Conditions · Carrollwood · Tampa Bay
Whiplash After a Car Accident in Tampa
Florida's PIP law requires that your care begin within 14 days of the accident. An examination inside that window puts the crash and the findings in your record.
Whiplash is a neck injury from the head being thrown rapidly backward and forward. A rear-end collision is the most common cause. Symptoms often begin in the days that follow rather than at the scene. You see Dr. Bobby Koser, DC, chiropractic physician, at every visit. He examines your neck, writes down what he finds, and explains it before you leave.
Whiplash Overview
What whiplash is
Whiplash is an injury to the neck caused by the head being thrown rapidly backward and forward. A rear-end collision is the most common cause. It also happens in side impacts, in falls, and in contact sports.
What people usually notice:
- Neck pain and stiffness since the crash
- Headache from the base of the skull
- Pain across the shoulders and upper back
- Cannot turn my head to check a blind spot
- Dizziness
- Tingling or numbness into an arm
- It started days later, not at the scene
Your neck is seven small bones stacked on each other, cushioned by discs and held together by ligaments and muscles, with the spinal cord and the nerve roots for both arms running through. In a collision the seat drives your body forward while your head lags behind, and then your head travels the other way. The joints, discs, ligaments, and muscles of the neck take that movement.
People ask whether a collision that barely marked a bumper can injure a neck. That question gets answered by examining the neck, which is why the examination comes before any treatment here.
Your records may use other names for the same event. Cervical sprain or strain, cervical acceleration-deceleration injury, and whiplash-associated disorder all describe it, and cervical means the neck.
Why symptoms start after the crash, not at it
Feeling all right at the scene is common, and it does not mean your neck came through the collision uninjured. Symptoms after a car accident often begin in the days that follow rather than at the scene.
Two things drive that delay. Stress hormones can blunt pain in the first hours after a crash, which is why people walk away from collisions and notice nothing at the time. And inflammation in strained tissue builds after the fact, so the pain and the stiffness can arrive later than the event that caused them.
This matters beyond how your week goes. An examination inside the 14 days puts the date and the findings into your record, and your record is what any later question about the crash gets answered from.
We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice. What we do is examine you and write down what we find.
Florida law gives you 14 days from the crash to begin care and keep your no-fault medical benefits. If that window is open, call us at 844-51-SPINE (844-517-7463) and we will get you examined.
What people notice after a whiplash injury
Whiplash does not show up the same way in every person. These are the complaints we hear most after a collision.
- Neck pain and stiffness. It can reach the point where turning your head to check a blind spot is a problem.
- Headache. The pattern people describe starts at the base of the skull and works forward toward the temple or behind the eye.
- Shoulder and upper back pain. The upper back takes part of the same movement, and pain lands between or under the shoulder blades.
- Reduced range of motion. Your neck does not go as far in one direction, or in several, as it did before the crash.
- Dizziness. A sense that your balance is off, or that the room moves when you turn your head.
- Symptoms into an arm. Pain, tingling, or numbness traveling from the neck into a shoulder, an arm, or the fingers.
Symptoms traveling into an arm change what the examination has to cover. That pattern can mean a nerve root in the neck is irritated or compressed, and it is checked with reflex, strength, and sensation testing. Our neck pain page covers that in more detail, and headaches that start in the neck are covered on our headaches page.
How the whiplash examination works
Your first visit covers your Florida PIP paperwork, the examination, documentation of what the crash affected, and your care plan. Plan for about 90 minutes.
- The history of the crash. Where you were sitting, what hit you and from which direction, whether you saw it coming, what you noticed at the scene, and what has changed since. Your account of the collision goes into the record in your words.
- Range of motion. How far your neck goes in each direction, where the movement stops, and what stops it. It is written down so the next visit can be compared against this one.
- Where it is tender. Which segments of the neck and which muscles reproduce the pain you actually came in with, checked level by level rather than as one sore area.
- A neurological screen when symptoms travel. If pain, tingling, or numbness is going into an arm, Dr. Koser tests reflexes, strength, and sensation, and adds positional tests that either bring your symptoms on or ease them.
- A live ultrasound look. We may choose to look at the muscles and soft tissue where it hurts, and you watch the screen while we explain what is on it. This is screening and visual confirmation.
- Findings and what comes next. What the examination showed, and what it means for your plan. When the findings call for imaging or for a medical provider, Dr. Koser says so the same day and helps you get there.
Every visit after the first one is documented the same way: what was found, what was done, and what changed since the visit before. That record is the backbone of a PIP claim, and it is the same record your attorney or your insurer will ask for.
