Headache After A Car Accident: Common Causes (Apr 2025)

Never Ignore Headaches After a Car Accident

People tend to think of headaches as minor issues that will resolve themselves. In fact, headaches are often warnings that there’s a more serious problem. They might be the first and only sign that you have sustained a traumatic brain injury until it progresses, or they could point to migraines that may impact your overall health if left untreated.

To avoid sustaining long-term issues, getting fast treatment is essential. But delaying medical care could also affect your case. If you wait too long, insurance companies could claim you’re not really suffering and try to deny you compensation. The moment you realize you have a headache after being in a collision, see a medical professional.

Importance of Immediate Medical Care

Seeking immediate medical care for a headache after a car accident is essential, even if the pain seems mild. Headaches can be a warning sign of underlying injuries, such as a concussion or whiplash, that may not be visible right away. Delaying treatment can lead to complications, especially if the headache is caused by a brain injury or neck strain that worsens over time.

Even if you didn’t hit your head, the force of the accident can still result in serious issues. Medical professionals can help diagnose any hidden injuries that might only become apparent with proper imaging, such as an MRI or CT scan. Acting quickly is often the best way to ensure minor symptoms don’t turn into long-term health problems.

Types of Headaches After a Car Accident

People involved in car accidents can suffer from many kinds of headaches. While you should always consult a doctor, it can be helpful to understand some of the main types of headaches that appear after a crash:

Concussion Headaches

Concussion injuries happen when your brain suddenly moves inside your skull. They often cause headaches, although the severity and duration of the headache depend on how serious your concussion is.

Some concussion symptoms take months to improve. You can increase your chances of a quick recovery by seeking medical attention right away and following your doctor’s instructions.

Whiplash Headaches

Whiplash happens when your head and neck “snap” forward during rapid deceleration (like you might experience in a head-on car collision). It commonly causes headaches that can feel similar to a migraine or tension headache. Whiplash headaches commonly include these features:

• Pain on one side of your head
• Pain that starts in your neck
• Pain around your eyes
• Problems with vision

When symptoms are severe enough, injured people might consider filing whiplash claims to recover compensation for medical bills and other losses.

Headaches From Skull Fractures

You might think that you’d immediately know when you’ve fractured your skull. However, after an accident, a skull fracture might just feel like a bad headache. Some skull fractures cause clear fluid to drain from your nose or ears, but many don’t.

Depending on the severity of the fracture, you might experience a headache, bruising or bleeding. Other symptoms can include drowsiness, balance problems, nausea and vomiting.

Headaches From Muscle Strains/Tension

If you’ve ever suffered from a tension headache, you may recognize the same symptoms after a car accident. Even if you don’t have a serious injury, sudden muscle strains or spasms in your scalp and neck can cause headaches.

These headaches can be painful, but they subside more quickly than most other car accident injuries.

Headaches Due to Nerve Damage

Trauma to the head and neck can sometimes cause occipital neuralgia, which is irritation to the nerves in your scalp. Occipital neuralgia often comes with aching, throbbing or even burning pain, and it’s easy to mistake for a migraine.

When you’re involved in a car accident, whiplash or other neck injuries can pinch, damage or irritate the roots of the occipital nerves. These are located in your neck.

Can Headaches Start Months After a Car Accident?

It might seem like headaches caused by car or motorcycle accidents would appear immediately after, but not all of them do. Most people who experience post-traumatic headaches get them within a week, but it’s possible for these headaches to develop within one year of the initial impact.

Headache Causes

Experiencing a headache after a car crash doesn’t always mean head trauma. Neck Injuries and psychological stress can cause similar symptoms. Headaches can involve many types of head pain, including neck and back pain, often caused by rear-end collisions. Pain is your body telling your brain that it has suffered tissue damage. For example, you might feel pain on the surface of your head due to an impact.

Crash victims can also experience a headache without head trauma. When you experience pain from a headache after a car accident but didn’t hit your head, it might occur behind the eyes, inside the skull or in the jaw or head muscles. These headaches indicate an injury other than head trauma. The possible causes of a headache can include the following common car accident injuries:

Head Injury

Head trauma can cause a headache. For example, an impact on the head can cause a contusion or scalp hematoma. A contusion, or bruise, usually happens when an impact damages muscle tissue. Tiny blood vessels rupture, causing pain, discoloration and swelling.

A scalp hematoma can develop when you bang your scalp or forehead. Since you have little to no muscle in these areas of your head, the blood vessels under the skin rupture. The resulting blood clot creates a bump or knot on your head. The damaged soft tissues may feel tender and produce head pain.

More serious forms of head trauma can also cause headaches. A skull fracture, facial fracture, or broken nose can cause bruising and pain near the injury.

Brain Injury

A brain injury can cause a headache and nausea after a car accident. During a car collision, your brain can shift inside your skull. A mild brain injury, called a concussion, happens when the brain suffers damage from the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid and meninges as it moves. A concussion causes symptoms such as:

• Headache
• Unconsciousness
• Confusion
• Memory loss
• Clumsiness
• Drowsiness
• Slurred speech
• Blurry vision
• Nausea and vomiting

A cerebral contusion happens when the brain moves so violently that it hits the inside of the skull. The resulting bruise on the surface of the brain can cause permanent brain damage. Symptoms of a cerebral contusion can include a loss of consciousness, headache, and seizures. This injury can also cause the victim to slip into a coma or even die.

