worsening weakness in an arm or leg
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- New difficulty walking or keeping your balance
- Severe headache, confusion, repeated vomiting, or loss of consciousness
- Chest pain, difficulty breathing, or severe abdominal pain
These need emergency evaluation now, not an appointment.
If you already went to the emergency room
Emergency departments are built to answer one urgent question quickly: is there anything here that could kill or seriously harm you right now? Bleeding, fractures, organ injury, head trauma. They’re very good at it, and if they cleared you of those things, that’s genuinely good news.
What an emergency visit isn’t designed to do is work out why your neck still won’t turn on day four.
Soft tissue injuries, disc injuries, and nerve irritation often aren’t visible on the imaging done in an emergency setting, and they frequently haven’t fully declared themselves during the hours you were there. That’s not a failure of emergency medicine — it’s a different job, done at a different point in time.
If you were discharged with instructions to follow up if symptoms persisted, and symptoms have persisted, this is that follow-up.
What to do when the ER said nothing was broken and you still hurt
Why you might feel worse now than you did at the scene
Two things are usually going on.
The first is adrenaline. In the minutes and hours after a crash your body is doing a very effective job of masking pain. That wears off.
The second is inflammation. Soft tissue and joint injuries build up swelling and stiffness over the following 24 to 72 hours. A neck strain that felt like nothing on Tuesday evening can be genuinely difficult by Thursday morning.
This is why “I felt fine at the scene” isn’t reassuring on its own, and why waiting to see whether it settles can mean weeks of unnecessary discomfort — and a less clear picture of what actually happened.
What you might feel, and when
Symptoms after a collision arrive on two different clocks. Neither list below is an emergency — the list at the top of this page is.
In the first hours
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Back pain, especially low back pain
- A headache that started after the crash
- Feeling shaken but basically fine — the most common report of all, and the reason people go home and wait
Over the next day or three
- Neck pain or stiffness that isn’t easing
- Pain that radiates into an arm, hand, leg, or foot
- Numbness or tingling anywhere, even if it comes and goes
- Weakness — a grip that feels unreliable, a leg that feels heavy
- Headaches at the base of the skull
- Pain that was mild at first and is getting worse
- Trouble sleeping, or waking up markedly stiff
Anything in the second list is worth having examined, and anything involving the nerves — numbness, tingling, weakness, radiating pain — is worth having examined sooner.
Who will be evaluating you
Dr. Miguel Jimenez, MD — Orthopedic Spine Surgeon
- Orthopedic Surgery Residency — Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (1996–2000)
- Spine Fellowship — Hospital for Special Surgery, New York (2001–2002)
- 23+ years in practice in Georgia
- Sees patients in English and Spanish
Dr. Jimenez handles the whole pathway himself — the examination, the imaging decisions, the injections, and surgery if it’s genuinely indicated. When you speak with him, you’re speaking with the person who would actually be treating you.
You can talk to him before you decide anything
You don’t have to book an appointment to get a medical opinion on this.
Tell us what happened and, within 24 hours, you can have a phone conversation with Dr. Jimenez. He’ll ask about the mechanism of the crash, what you’re feeling and where, what’s changed since, and what you’ve already been told. Then he’ll tell you what he thinks — whether this warrants an in-person examination, what imaging would actually be useful, and what to watch for in the meantime.
What the 24 hours covers.
We answer within 24 hours, and a phone conversation with Dr. Jimenez in that window if you want one. An in-person appointment often follows quickly — sometimes the next day — but that depends on the office and the schedule, so we don’t name a specific day up front.
A free consultation with Dr. Jimenez, within 24 hours — five to ten minutes on the phone, and longer if it needs to be.
A quick guide to your spine
These words turn up in imaging reports and in what a doctor tells you. Knowing them makes the rest of this page easier to follow — and your own MRI report, when you get one. More about imaging after a car accident
- Cervical spine
- Your neck. This is where whiplash does its damage, and where a problem can be felt all the way down an arm.
- Thoracic spine
- The middle back, where the ribs attach. Stiffer than the rest, and less often injured in a collision.
- Lumbar spine
- The low back. It carries the most load, and it absorbs a great deal in rear-end and side-impact crashes.
- Vertebrae
- The individual bones stacked to form the spine. They protect the spinal cord running through them.
- Discs
- The cushions between the vertebrae. A “herniated disc” is one that has been pushed out of shape, often against a nerve.
- Facet joints
- The small paired joints at the back of the spine that let you twist and bend. They can be loaded hard in an impact.
- Nerve roots
- Nerves branching off the spinal cord and out between the vertebrae. This is why a neck injury is felt in the hand, and a low back injury down the leg.
- Spinal cord
- The bundle of nerves running through the canal in the middle of the vertebrae, carrying signals between brain and body.
What we’re looking for
Whiplash and neck strain
The rapid back-and-forth motion of a collision stresses the ligaments, muscles, and discs of the neck. Symptoms often appear 24 to 72 hours afterward and can include stiffness, headaches at the base of the skull, and pain that spreads into the shoulders. More about headaches after a car accident
Herniated disc
Impact can push disc material against a nerve root, producing pain that radiates into an arm or leg, along with numbness or weakness. This is one of the more common findings in patients who felt “just sore” at first.
