Shoulder Hurt After a Car Accident

It’s very common for shoulder and arm pain to develop if you’ve been in an automobile accident. The impact from the collision, the locking of the seatbelt as the force propels you forward, and your upper body hitting the steering wheel can do extensive damage to your neck, shoulder, and upper body regions.

Pain is the first sensation you’ll feel as the impact damages the soft tissues. There could be other injuries in your shoulder and arm, especially since muscles can be stretched to abnormal lengths, resulting in tendons and ligament tearing. If the impact is severe, it could result in broken bones and fractures.

Pain medications can control pain, but surgery may be required to repair the damage for extensive shoulder and arm injuries. Physical therapy may also be prescribed to prevent any range of motion limitations and atrophy of muscles.

Another common injury sustained in car accidents is neck and shoulder pain. These injuries can result from a whiplash injury where the head accelerates and decelerates abruptly in response to the sudden collision. When the head whips back from the impact, it could compress the neck structures such as the nerves, nerve roots, ligaments, tendons, and intervertebral discs.

If these structures are injured, it could lead to a herniated disc, pinched nerves, neck muscle strain, tendon and ligament tears, and even cervical bone fracture. Symptoms include localized pain in the neck, radiating pain to the shoulder and fingertips, limitation in range of motion, muscle weakness and numbness, and tingling sensations.

You should not ignore these symptoms. Taking pain and anti-inflammatory medications may be able to help control pain and swelling. If left untreated, your injuries could result in improper healing of the structures that will worsen your injuries.

In addition to causing the symptoms mentioned above, a whiplash injury can also cause shoulder blade pain. The injury doesn’t just affect the neck and shoulder regions, but it could also affect the upper back as well. There may be facet joint fractures, herniation of the cervical and upper thoracic intervertebral discs, and affectation of nerves and nerve roots.

If the nerve and nerve roots themselves are damaged, they could cause referred pain radiating down the neck to the upper back, from the neck down to the fingertips, or even headache-like shooting pain. The type and location of the pain and associated symptoms depend on the nerves affected and the areas they supply.

Untreated shoulder blade pain could lead to a restricted range of motion, muscle spasms and stiffness, and chronic pain.

Four muscles make up the rotator cuff. It comprises the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles, as well as the teres minor and subscapularis muscles. These muscles work together to provide stability to the shoulder socket as well as to facilitate arm movements.

There are several ways to injure this group of muscles – repetitive and forceful movements; irritation and inflammation of the tendons, ligaments, and bursa; and direct blows to the rotator cuff such as accidents.

The collision’s impact could cause sudden traumatic and destructive injuries to the rotator cuff muscles, tendon and ligament tears, and compression of the bursa. All of these will result in pain, loss of shoulder motion, and development of bone spurs. Bone spurs usually develop from bone fractures that did not heal properly, joint injury, and unstable joints.