Dr. John Raymond Baker, DC has treated people injured in motor vehicle accidents since1989, and during that time, has seen the kind of damage and the kind of disruption of lives which these kinds of accidents can cause.

When you have an accident and go to the ER of some local hospital, they MAY or MAY NOT, take x-rays, may or may NOT do any kind of examination, and you may or may not, get any prescription.

More often than not, if a doctor doesn't see a fracture on an x-ray, or obvious signs of extremely serious neurological damage, he or she may just think you have the "usual" (whatever that is) sprains and strains, and they may assume that if they give you pain killers and anti-inflammatory agents and/or muscle relaxants, things will just work out on their on.

One thing that can happen is that the person in a wreck can sustain what is commonly called a  "whiplash" injury, or hyperextension/hyperflexion injury. This often results in loss of the normal cervical lordotic curve, the curve which acts like the "shocks and springs" of the neck. The neck becomes straight, and the supporting muscles go into spasm, causing a pounding effect on the joints at the bottom of the neck that can lead to destruction of the joints, and development of osteoarthritis.

You don't have to have an accident like the one depicted above, to have serious damages from a motor vehicle accident.

And, immediately after an accident, often a person has adrenalin rushing through their system, may be in shock, or are more worried about their vehicle or their occupants of the vehicle, to pay attention to themselves.

And, it has been shown that, right after a car wreck, you may not feel all the injuries, and aches and pains that you will feel, say a couple of days after the accident.