Can Car Accidents Cause Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is one of those diagnoses that is pretty loose.  The name itself doesn’t mean much.  Fibromyalgia translated into English means muscle pain.  So if you have aches and pains all over, your doctor may tell you, “you have fibromyalgia.”

There is a diagnostic criteria that has been developed that says if you have 11 of 18 common tender points, you have fibromyalgia.  The problem is, you can have 11 of those points become tender for a variety of different reasons.  So fibromyalgia may not be the most accurate diagnosis.

This brings me to my point about car accidents and fibromyalgia.  Neck injuries sustained during car accidents can cause pain in the muscles all through the body.  It effects mainly the neck, but you can get pain in the back, arms, head and legs.  The pain can travel from day to day and it can vary in intensity.  If the injuries from the car wreck are not treated properly, they can lead to a lifetime of pain.(1)

Typically these neck injuries are called whiplash.  But that diagnosis is only made during the first few months after the injury.  This is because many doctors have been trained to think that whiplash will heal itself within a few months after the injury.  This idea is totally false according to the vast majority of scientific medical evidence.

So, you may show up at a doctors office years after your injury, telling him/her that you have pain that started after the crash.  Over the years it may have gotten progressively worse.  The doctor will diagnose you as having fibromyalgia, because there is no diagnosis code for chronic whiplash.  Even if there was, he/she wouldn’t look at it that way, because of their training.

In my experience, in successfully treating fibromyalgia, a minimum of 2 out of 3 cases have been whiplashed.  It could be from a car wreck, a fall or even a sports injury.

To find out more about how I treat fibromyalgia log on to: www.stopyourfibronow.com
For more information regarding car accident injury treatment, go to: www.thechiropracticimpactreport.com.

(1) “The Fluctuation in Recovery Following Whiplash Injury”, Injury, Volume 36, Issue 6, June 2005, pages 758-761