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The crash itself usually lasts a second or two. What people don't expect is the next week. You walk away from a fender-bender on the Princes Freeway or the Leakes Road roundabout feeling a bit shaken but mostly fine, and then you wake up two days later unable to turn your head to check a blind spot. Or the pain is there from the start, but it's in your lower back, not your neck, and you assume it'll sort itself out. Sometimes it does. Often it doesn't, and by the time you've put up with it for a month, you're sleeping badly, snapping at the kids, and wondering whether anyone will pay for a physio.
In Victoria, there is a system built for exactly this situation: the Transport Accident Commission, or TAC. This guide explains how TAC-funded physiotherapy works in plain terms, what injuries commonly follow a transport accident, what good treatment actually involves, and what to ask before you book. It's written for people in Truganina, Tarneit and the surrounding west, but most of it applies anywhere in Melbourne.
One thing up front. We're a physiotherapy clinic, not a legal or claims service. We can explain how treatment fits into the process and we're happy to answer questions about our own TAC physiotherapy service, but decisions about your claim sit with the TAC. Where something depends on your particular claim, we'll say so rather than guess.
The TAC is the Victorian government body that supports people injured in transport accidents. That covers more than car crashes. Depending on the circumstances, it can include accidents involving cars, motorbikes, trucks, buses, trams, trains and bicycles, as well as pedestrians hit by vehicles. You don't have to have been at fault. That's a big difference from how most people assume insurance works, and it's one reason some people hold off lodging a claim: they think it'll come down to blame. For the treatment side of things, it generally doesn't.
If your injury is accepted as arising from a transport accident, the TAC can help pay for treatment it considers reasonable and necessary for your recovery. Physiotherapy is one of the standard services it funds, alongside things like GP visits, medication, imaging and, where needed, psychology.
The TAC's published guidance on physiotherapy says it can help pay for physio in the first 90 days after an accident, and that you don't need to contact the TAC for approval first as long as you have a TAC claim number and your doctor or another health professional recommends the treatment. After that early window, the rules tighten. If it's approaching or past 90 days since the accident and further treatment hasn't been approved, you or your provider needs to contact the TAC to get that approval. Details like this can change, so it's worth checking the TAC's own physiotherapy page or asking your claim contact rather than treating any blog post, including this one, as the final word.
The order of events matters, and people often get it back to front.
First, get checked. If you were in a crash of any real force, see a GP or go to emergency, even if you feel okay. Adrenaline masks a lot. A doctor needs to rule out fractures, head injuries and anything involving the spine or internal organs before anyone starts moving you around. Physios can and do refer people on for imaging when something doesn't add up, but it's better to have that conversation early with a doctor who has your full picture.
Second, lodge your claim. You'll need to make a TAC claim to access funded treatment. Your GP can help, and the TAC has a process for lodging online or by phone. Once the claim is accepted you'll have a claim number. That number is what your treatment providers will ask for.
Third, keep notes. This sounds boring but it pays off. Write down when the accident happened, what hurt first, what got worse over the following days, what you can't do that you could before, and which appointments you've attended. Memory is unreliable after a stressful event, and later conversations with the TAC, your doctor or your physio are much easier when you have dates and details in front of you.
Then book the physio. You don't need to wait for a perfect moment or for the pain to peak. Early assessment is useful even if the answer is "this looks like a soft tissue injury, here's what to expect, and here's what to avoid."
No two crashes produce the same pattern, but certain injuries come up again and again in physiotherapy rooms.
Whiplash and neck strain. The head is thrown forward and back faster than the neck muscles can control it. The result is typically pain and stiffness in the neck, sometimes spreading into the shoulders and upper back, often with headaches. It doesn't always appear straight away. Delayed onset, with the worst of it showing up a day or two later, is common and doesn't mean you're imagining it.
Lower back pain. Seatbelts hold you in place while the car stops, and the lumbar spine takes a surprising amount of the load. Back pain after a crash can be muscular, joint-related, or occasionally involve a disc. If you've also got leg pain, numbness or tingling, mention it early. We cover the sorts of patterns we see in our guide to lower back pain for Truganina and Tarneit residents.
