It was a Saturday afternoon, the kind of day you don’t think twice about. She had just turned off Bertrand onto Congress, heading toward that chicken place that only serves tenders—the one where the drive-thru line always snakes into the street.
Traffic was backed up, as usual. A truck ahead of her was waiting for a spot to open up in the lot. She stopped behind him. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Until it was.
The driver behind her wasn’t paying attention. He hit her from behind—hard. A full-size SUV slammed into the back of her midsize car at around 35 miles per hour. He tried to hit the brakes, but it was too late.
The impact whipped her body forward while also snapping her head back. Her car was crushed, and just like that, everything changed.
She didn’t go to the ER. She didn’t feel like she needed to. She was sore, shaken up, and unsure of what to do. Her car wasn’t drivable, so she had to call someone to come get her. She went home and tried to rest.
At first, she thought she was lucky. No broken bones, no cuts or bruises—just soreness. But by Monday, things had started to shift. Her neck and lower back tightened up. The headaches began. She had shooting pain and tingling in her left arm, and her muscles felt like they were constantly locked in place.
By Wednesday, she knew this wasn’t something she could ignore.
When She Walked Into Our Office
She came in after work. She was tired, hurting, and frustrated. Like a lot of people in car accidents, she had no idea how much damage had been done because it didn’t all show up right away. That’s the tricky thing about crashes. The pain doesn’t always hit immediately. Sometimes it waits until your adrenaline wears off and your body starts reacting to the trauma.
Her exam told us a lot. Her range of motion in both her neck and lower back was reduced. There were muscle spasms and trigger points consistent with whiplash. But there was more going on than just soreness.
When we performed a test that involved gently extending, turning, and compressing her neck, she had sharp pain traveling into her left arm. That pain followed a specific pattern that lined up with the C7 dermatome, which is a nerve pathway that runs from the neck down the arm and into the hand. Each spinal nerve has it’s own unique dermatome and it sends signals to parts of your skin and muscles. When there’s pressure on a specific nerve, the symptoms usually follow that dermatomal pattern
We also noticed weakness in her triceps, the muscles on the back of the upper arm, which are powered by that same nerve. That was a red flag.
We took X-rays and found something that helped explain her symptoms. She had mild retrolisthesis—a backward shift of one vertebra over another—in both her cervical and lumbar spine. This kind of finding suggests damage to the ligaments that normally keep the spine stable. In her case, this instability showed up when she extended her neck. It was one more sign that the crash had done more than just bruise a few muscles.
Her Care Plan
We started with light adjustments, spinal decompression, and muscle stimulation. The goal was to reduce pressure, calm the nervous system, and help her body begin the healing process without pushing too hard.
She improved slowly but steadily. As her pain levels decreased and her muscles began to relax, we added stretching and light exercises to support her recovery.
The arm pain didn’t fully go away, though. The weakness had improved, and she didn’t have any muscle wasting, which was a good sign. But that radiating nerve pain was still there.
At the six-week mark, I ordered an MRI. Given her lingering symptoms, her exam findings, and the instability we saw on X-rays, I wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with.
The MRI confirmed what we suspected. She had a disc herniation in her cervical spine pressing on the C7 nerve root.
This wasn’t the kind of injury that needed surgery right away, but it did need to be taken seriously. We continued conservative care, keeping a close eye on her progress and adjusting the plan as needed.
The Long Road Back
Recovery took time. We treated her consistently for about six months. During that time, her pain slowly faded, the tingling decreased, and she regained full function in her arm. Her energy returned. The headaches stopped. Her mood even improved, which tends to happen when your body isn’t in constant fight-or-flight mode.
Toward the end of her care, she said something that stuck with me:
“I almost didn’t come in because I thought I was fine. I thought it was just soreness. But it was so much more than that. I had no idea a crash like that could mess with your whole body this way.”
She’s doing great now. Every once in a while, she’ll have a minor flare-up, but she knows what to do. And she doesn’t take chances with her health anymore. That chicken place is still packed, but now when she drives past it, she’s not thinking about the crash. She’s thinking about dinner.
Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
If you’ve been in a car accident, even a minor one, it’s worth getting checked out. Not every injury shows up right away, and not every injury causes immediate pain. But when it does show up—days or weeks later—it can affect everything from your sleep to your mood to how well your body functions.
At Cavanaugh Chiropractic, we help people recover from car crashes every single day. We take the time to listen, evaluate, and treat injuries with the care they deserve.
If you’ve been rear-ended and you’re starting to feel things tighten up, don’t ignore it.
Call us today at 337-984-5852 or if you’d like someone to call you to schedule your appointment fill out the brief form on this page.
Your health shouldn’t take a backseat.