Nerve injury and radiculopathy
Compressed or stretched nerves cause burning pain, pins and needles, numbness, or weakness. Nerve symptoms are the ones we most want to see early.
Spinal fractures
Higher-energy collisions can fracture vertebrae. Some are stable and treated conservatively; some are not and need prompt attention.
Low back injuries
The lumbar spine takes a great deal of the load in rear-end and side-impact collisions, and low back pain is one of the most common complaints we see afterwards — usually starting a day or two later. More about back and neck pain after a car accident
Soft tissue injuries
Muscle strains, ligament sprains, and tendon injuries. These are the injuries most likely to be dismissed early and most likely to become chronic if they’re never properly addressed.
Cervical myelopathy
Compression of the spinal cord in the neck, which can cause weakness, clumsiness in the hands, and balance problems. Uncommon, but important to identify.
You don’t need an attorney to be seen here
This comes up constantly, so let’s be direct about it.
A lot of accident care in Georgia is arranged through attorneys, and a lot of people therefore assume they need to sort out the legal side before anyone will look at them medically. That isn’t the case here.
You can call us today, speak with Dr. Jimenez, and be evaluated, without an attorney being involved at any point.
If you do have an attorney, that’s completely fine — we’ll work with them and make sure they receive the records they need. If you decide to get one later, the documentation from your care will be there. And if you never do, your treatment is unaffected.
Whether to involve an attorney is your decision and not a medical one. We’re not going to advise you either way. What we will say is that it shouldn’t be the thing standing between you and having your neck looked at.
How payment works
For car accident care, we don’t bill regular health insurance. There are two paths:
Self-pay
Available to anyone, with nothing that needs to be arranged beforehand.
Lien-based treatment
For patients who qualify, you’re treated now and the cost is settled later from a personal injury settlement.
Whether you qualify, and what if anything is needed at the first visit, is something we go through with you on the phone. Nothing has to be arranged before you get in touch.
We’ll work out which one fits when we speak. It isn’t something you need to sort out before contacting us.
What actually happens when you come in
Nobody explains this, so here it is.
A conversation about the crash.
How you were hit, what direction, whether you were braced, whether you had a seatbelt on, whether the airbags went off. Mechanism matters — it tells us where to look.
A focused examination.
Range of motion, strength, reflexes, sensation. Where it hurts, and what makes it worse.
Imaging, if it’s warranted.
X-rays or MRI depending on what the examination suggests. Not automatically, and not everything at once.
A diagnosis and a plan, the same day.
You’ll leave knowing what Dr. Jimenez thinks is going on, what he wants to do about it, and roughly how long it should take.
How these injuries are treated
Treatment starts with the least invasive thing likely to work and escalates only if it’s needed.
Conservative care first.
Activity modification, physical therapy, anti-inflammatory management. Most accident injuries — including most disc injuries — improve without any procedure.
Injections when they’d help.
Epidural steroid injections, facet blocks, and diagnostic injections. These serve two purposes: they relieve pain, and they help confirm exactly which structure is causing it.
Surgery only when it’s genuinely indicated.
Dr. Jimenez performs minimally invasive and robotic-assisted spine surgery, and he’s spent his career doing complex reconstruction. He is also, for that reason, well placed to tell you when an operation is the wrong answer.
What patients say
5 out of 5
Dr. Jimenez and his staff were invaluable during a very difficult time. After a car accident injury, Dr. Jimenez provided me the best of care and walked me through all my options related to my injuries and healing process. He also provided crucial assistance regarding the processing of my legal case and kept me informed of updates while providing all necessary information to my attorney. In addition to his outstanding services and patient support, the office is designed to make the patients feel comfortable before or after treatment. Coffee and tea are available and Alondra is incredibly friendly at the desk. I highly recommend this practice and team and can confirm they will provide the support needed in every way.
C.C. · 7 months ago
5 out of 5
Dr. Jimenez is a so much experienced doctor. He is always kind to his patients and sincerely takes care of them. I had a shoulder & neck problem after a huge car accident, and they are healed after his treatment. I am glad to have him as my doctor, and strongly recommend visiting him if you got injured.
HJ Im · 4 years ago
5 out of 5
AMAZING experience here!! My back was hurting after a severe car crash and they resolved all my pain! Thank you guys for everything!!!
C.M. · a year ago
4.9 on Google · 56 reviews · Read all reviews on Google
Questions people ask us
I feel mostly okay. Do I really need to see anyone?
The ER said nothing was broken. Why do I still hurt?
How soon after the accident should I be seen?
Do I need a referral?
Do I need an attorney first?
What if I don’t have health insurance?
Will I need surgery?
Do you speak Spanish?
Where would I be seen?
Start with a conversation
You don’t need to have decided anything. Tell us what happened, and within 24 hours you can talk it through with Dr. Jimenez.
A free consultation with Dr. Jimenez, within 24 hours — five to ten minutes on the phone, and longer if it needs to be.
Where we see accident patients
Nearest office: Norcross — 3280 Pointe Pkwy NW, Suite 2550, Norcross, GA 30092 · Directions
Also in Lawrenceville and Dalton . Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, by appointment.