Shoulder injuries. The seatbelt crosses one shoulder, and the arms are often braced on the steering wheel at impact. Rotator cuff strains, collarbone injuries and general shoulder stiffness all turn up after crashes.
Knee, ankle and wrist injuries. Knees hit the dashboard, feet are planted on the pedals, and wrists take the force through the wheel. Sprains, bruising and ligament strains are the usual story, though anything involving a suspected fracture goes to imaging first.
Headaches and dizziness. Some people develop headaches that seem to start in the neck, and some feel off-balance or dizzy, particularly when turning quickly. Those can have a cervical or vestibular component, and some of it is treatable. Anything following a head knock, though, should be assessed by a doctor first.
Alongside the physical injuries, a lot of people deal with the psychological aftermath: anxiety when driving, jumpiness in traffic, trouble sleeping. That isn't a side issue. Pain and fear feed each other, and a good physio will ask about it rather than pretending it isn't part of recovery. If it's significant, your GP can talk you through other supports the TAC may fund.
Whiplash gets a bad reputation in some circles, as though it's a vague complaint that people exaggerate. That's unfair and it's not what the clinical picture shows. Whiplash is a genuine soft tissue injury to the muscles, ligaments and small joints of the neck. It hurts, it restricts movement, and it can be hard to sleep with.
What's true is that it's often not visible on scans. An X-ray might look normal, and so might an MRI, because the problem is functional rather than structural. That's one reason people sometimes feel dismissed: "the scan is clear, so you're fine." A clear scan doesn't mean nothing is wrong. It means nothing is broken.
The other thing that's true, and it's reassuring, is that most people with whiplash improve, and the best-supported approach is to keep moving rather than rest. Collars and prolonged immobilisation used to be standard. Current thinking favours gentle early movement, education about what to expect, and a graded return to normal activity. Staying still for weeks tends to make the neck stiffer and more sensitive.
Treatment typically combines hands-on techniques to ease muscle tension and joint stiffness with an exercise program that restores neck movement and then strengthens the deep muscles that support it. If you want to understand the neck side of things in more depth, our post on neck pain and headaches in Truganina and Tarneit goes into what we look for and why headaches and neck pain so often travel together.
Honest expectations help here. Some people feel noticeably better in a few weeks. Others take months, and a smaller group are still dealing with symptoms well beyond that. Anyone who promises you a specific recovery date is guessing. What we can say is that early assessment, staying active, and a clear plan tend to give people the best footing.
A first appointment after a transport accident is a bit longer and more structured than a standard session, because there's more to cover.
Your story. We'll ask what happened, when, and how you've been since. Expect questions about the crash itself: whether you were driving or a passenger, which direction the impact came from, whether you were wearing a seatbelt, and where you felt pain first. That detail helps us work out which structures were most likely stressed.
Your history. Previous neck or back problems, past injuries, current medications, work demands, sleep. Pre-existing issues don't disqualify you from treatment, but they do shape what we think is going on.
The examination. We'll look at how you move, how far your neck, back or affected joint goes in each direction, what reproduces your pain, and how your nerves and muscle strength are behaving. Where relevant we'll test balance and coordination too. If anything suggests a fracture, significant nerve involvement or something that needs urgent medical review, we'll stop and refer you on before going further.
Your claim details. We'll ask for your TAC claim number and confirm how billing will work. If you haven't lodged a claim yet, we'll tell you what to do next rather than leave you in limbo.
A plan. By the end you should know what we think is going on, what treatment we recommend, roughly how often we'd like to see you, what you can do at home, and what would make us change course. If any of that is unclear when you walk out, ask. It's a reasonable expectation.
Rehab after a transport accident isn't one technique. It's a combination matched to what your body is doing at each stage.
In the first couple of weeks the goals are modest: settle the pain, keep things moving within comfortable limits, and stop you from guarding so hard that everything seizes up. Hands-on treatment can help ease muscle spasm and stiffness. Gentle range-of-motion exercises, a few short sessions through the day, usually work better than one big effort. We'll also talk about sleeping positions, working at a desk, and getting in and out of the car, because those daily tasks are often where people feel it most.
