Serving the mid-Willamette Valley from Corvallis (and soon Albany). Whiplash gets all the attention, but a car crash can hit your back, shoulders, knees, ribs — anywhere your body braced or got loaded by the seatbelt. We treat the full range. Most new patients are seen in 1–3 business days. We bill Oregon PIP directly, document everything your attorney or claims adjuster will need, and get most people back to normal in 6–12 weeks.
Whiplash gets all the press — and yes, the neck takes the biggest hit in most rear-end crashes. But that's not the whole story. Depending on the angle of impact, what you were doing at the moment, and how you braced, a crash can produce:
We treat all of it under the same PIP claim. One clinic, one provider relationship, one set of records.
Where we are: our flagship clinic is in Corvallis (Benton County) at 867 NW 23rd St, with a second location coming soon to Albany (Linn County). We see auto-injury patients from Corvallis, Albany, Philomath, Lebanon, Tangent, Adair Village, Monroe, and the surrounding mid-Willamette Valley. If you're not sure whether we're a fit for where you are, just call — we'll tell you straight.
You walk in, we sit down, and we listen. What happened in the crash. What hurts. What you're worried about. Then we run a focused physical exam — neurological screen, range of motion, the tests that actually tell us something — and we tell you what we found.
If you need imaging, we'll send you for it. If you don't, we won't. If your case is outside our scope, we'll refer you to the right person and tell you exactly why. No mystery, no "come back next week and we'll see."
Then we get to work. Most patients leave the first visit with hands-on treatment already started, two or three home exercises, and a clear sense of the road back. Tools we use depending on what your exam shows:
You're in within 1–3 business days. We do a thorough history and exam, set realistic expectations, and start manual therapy and home exercises. PIP paperwork goes in the same week — we handle it.
2–3 visits per week. Pain typically drops noticeably. You're moving more, sleeping better, and back to most of what your day used to look like.
Visits drop to once a week or less. Exercises get harder on purpose. We re-test what was limited at the start to make sure we're actually getting somewhere — not just feeling better in the chair.
Most uncomplicated cases are recovered by here. If yours isn't, we change the plan, image something we didn't before, or refer to a specialist. We don't keep you coming when it isn't helping.
Here's the only part you actually need to know: if your crash happened in Oregon, your auto insurance has to cover this.
Under state law (ORS 742.524), every auto policy in Oregon includes at least $15,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP). PIP is no-fault — it pays for reasonable and necessary medical care for up to two years after the accident, regardless of who caused the crash. We bill PIP directly. You don't pay us, and you don't submit anything yourself.
If PIP runs out before you're done, we coordinate with your health insurance to keep care going. We don't drop you because the billing got complicated.
Quick notes:
Of all the things a crash can hurt, the neck takes the worst of it most often. "Whiplash" is what happens when your head whips forward and back faster than the muscles, ligaments, and joints in your neck were designed to handle. The medical name — whiplash-associated disorder, or WAD — covers everything from "stiff and sore" to "this is a real injury that needs imaging." Most cases sit somewhere in the middle.
Common symptoms: neck pain, headaches at the base of the skull, jaw or upper-back pain, dizziness, brain fog, trouble sleeping. All of that is normal in the early days. What matters is the trajectory — whether you're trending toward better or stalling out.
Clinicians grade WAD on a 0–IV scale (the Quebec Task Force classification, if you're curious). Grade II — neck pain plus things we can find on exam, like reduced range of motion and tenderness — is the most common, and it's exactly the kind of case that responds well to active care. Other crash injuries — back strains, shoulder strains, soft-tissue sprains elsewhere in the body — get treated alongside it on the same plan.
Our approach follows the OPTIMa Collaboration guidelines — a synthesis of dozens of systematic reviews on traffic injury care. The short version: active care beats passive care. Movement, manual therapy, education, and graded exercise outperform rest, soft collars, and "wait and see."
Want the full citation list for your records or your attorney? Ask. We'll send it.
If your accident happened in Oregon, almost certainly $0 out of pocket. State law (ORS 742.524) requires every auto policy to include at least $15,000 of PIP medical coverage, no-fault, for up to two years after the crash. We bill PIP directly. You don't front anything.
Neither. Oregon is a direct-access state — you can book straight in. If you do have an attorney, great; we'll work with them. If you don't and don't want one, that's fine too. Most of our patients don't.
If you have severe headache, slurred speech, weakness, blacked out, or have severe arm symptoms, go to the ER first. Otherwise, get seen in the next few days. The earlier we start, the lower the chance of pain becoming chronic. Call 541·753·1287 — most new auto injury patients are in within 1–3 business days.
Yes. Crash injuries are famous for feeling fine on day one and getting worse on day three — your body's stress response masks a lot in the first 24–48 hours. Even if you only have mild stiffness or a sore shoulder, a quick exam tells us whether to watch and wait or get started. If you don't need treatment, we'll tell you that too.
Radial shockwave (rESWT) uses rapid pneumatic pressure waves to stimulate healing in stubborn soft-tissue injuries — strains, sprains, tendinopathies. It's well-supported in the research for tendon and ligament injuries, and crash patients often have them: rotator cuff strains from a seatbelt grab, lumbar sprains, knee strains from bracing against the dash. We use it where the exam says it'll help. It's covered under PIP when clinically indicated. <a href='/care/shockwave'>More on the shockwave page</a>.
Not for billing. Your medical bills still go through Oregon PIP — we don't bill the attorney. What we do for them is cooperate fully: send records, narrative reports, exam findings, ICD-10 diagnoses, and prognosis on request, so they have everything they need to advocate for you. Just give us their info at intake.
Most uncomplicated whiplash cases are substantially better in 6–12 weeks with active care. The first 2–3 weeks are the most intensive (2–3 visits per week); from there it tapers. We re-assess every few weeks and don't keep you on the schedule longer than the evidence supports.
Often, no. We use validated rules to decide when imaging is clinically warranted. If you don't need it, we don't order it — that's wasted radiation, time, and money. If you do, we refer.
