Most people only start paying attention to their joints when something hurts. After a crash, that changes quickly. The question becomes not just what hurts today, but what felt ordinary before the impact, and that is harder to recall once adrenaline, a rough night of sleep, and a stack of phone calls have passed. Writing a short baseline while your memory is still fresh can make the next visit easier to follow.
Why an examiner asks about the past
A clinician needs to tell what is new from what was already there. If you say your lower back aches, the natural follow-up is whether it ached before, how often, and what eased it. Without that comparison, the exam works from a single snapshot. A few plain sentences about the days before the event give a reference point, even if the honest answer is 'a little stiffness in the morning, otherwise fine.'
This is educational information, not a diagnosis. Your notes help the examiner ask better questions. They do not replace the exam itself.
What the week before looks like on paper
Think about a normal week, not your single best day. Start with the joints you already know about and name them: knees, hips, neck, low back, shoulders, wrists, fingers, jaw. For each one, write whether it was quiet, occasionally sore, or regularly bothersome. If you had an older note about it, say so.
Next, write down the everyday tasks that loaded those joints. Walking the dog, climbing stairs at work, lifting a laundry basket, typing for hours, or driving a long commute all count. You are not building a case. You are describing how you lived. Write 'usually fine' when that is true. Accuracy matters more than neatness.
Then note any changes you had already noticed in the weeks before. Did your sleep shift? Did you start a new pair of shoes, a busier schedule, or a recent illness? These details can seem unrelated, but they help the examiner understand your normal function, and you can decide with the clinician which ones matter.
Keep it honest, short, and dated
One page is enough. Put the date you wrote it at the top and state that it was written after the event, from memory. That line matters. A memory written days later is still useful, but it should not be presented as a log kept at the time. If you cannot recall something, write 'not sure' instead of filling the gap with a guess. Guesses look tidy on paper and cause confusion in the room.
Keep the note with your other papers from the crash, such as the accident date, any photos, and a list of medicines you take. Bring the original to the visit and keep a copy at home. If a partner or coworker knows your routine well, ask what they remember about a typical week, then write down what you know yourself.
When to stop writing and get help now
A notebook is not the first step if something serious is happening. Severe headache, confusion, chest pain, trouble breathing, spreading numbness or weakness, or loss of bladder control after a crash calls for emergency care right away. The baseline can wait. Once you are safe and evaluated, the one-page note is a useful thing to bring along.
For everything else, the goal is simple. Give the examiner a clear picture of your ordinary days so that whatever the exam finds can be read against something real. That is worth an hour of quiet writing this week, while the details are still yours to recall.