Common Musculoskeletal Injuries Resulting from Motor Vehicle Collisions

This list of common musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries resulting from a motor vehicle collision (MVC) is not comprehensive. As you can imagine, every patient is different and thus, no two patients will have the same injuries. A comprehensive MSK exam is essential to the success of treatment following a MVC. Many things come into play that can affect how patients will be affected at the time of a collision. Please reference the previous article Risk Factors for a list of variables which may help in understanding how two similar collisions could have such dramatically different outcomes. With that being said, there are some commonly encountered injuries worth discussion.

Common MSK Injuries

  • Concussion (concussion represents one of the most often missed neurological injuries in MVCs)

  • Temperol mandibular joint (TMJ)

  • Cervical sprain

  • Cervical radiculopathy (a radiculopathy is irritation or damage to a nerve at it’s “root”)

  • Thoracic sprain

  • Thoracic radiculopathy

  • Rib sprain

  • Lumbar sprain

  • Lumbar radiculopathy

  • Sacral-iliac sprain

  • Shoulder rotator cuff tear (the majority of rotator cuff tears do not require surgery)

  • Shoulder labral tear (A tear in a piece of fibrocartilage that adds stability to the shoulder joint)

  • Acromial-Clavicular joint (AC joint) sprain

  • Sprained wrist

  • Peripheral nerve damage (median, ulnar, radial, femoral, sciatic, tibeal etc.)

  • Hip rotator cuff tear (just like the rotator cuff of the shoulder, you have a rotator cuff of your hip)

  • Hip labral tear (A tear in a piece of fibrocartilage that adds stability to the hip joint)

  • Torn meniscus (like the rotator cuff, a torn meniscus most often does not require surgery)

  • Torn medial collateral ligament (MCL)

  • Sprained ankle

Often, physicians will use the term sprain/strain when talking about musculoskeletal injuries. Specifically, a strain is a tear within a muscle and a sprain occurs when there is a tear within a joint capsule. Both a strain to muscle and a sprain to a joint can be aided in recovery with proper treatment and rehabilitation.

Brandi Bradshawinjuries, motor vehicle collision, sports medicine, chiropractic