I have a Headache – Was it Caused by my Accident?

You are in a car accident.  Your head moves forward real fast and then backward real fast, but it does not hit anything.  You are not knocked unconscious, but you feel ok.  This can happen in a motorcycle accident, a highway accident, and accident with a semi tractor trailer.  These kinds of traffic accidents happen all the time.  You may have a back injury, or a spinal cord injury or other kind of injury.  You go to the hospital and they check your head, but find nothing wrong.  After a couple weeks your other injuries are starting to get better.  Now, though, you are starting to have headaches.  You have had headaches in the past, but these are a little different.  They come on frequently and they ruin your day.  You may have nausea and vomiting.  You may see lights before the head ache hits.  Are these headaches caused by the road accident or car wreck with the drunk driver?  The answer is they may be.

First, the pain you feel from these headaches is not like pain from the brain.  The pain is most likely from irritation of the lining of the brain within the skull. There are many reasons why you might have a headache after a car wreck, even though you were not knocked unconscious.  Headaches caused by a truck accident, or any other type of trauma, are generally caused secondary headaches.  That is the headache is secondary or caused by an event such as a collision.  Therefore, it is very important that if you develop headaches after an accident, you need to go see your doctor and let the doctor know what is going on.  This will allow the doctor to properly observe your condition and prescribe the best treatment.  Treatment can range from medications and rest, to chiropractic treatment, to other remedies such as biofeedback and acupuncture.