Neck Injury

Neck injuries can cause pain that radiates from the neck into the head. These injuries can often cause a headache after rear-ended crashes. Two common neck injuries from car crashes include whiplash and disc injuries.

When your car gets hit, your head whips back and forth or side to side, depending on the type of collision. Whiplash results from the stress your neck experiences from the motion of your head.

These injuries damage the soft tissues in your neck. Since the muscles and tendons run up to your skull, the pain from whiplash can radiate into your head, producing a headache.

Collagen discs cushion the vertebrae. As your head whips back and forth, your discs get compressed. They can deform by herniating or bulging. A disc injury can cause neck and head pain in two ways. First, the deformed disc destabilizes your neck, straining the neck muscles connected to the skull. Second, an injured disc can press on nerves in your neck, causing pain that radiates into your head, shoulders and arms.

Eye Injury

Eye injuries can cause pain in your head. An injury to the globe or orbital, the medical terms for the eyeball and eye socket, can produce a headache after a car accident. For example, hitting your face on the steering wheel or dashboard can fracture the orbital, bruise the eye and face muscles or even rupture the globe. All of these injuries can produce a headache.

Eye injuries can also cause a headache indirectly. You might experience light sensitivity after injuring your eye in a crash. This sensitivity can produce a headache when bright lights, including sunlight, hit your eyes.

Stress

Stress and anxiety after a car accident can significantly contribute to post-crash headaches. When your body experiences a traumatic event, it releases cortisol, a hormone that raises heart rate and blood pressure. This physical response can often lead to tension headaches, especially in the days following the accident. Even if you didn’t suffer a head injury, the stress from the crash itself can cause ongoing discomfort.

Managing stress after a car crash is crucial for recovery. Simple methods like deep breathing exercises, meditation, and consulting with a mental health professional can help reduce cortisol levels and minimize headache frequency. Addressing mental well-being along with physical injuries often leads to better outcomes for crash victims dealing with lingering headaches.

Consequences of Injuries That Cause Headaches

Headaches can affect you in many ways, including the following:

• Inability to concentrate
• Sensitivity to loud noises and bright lights
• Depression and anxiety
• Confusion
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Tinnitus
• Blurry vision

Chronic headaches might affect your ability to work. As a result, you may need to change jobs, reduce your hours or stop working. You might also be unable to perform tasks around the home like cooking, cleaning, and yard maintenance. Following seat belt and car seat laws can help reduce the risk of head and neck injuries in a crash, particularly for children who are more vulnerable to impact forces.

Potential Long-Term Effects of Post-Accident Headaches

A persistent headache after a car crash can affect more than just your comfort—it can impact your quality of life and ability to work. Many individuals dealing with chronic post-accident headaches find it difficult to focus, experience constant fatigue, and may even face limitations in daily activities. This can lead to difficulties maintaining employment or participating in family activities.

When left untreated, these symptoms can worsen, sometimes developing into long-term conditions like chronic migraines or post-traumatic headaches. This is why seeking prompt and thorough medical evaluation after a car crash is crucial, even if you initially believe your injuries are minor. Addressing symptoms early can reduce the risk of complications and help prevent the life-altering effects of untreated crash injuries.

What to Do When You Suffer a Headache After a Car Accident

When you experience a headache after a car accident, you should consider seeking medical care. A doctor can diagnose the cause of your pain and determine whether your headache signifies any life-threatening injuries.

For example, a headache can result from brain injuries like cerebral contusions, diffuse axonal injuries (DAIs, and subdural hematomas. Without emergency surgery, these injuries will lead to coma and death.

A doctor can also explain how to treat a headache from car accident trauma. If you suffer head trauma, the doctor may recommend rest, ice packs, and anti-inflammatory medication. Conversely, if your headache and nausea after a car accident resulted from a concussion, doctors may not prescribe any treatment and may just monitor your condition.

Legal Rights After Experiencing a Headache From a Car Accident

Injuries that auto accidents cause can be physically and emotionally devastating. If the injuries you suffered were a result of negligence, you may be entitled to file a claim against the liable parties.

Some states have fault-based laws when it comes to accidents, meaning that you must demonstrate the other party owed you a duty of care that they failed to uphold. No-fault states, in contrast, allow you to file a claim against your own personal injury protection (PIP) insurance to cover medical expenses, lost wages and other losses.

However, even in no-fault states, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit against the other party if your injuries are considered to be serious. For example, if the headache you’re experiencing is just one symptom of a brain injury, you could pursue a suit.

Learn More From a Free Case Review

Headaches are common after car accidents. Suffering a headache is not necessarily a sign of disaster. But you should take all car crash injury symptoms seriously, including headaches. In some cases, a headache can accompany a life-threatening brain injury or permanent brain damage.

ConsumerShield supports accident victims with education, guidance and resources. We offer free consultations to review your accident and the resulting injuries. We will help you connect with experienced accident lawyers so you can pursue fair compensation for your car crash injuries. Contact us to learn how we can help you.