Symptoms after an accident
Headaches after a car accident
If your head has hurt since a collision, the useful thing to know early is that the headache often is not coming from your head.
After a crash, headaches frequently come from the neck. They are felt at the base of the skull, they get worse when you turn or hold a position, and they arrive with a stiff neck rather than on their own. That is a spine problem producing a head symptom, and it is treated as a spine problem.
A phone conversation with Dr. Jimenez within 24 hours, if you want one. No referral needed.
First — these need emergency care, not an appointment
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if you have:
- New or worsening weakness in an arm or leg
- Numbness that is spreading
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- New difficulty walking or keeping your balance
- Severe or worsening headache, confusion, or repeated vomiting
- Chest pain, difficulty breathing, or severe abdominal pain
Why a neck injury makes your head hurt
The rapid back-and-forth motion of a collision stresses the ligaments, muscles and discs of the neck. The upper neck and the base of the skull share nerve supply with the back and side of the head, which is why an injury in one is felt in the other.
A headache arising this way has a name — cervicogenic headache, meaning a headache that originates in the cervical spine. It is worth knowing the word, because searching for headaches after a crash mostly returns migraine and concussion information, and this is neither.
Where this kind of headache is usually felt
None of this is a way to diagnose yourself. It is what to notice, and what is worth describing accurately when somebody asks.
The base of the skull
The most common description after a collision. It often sits where the neck meets the head, on one side more than the other, and it tends to be worse after holding one position — a screen, a drive, a night on the wrong pillow.
Up over the head, or behind an eye
Pain that starts at the back and travels forward, sometimes settling behind an eye or across a temple. That travelling pattern is why these headaches are so often taken for migraines.
With the neck, not separately
A stiff neck and a headache that arrived together, and that get worse and better together, are usually one problem rather than two.
The other two things it could be
A head injury. A headache that followed a blow to the head, particularly with confusion, memory trouble or repeated vomiting, is a different question and is answered by someone else — usually a neurologist. Anything in that group belongs in the emergency guidance at the top of this page rather than in an appointment.
A migraine pattern. Some people had migraines before the collision, and a crash can make an existing pattern worse without being its cause. What matters is whether this headache is like the ones you already had, or a new thing that started afterwards.
These are not mutually exclusive. One collision can produce a neck injury and a concussion at the same time, and it is entirely possible to have a cervicogenic headache on top of migraines you have had for years. Which is why the useful step is being examined rather than deciding between them from a search result.
What kind of doctor to see after a car accident Other symptoms after an accident
When it is worth having looked at
Most headaches after a collision settle. The ones worth an examination rather than more waiting are the ones that have not eased after a week or so, that are getting worse rather than better, that arrive with pain or numbness running into an arm, or that are interrupting sleep.
The reason to be seen is not that a headache is dangerous. It is that a headache coming from the neck is treated by treating the neck, and the sooner what is actually injured is established, the less time is spent treating the wrong thing.
What an examination establishes
Where the pain is provoked from, whether the neck is moving as it should, whether a nerve is involved, and whether the pattern fits a neck origin or points somewhere else. Imaging follows only if the examination raises a question it would answer.
Dr. Jimenez does that examination himself, makes the imaging decisions himself, and treats what is found. Most of the time the answer does not involve an operation.
Questions people ask
Can whiplash cause headaches?
Why did the headache start days after the accident?
How do I know if it is coming from my neck or my head?
Do I need a scan?
Tell us what happened
If your head has hurt since a crash and it is not settling, the quickest useful step is describing it to somebody who looks at necks all day. Within 24 hours you can talk it through by phone with Dr. Jimenez.
No referral needed, and no attorney needed.