Augustine Chiropractic Wesley Chapel, FL
Car Accident Treatment by Physicians
Rapid assessment & by a chiropractic physician, digital X-ray on site, and a medical team in the same building.
Rapid assessment & by a chiropractic physician, digital X-ray on site, and a medical team in the same building.
Call today and we can often see you the same day, examined and treated in one visit instead of being sent across town for each piece of it. Founded by Dr. Brian Augustine, DC, this practice has handled auto accident injuries in Wesley Chapel since 2004. Call (813) 994-6008 or start with the Auto Injury Intake Form.
Get Checked Right Away
The best day to be examined after a car accident is the day it happened, and the reason has nothing to do with paperwork. It is what your body does after a crash.
Adrenaline and endorphins surge during and after a collision, and they mask pain. Most people walk away from a wreck shaken but feeling basically fine. The neck stiffens 24 to 72 hours later. Sometimes it takes longer than that, and symptoms surface a week or more after the impact once swelling and muscle guarding set in.
That gap is the problem. By the time it hurts, the injury has had days to settle in. Being examined early lets us find what you cannot feel yet, start care before the tissue stiffens, and record your condition while it is fresh.
Call in the morning and we can often see you that afternoon. If today is not possible, come tomorrow, or the first day you are able, but do not let it drift. Call (813) 994-6008 and get checked.
Your Auto Injury Assessment
An auto injury assessment is not the same as a routine visit for a sore back. The mechanism matters: how fast, from what angle, whether you saw it coming, whether your head was turned, where you were sitting, what your body hit. All of it shapes what we look for.
Here is what an assessment involves:
Most of the patients we see, we can help. For the small number we cannot, we say so plainly and refer you to someone who can.
At many chiropractic clinics, that means a referral to an outside office and another chance for the paperwork to fall through. Not here. Augustine Chiropractic has two nurse practitioners on staff, Heather Simmons, MSN, FNP, WCS-C, APRN and Nathaniel Morell-Gonzalez, MSN, APRN, FNP-C.. It happens in our office, usually within days of your first visit and often the same or next day. Patients with real injuries normally have no problem qualifying, but someone has to actually perform and document the exam. We make sure it happens.
Injury Assessment
Most crash injuries live in the soft tissue: the muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, and joints. Nothing shows on the outside, but everything hurts.
Whiplash, known clinically as a cervical acceleration-deceleration injury, happens when the head is forced beyond its normal range of motion, hyperextension followed by hyperflexion. Patients say "my neck seized up" or "I just want to get checked." Left untreated, whiplash can settle into long-term pain and stiffness. Treated early, most cases resolve well.
Rear-end collisions load the spine in ways it was never built for. We see muscle spasm, reduced range of motion, and radicular symptoms, which is the clinical word for pain that travels into an arm or leg because a nerve is irritated. Spinal decompression takes pressure off the discs, the nerves, and the joints.
Not every crash injury announces itself as pain. Headaches, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and brain fog can follow even a minor collision, and they deserve evaluation just as much as a sore neck. A low-speed impact with little visible damage to the car can still transmit significant force to the people inside, because a car that does not crumple absorbs less of the crash energy for you.
In more than two decades of auto injury work, this practice has seen crash findings most clinics rarely encounter, including compression fractures of the spine at the T10 and T11 levels turned up on X-ray after trauma. Those patients are managed for pain and inflammation alongside the specialists who handle the fracture itself. Experience matters most in the cases that are not routine.
Advanced Auto Injury Care
Diagnosis comes first. In Florida, doctors of chiropractic are licensed as chiropractic physicians, which means they are trained and authorized to examine you, take and interpret X-rays, reach a diagnosis, and refer you to a medical specialist when your condition calls for one. That is how a first visit works here, and it is why the assessment is quick: we examine you, take digital X-rays on site with results in minutes and low radiation, and refer out for MRI at whichever imaging center is convenient to you when we need to see deeper. If your exam points to something that needs an orthopedist or a neurologist, we refer you and say so plainly.
Treatment is built from tools we can name:
Shockwave therapy — extracorporeal shockwave therapy, or ESWT — is the one on that list most people have not heard of. A handpiece delivers acoustic pressure waves into the injured tissue, which brings blood flow to the area and prompts the body’s own repair response. After a crash it usually earns its place a few weeks in, when most of you has recovered but one thing has not: a shoulder that still catches, a stretch of the neck or hip that stays tight and tender, scar tissue that formed while everything else healed. It takes a few minutes per area, no needles and no medication, and you go about your day afterward. Coverage for shockwave varies by claim, so ask us how yours will be billed.
Acupuncture is also available here as a cash service. We refer out for massage.
Medical & Chiropractic Care
Most chiropractic offices are exactly that: chiropractic only. After a crash, that means a referral somewhere else every time your recovery needs something a chiropractor cannot provide, and a gap between providers that you have to manage yourself while you are hurt and dealing with an insurance claim.