What treatment looks like
What you are offered depends on what the examination found. These are the services that may be recommended to you. Your plan comes from your findings.
| Option | What it addresses |
|---|---|
| Chiropractic adjustment | Segments of the neck and the upper back that have stopped moving the way they should since the collision. |
| Dry needling | Trigger points and myofascial pain in the muscles of the neck, the upper back, and the base of the skull. Dr. Koser is certified in dry needling by the Florida Department of Health. |
| Ultrasound-guided dry needling | Live ultrasound while the needle goes in, so its position at the spot being treated can be seen and confirmed. You watch the screen. It is a way of performing the procedure more precisely, not a different treatment. Seeing the needle does not change what the needling does. |
| Hands-on soft tissue and joint work | Restricted motion and muscle tension where a thrust technique is not the right choice for you, or where you would rather we did not use one. |
| Range and loading work you do at home | Motion where the examination found it limited, and loading for the neck and shoulder-blade muscles. |
| Referral and co-management | Findings that belong with a physician, with an imaging study, or with another specialty. Your documentation goes with you. |
The examination is also how we check that you are in the right office. Whiplash is an injury to the joints, discs, ligaments, and muscles of the neck, and that is chiropractic work. Not every finding after a collision is. Some need medical care first. If your history or your examination points that way, you hear it and we help you get to the right provider. Either way, you leave with our findings the same day.
What the Research Shows
The treatments listed above have been studied. Here is what the research found, cited in full so you can check it yourself.
On chiropractic care. A Cochrane review found that a course of neck manipulation works about as well as gentle mobilization for neck pain, and that manipulation of the upper back can improve neck pain and function in the short term.1 Cochrane reviews pool the results of many trials instead of reporting one. That upper-back finding earns its place here, because the upper back takes part of the movement in a collision and it is part of the examination in this office.
On dry needling. A review of 20 clinical trials found that dry needling of trigger points relieved neck and shoulder pain in the short and medium term.2 A trigger point is a tender spot in a muscle that reproduces your pain when it is pressed. The review did not find that needling beats every other treatment. Where a trigger point reproduces your pain on examination, it is a target worth treating.
On strengthening. A Cochrane review found that strengthening exercises for the neck and shoulder-blade muscles can reduce lasting neck pain and improve function.1 The same review found that stretching alone showed no benefit, which is worth reading twice if the plan you were handed is a stretching sheet.
None of this predicts what will happen for you. It is the reason these treatments are offered here.
1. Gross A, Langevin P, Burnie SJ, et al. Manipulation and mobilisation for neck pain contrasted against an inactive control or another active treatment. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;(9):CD004249. PubMed
2. Liu L, Huang QM, Liu QG, et al. Effectiveness of dry needling for myofascial trigger points associated with neck and shoulder pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2015;96(5):944–955. PubMed
Hurt in a crash? Find out what is causing your pain and start treatment.
Book Your Auto Accident VisitCall 844-51-SPINEAlready started accident care with us? Book your follow-up accident visit.
How the exam sorts crash symptoms we treat from the ones that need a physician
Get emergency care first if any of this describes you. Call 911 or go to the emergency department before you call us.
- You lost consciousness, or you are confused, or part of your memory of the crash is missing
- A headache that keeps getting worse, repeated vomiting, or new trouble speaking or swallowing
- Weakness or numbness affecting both arms or both legs, symptoms that keep getting worse, clumsiness in the hands, or trouble walking
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Severe neck pain with tenderness right down the midline of the neck, especially after a high-force crash or a fall
- Chest pain, shortness of breath, or abdominal pain, especially with bruising where the seat belt sat
- Vision changes, or dizziness that is not settling
This is a page, not an examination, and no list on a website can tell you which one you are. If you are unsure, be seen by a physician first.
Then bring your discharge paperwork here. An emergency room visit inside the 14-day window can satisfy Florida's initial-treatment requirement, and those records become part of your file. The chiropractic examination then documents what an emergency visit is not set up to document: which joints and muscles the crash affected, and how your neck moves now.
Florida's 14-day window, and which visit to book
Florida's PIP law requires that your care begin within 14 days of the accident. That is a condition the statute places on your no-fault medical benefits, not a grace period you can use at your convenience. Miss the window, and your insurer can deny the claim regardless of how the accident affected you.
Book the Auto Accident Injury Visit. It has its own paperwork and its own examination, and it is the visit that opens your Florida PIP file. The Pain Source Exam is our self-pay new-patient visit, so it is not the one to book after a crash. Already a patient here? Book this visit rather than your usual one. An accident needs its own examination and its own records.
Accident care is billed to your auto insurance under Florida PIP rather than at our self-pay rates, and it is billed on our standard fee schedule. PIP pays 80 percent of covered charges after any deductible, and the remaining 20 percent is yours or your health plan's. $2,500 is available unless a qualifying medical provider determines you had an emergency medical condition, which can raise it to the $10,000 policy limit. That determination is made only by a physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse. We verify your coverage before your care plan begins. Our Florida PIP page walks through the numbers with the statute linked, and our auto accident page covers how that first visit runs.
