Questions from the break room.

The exam can happen any day this week, but sooner is better while the injury is fresh and the picture is clear. Hazelwood and Tesson Ferry are open until 6 Monday through Thursday, which leaves room after a day shift, and Friday morning 9 to 12 is the window people forget. If your day off is Wednesday, fine. If it is two weeks out, do not wait for it.

After a crash, yes. Small pain on day one regularly becomes real pain on day two or three, because soft tissue swells on a delay. An exam either clears you or catches it early. Both outcomes beat waiting to find out which one you are.

A history of the crash, a physical exam of the neck and back, written findings, a diagnosis if the exam supports one, and a treatment plan you can repeat out loud. You leave with a plan on paper, not a vague come-back-later. The getting seen page walks through it.

No. Chest pain, a sudden severe headache, weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, a loss of bowel or bladder control, or a head injury with vomiting or worsening confusion is an emergency room trip right now. The clinic is the step after emergencies are ruled out.

Because all three rooms close from 12 to 2 every day, and it is the thing that burns shift workers who try to drive over on a lunch break. Call on your morning break, get a slot, go when they said.

No. If nothing about the crash scared you, skipping the ER was a normal call. Get examined this week. If days or weeks have already passed, go anyway. A later exam is still a real exam, and an honest timeline is part of the record.

Yes. A rear-end hit pushes your torso forward while your head lags and then snaps, and the low back gets loaded against the seat and belt. That needs a sudden change in speed, not a high one. The bumper tells you how the bumper did. The commute hit page explains the half second.

Tell them to call the nearest room, say auto injury and the date, and take the earliest opening. If you are making the call for them, same script: their name, a number that reaches them, the crash date, where they hurt, and which room is the shorter drive. Then tell them what you told the clinic.

The date of the crash, that you have been examined or have an appointment, and what the written plan says about lifting, driving, or standing. Specifics work. A documented exam is more useful in that conversation than a description of the pain. The back on the floor page covers it.

It might. A concussion does not require a blackout. A hit to the body that snaps the head back and forth can cause one. Headache that will not clear, fog, light sensitivity, or a short fuse since the crash are reasons to say so on the phone. The clinic publishes a concussion rehab lane, and the head took a hit page lists the danger signs that mean the emergency room instead.

The clinic's published lanes are auto injuries, sports injuries, and TBI and concussion rehab after acute injury. If your problem is one of those, you are in the right lane. If it is something else, ask on the phone and let them tell you.

No. Nothing here is legal advice, and the clinic is a chiropractic injury clinic, not a law office. You do not need to have decided anything about a claim before you get examined. If a claim is ever part of your story, the dated record from the first exam is what everyone will ask for, and it gets created because a clinician examined you, not because of anything on this page. If you already have an attorney, bring their contact so records can be sent where they need to go.

Joseph L. Hollingsworth, DC, a chiropractor. The clinic's line is putting the CARE back in healthcare. Three rooms: South County on Tesson Ferry, North County in Hazelwood, and Lake St. Louis in O'Fallon. Full details at moinjuryclinic.com.

Missouri Injury Clinic. This desk is compensated for featuring the clinic, and it says so on every page. The about page states the relationship plainly and explains where the facts come from.