Augustine Chiropractic is an integrated practice. Dr. Brooke Andrews, a chiropractic physician, handles the chiropractic care. Heather Simmons and Nathaniel Morell-Gonzalez, both nurse practitioners, handle the medical side, in the same office and often on the same day. In practice that means:
Dr. Augustine calls it a one stop shop, and the value shows up in the first week. You are evaluated and treated without waiting on an opening at some other office, every provider treating you is reading the same chart, and nothing falls through the cracks between them. When your case genuinely needs an orthopedist or a neurologist, we refer you out and tell you exactly why.
Injuries We Treat
Most people who come in after a crash have some version of the same three problems: neck pain, back pain, and headaches. Those are the ones we see most, and they respond well when they are caught early.
Less common, but we see them:
Rib and sternum pain from the seat belt. Wrist, hand, and elbow injuries from bracing against the steering wheel. Knee injuries from contact with the dashboard. Jaw pain and TMJ symptoms after an impact. Dizziness, trouble concentrating, and disrupted sleep in the weeks that follow.
Your First Visit, Made Simple
The consultation is free. If an examination is warranted, it is billed like any medical examination, and we would rather tell you that plainly than surprise you.
Bring these with you:
Before your first visit, call your own auto insurance company and ask for a medical claim number. That number is what our front desk needs in order to bill your insurer directly, so you are not chasing paperwork while you are hurt.
If you are represented, we work with your attorney’s office in most cases to coordinate records and billing. Every case is handled individually. You can request an itemized bill at any time, and if you have a question about your own situation, call us at (813) 994-6008 or check with your insurer.
What about the rest? In most cases, nothing comes out of your pocket while you are treating. We bill the insurance, and where an attorney is involved we work directly with your attorney, in most cases, so the balance is addressed when the case resolves rather than while you are trying to heal. Every case is different, so call and ask about yours. You can request an itemized bill at any time.
The consultation is free. The examination is not, and it is billed to the insurance company like any medical exam. We would rather tell you that plainly than surprise you.The consultation is free. If an examination is warranted, it is billed like any medical examination, and we would rather tell you that plainly than surprise you.
Start Your Recovery
Call in the morning and we can often see you that afternoon. The point of a rapid assessment is not speed for its own sake: it is that the sooner we know what is wrong, the sooner treatment starts and the sooner the injury stops getting worse. In most cases treatment begins on that first visit.
Call (813) 994-6008 or complete the Auto Injury Intake Form online.
If your findings call for it, a medical evaluation with one of our nurse practitioners is done here, usually within days.
Bring the documents with you: Your driver’s license, auto insurance card, medical claim number, your attorney’s information if you have one, and any records from an ER or urgent care visit.
The honest answer is: it depends on the severity of the accident. Many patients recover in 6 to 12 weeks. Harder cases take six months, and occasionally a year. Ligaments heal on their own timetable, and rushing them does not work. What we promise is a plan, honest reassessment along the way, and a goal we hold ourselves to:
Getting you back to pre-accident status. Patients tell us the moment they knew they were better was the day they got back to golf, the gym, running, or swimming. That is the standard we treat toward.
OUR team
DC, CCSP, DACNB, DAAPM, founder and owner
DC
MSN, FNP, WCS-C, APRN
MSN, APRN, FNP-C
Patient Stories
“Started coming here a long time ago after an accident, the treatment and care was top notch. They also offer decompression therapy which was a game changer. Now years later I’ve returned for a tune-up since age is less forgiving. I still received great service and genuine care for my health as I did back then.”
Vanessa M
“Extremely helpful in my treatment following a car accident. I don’t live nearby and it’s worth the drive!”
Walter W
“We have been coming to Dr Augustine’s for over 12 yrs. They have helped us for our car accidents, slip and falls and day to day neck and back pains. Best place ever.”
Augustine Chiropractic holds a 4.9-star rating across 260+ patient reviews. You can read them on our Google Business Profile, and you can verify Dr. Augustine's license directly with the Florida Department of Health.
Faq
Yes. Auto accident care has been a core part of this practice for decades, and we accept auto insurance. Call your own insurance company for a medical claim number before your first visit, bring it with you, and our front desk handles the billing from there.
Yes, and ideally today. After a crash, adrenaline can mask injury for hours or days, and many patients first feel it two or three days later. An examination now finds what you cannot feel yet and documents it early, which matters both for your recovery and for your records. If we find nothing, that is a good day.
A medical claim number from your own auto insurance company. Call your insurer, tell them you were in an accident, and ask for the medical claim number. Bring it, along with your photo ID and your insurance card.
It depends on the severity of the accident. Most patients recover in 6 to 12 weeks; more severe injuries can take 6 months to a year. We give you a real timeline after your examination and update it honestly as you progress.
Often within 24 to 72 hours, and sometimes a week or more after the crash. Adrenaline masks pain immediately afterward, and swelling and muscle guarding take time to build. That delay is normal, and it is the reason we would rather examine you before the symptoms arrive than after.
Call us anyway. In most cases we work with your attorney’s office to coordinate records and scheduling so your treatment is not interrupted. Your job is the recovery.