Already have an attorney? Tell us and we will send your documentation to their office on their timeline. Do not have one? We open your PIP paperwork and treat you the same way. A lawyer is not a requirement to be seen here.
More than 14 days out from your accident? Call us. What applies depends on your situation, and we can talk through how to get you treated.
Common questions about whiplash
What is whiplash?
Whiplash is an injury to the neck caused by the head being thrown rapidly backward and forward. A rear-end collision is the most common cause, and it also happens in side impacts, in falls, and in contact sports. The movement loads the joints, discs, ligaments, and muscles of the neck. Your records may call it a cervical sprain or strain, a cervical acceleration-deceleration injury, or a whiplash-associated disorder, and cervical means the neck. Those names describe the same event.
How soon after a car accident do whiplash symptoms start?
They often begin in the days that follow rather than at the scene. Stress hormones can blunt pain in the first hours after a crash, and inflammation in strained tissue builds after the fact, so neck pain, stiffness, and headache can arrive later than the collision that caused them. Feeling all right when you spoke to the officer does not mean your neck was not injured. Florida's PIP law requires that your care begin within 14 days of the accident, so an early examination puts the date and the findings in your record whatever your symptoms are doing on the day you come in.
Can a chiropractor treat whiplash after a car accident?
Yes. Whiplash is an injury to the joints, discs, ligaments, and muscles of the neck, which is squarely inside what a chiropractic physician examines and treats. At HealthSpine in Carrollwood, Tampa, Dr. Bobby Koser, DC examines first: how far the neck moves in each direction, where the tenderness sits, what reproduces the pain you came in with, and a reflex, strength and sensation screen when symptoms travel into an arm. He treats what the examination found with an adjustment, dry needling for trigger points and myofascial pain, hands-on work, or a combination, and he refers out findings that belong with a physician.
How long does whiplash last?
There is no single answer, and nobody can give you a timeline from a description over the phone. What happens next depends on what the examination finds: which segments of the neck have lost motion, which muscles are involved, whether symptoms are traveling into an arm, and what else the collision affected. That is why the examination comes before treatment here, and why the findings are written down at every visit, so what changes is on the record rather than in memory.
Do I need an X-ray or an MRI after whiplash?
Not as a starting point for every patient. Imaging earns its place when something in your history or your examination calls for it, such as arm symptoms that are progressing, a high-force collision, tenderness right down the midline of the neck, or pain that is not behaving the way a mechanical problem behaves. Dr. Koser will refer you for imaging when that is the case, and the report becomes part of your file.
Which visit should I book after a car accident?
Book the Auto Accident Injury Visit. It has its own paperwork and its own examination, and it is the visit that opens your Florida PIP file. It covers the PIP paperwork your insurer requires, a complete examination, documentation of your injuries in your chart, and your care plan, so plan for about 90 minutes. The Pain Source Exam is our self-pay new-patient visit, so it is not the one to book after a crash.
My symptoms started days after the crash. What does that mean for my record?
We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice, so questions about your case belong with your attorney. What we can tell you is how the medical record works. Symptoms that begin in the days after a collision are common: stress hormones can blunt pain at first, and inflammation in strained tissue builds after the fact. What your file shows is when you were examined and what was found, so getting examined inside Florida's 14-day window puts that in writing. If you have an attorney, tell us and we will send your documentation to their office.
What does whiplash care cost with Florida PIP?
Accident care is billed to your auto insurance under Florida PIP rather than at our self-pay rates, and it is billed on our standard fee schedule. PIP pays 80 percent of covered charges after any deductible, and the remaining 20 percent is yours or your health plan's. $2,500 is available unless a qualifying medical provider determines you had an emergency medical condition, which can raise it to the $10,000 policy limit. That determination is made only by a physician, dentist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse. We verify your coverage before your care plan begins.
Too far from Tampa to come in?
Florida’s 14-day clock runs whether or not you can reach Carrollwood. You can start with a video visit from anywhere in Florida, and Dr. Koser takes your history, screens you, orders imaging near you and refers you locally.
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This page is general health information and is not medical advice for any individual. The studies summarized describe groups, not any one person’s outcome, and whether a finding explains your symptoms can only be determined by examination. Talk to Dr. Bobby Koser, DC, about your own situation, and seek emergency care immediately for the warning signs described on this page.
Call us. We'll take it from there.
Florida PIP gives you 14 days. An examination puts the crash and the findings in your record.
or call 844-51-SPINE (844-517-7463)