Question
I was in a car accident 9/18/13 was hit by a drunk driver at a high rate of speed on the highway.  I went to the hospital that day with neck pain and they told me that I was having muscle spasms.  That went away for a while.  About a week later, I started to have lower back pain that was at about a 6 normally and about 8-9 when active.  I went back to the hospital and they did a CT Scan and told me that nothing was wrong and game me pain meds and sent me home.  I saw my regular doctor and they just kind of blew it off.  I then went to a chiropractor and they said the following:
Lumbar-
*Narrowed Disc spaces L/5 S/1 & L1/L2
*Encroachment of Nueroforamina L5/S1 & L4/L5
*Arthritic Spurring L5,L4,L4, Lumbar Myospasams, Superiority of left Ilium
Thoracic-
*Rotation to the right T1,T2,T3,T4 T11, Rotation to Right L5,L4,L3
*Disc Degeneration T7/T8 & T6/T7
Cervical-
*Rotation to right C2-C7
*Vertebra is listing/leaning to right causing lateral shift to spine C4-C7
*Arthritic Spur Formation T6,T7,T8
*Mild Cervical Myospasms
*Arthritic Spurs C3-C6
*Hypo-lordosis was noted
*Forward head carriage is apparent indicating stress on the posterior C-spine and upper thoracic
*Encroachment of Nueroforamina C6/C7, C5/C6, C4/C5
*Upon extention, anterior longitudtional ligament is stresses, following segments demonstrated posterior glide indicating ALL damage: C3/C4, C4/C5
*PLL has sustained damage: C3/C4
*Vertebra listing/leaning to left causing lateral shift to spine: L4, L3, L2
After this, I went to see a Neurologist and they sent me for and MRI.  I was told that I have Arthritis at the age of 33.  Said it could have been brought on by a fall or trauma, so from the wreck I had.  They had me get the facet injections and that worked for about a month and my pain is now back and worse.  I am not sure what to do as everyone seems to not take it very seriously.  It is affecting my daily routines as I have 2 young children and must be active and walking/sitting is getting harder by the day.  I just want answers and do not seem to be getting any!!

Sincerely,
Mom in Pain

Answer
Hi, Stephanie,

The results indicate that you had a significant degree of neck muscle tension before the wreck (spurring); however the wreck sent you into spasm.

I've written about is, so you can get a good understanding of what happened and what you can do.  Please see the articles at http://somatics.com/whiplash.htm and http://somatics.com/recovery_from_injury.htm.

The words, "Trauma Reflex" applies; it's correctable.  (Injections miss the central issue.)

Feel free to contact me, again.