The rooms on the wire: pick the one you can drive to this week.

Three rooms, one chiropractor, one rule: pick the room you can drive to this week. Tesson Ferry is the near call for most of West County, reached by 270 south. O'Fallon over the Boone Bridge is an equal drive for the Chesterfield and Wildwood end. Hazelwood covers anyone already north on 270. All three close from 12 to 2 every day, so the call goes out in the morning or after two.

How to choose

Do not choose by which room sounds closest on a map. Choose by which drive you can actually make in the next few days with a stiff neck, between nine and twelve or two and six. From Des Peres, Manchester, and Ballwin, that is almost always Tesson Ferry via 270 south. From Ellisville and Wildwood it can go either way, and from Chesterfield the O'Fallon room is often the easier run up 40 and over the bridge. If turning your head is genuinely limited, someone else drives; the sending someone file is for them.

Note the O'Fallon room's schedule: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 9 to 6, with Wednesday and Friday by appointment. If Wednesday is the only day you can get there, call first and ask rather than driving out.

What every room is

Missouri Injury Clinic, Joseph L. Hollingsworth, DC. The clinic publishes three lanes: auto injuries (diagnosis and a treatment plan after a crash), TBI and concussion rehabilitative therapy after acute injury, and sports injuries. The tagline is putting the CARE back in Healthcare. Dr. Hollingsworth is a chiropractor; the clinic is a chiropractic injury clinic, not a law office, and the exam is a chiropractic injury exam.

On its TBI rehab page the clinic names the tools it uses: vagus nerve stimulation at the tragus, neurofeedback, Alpha Stim, sensory motor integration, exercise with oxygen, oculomotor rehabilitation, and cognitive rehabilitation with computerized brain-exercise software. The Wire reports that list as published; what any of it does for a particular person is an exam-room conversation.

What to say on the phone

Say it is a crash exam. Say when the crash was, honestly, even if it was two weeks ago. Say which room you are calling and whether you can make it between nine and twelve or two and six. Ask what they need from you on the first visit and how a visit is billed; this desk does not publish payment terms for a clinic it does not own. If you already have an attorney, bring their contact so records can be sent where they need to go. The getting seen file has the full checklist.

Patient reviews, as the clinic publishes them

The Wire does not write reviews. These three are the ones Missouri Injury Clinic publishes on its own homepage, reproduced as published.

The bright line

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, not a call to a clinic. None of these rooms is the first stop for that. An injury clinic is built for planned care; if a clinic sends you to an emergency room instead of booking you, that is the system working.