Once the acute irritation calms down, the emphasis shifts to restoring proper movement and building strength. For a whiplash-type injury that means deep neck flexor and shoulder blade work. For a back injury it means trunk control and hip strength. For a shoulder it means rebuilding the rotator cuff and scapular muscles. Exercises are progressed gradually. Too aggressive and you flare up, too cautious and you plateau.
Some people also benefit from techniques like dry needling for stubborn muscle tightness, or from a structured class-based program like clinical Pilates as they get stronger. These are options, not requirements. Which ones make sense depends on what we find and what you prefer.
This is the bit people skip, and it's where a lot of relapses begin. Once pain is mostly gone, the job is to rebuild capacity: carrying shopping, lifting kids, long drives, a full day at work, sport. We'll set targets that match your real life, not a generic checklist. For someone who drives for a living, that means tolerance for hours behind the wheel. For someone who lifts at work, it means graded lifting. For a parent of toddlers, it means being able to pick up a wriggling twenty-kilo child without a second thought.
Understanding why pain behaves the way it does makes a real difference. Pain after an accident can be easily aggravated, can spread, and can flare with stress or poor sleep, without meaning further damage is happening. Knowing that, people tend to worry less, move more, and recover more smoothly. We'd rather spend ten minutes explaining this than hand you a list of exercises with no context.
It's worth being direct about this. Hands-on treatment feels good and has a role, particularly early. But if a program is mostly massage and the machine, week after week, with little exercise, that's a red flag. Active rehab, meaning exercise and graded activity, is what tends to produce lasting change. Passive treatments can make you more comfortable while you do the active work, but they don't replace it.
If you ever feel like you're simply being "topped up" at every appointment with no plan to need us less over time, say so. A good physio's goal is to make themselves unnecessary.
Here's the part that tends to cause the most confusion, so let's go through it step by step.
You need a claim number. That's how providers link your treatment to your claim. Without it, we can't bill the TAC.
The first 90 days. According to the TAC's guidance, you can access physiotherapy in the first 90 days after the accident without seeking approval first, provided you have a claim number and a health professional has recommended it. That makes the early weeks the simplest period administratively.
After 90 days. If you're approaching or past 90 days since the accident and further treatment hasn't been approved, the TAC needs to approve it. Your provider can help with this, and so can your claim contact. Don't wait until the last week to raise it. Building in a bit of lead time avoids gaps in treatment.
How payment works. Per the TAC, you give your provider your claim number at the appointment, and the TAC either pays the provider directly or you pay and get reimbursed at the TAC rate. The rate is set by the TAC. If a provider charges more than that rate, the difference is a gap payment, and you may need to cover it. This is why it pays to ask before you book: "Is there any gap for TAC clients?" Some clinics bill at the TAC rate only, and others don't. Ask us about ours when you call, and ask any other clinic you're considering the same thing.
Reasonable and necessary. The TAC funds treatment it considers reasonable and necessary. That means it can decide that further treatment isn't justified, and that's a source of real frustration for some people. If your physio believes ongoing treatment is warranted, they can document why: the findings, your progress, and what's still limiting you. Clear clinical notes and measurable goals make that conversation easier. If your funding is declined or ceased and you disagree, you have options, including speaking with your claim manager, getting a second opinion from your doctor, and seeking independent advice. We can supply clinical information, but we can't advocate on legal questions.
Sometimes it isn't obvious which scheme covers an injury, and the answer matters because the rules differ.
If you were hurt in a transport accident, TAC is the relevant scheme. If you were hurt at work, even if it involved a vehicle in some way, you may be looking at WorkCover instead, or in certain situations, both could be relevant. A delivery driver injured in a collision on the job, for example, may have questions that sit across schemes. That's a conversation for your claims contact, and the TAC and WorkSafe can both tell you which applies. If your injury is work-related, our guide to WorkCover physiotherapy in Truganina and Tarneit explains how that process runs, which is quite different from TAC.
Not sure? Ring us, tell us what happened, and we'll point you in the right direction. If it's a question only the scheme can answer, we'll say so.
A short list worth having in your pocket, whether you choose us or someone else:
The answers tell you a lot. A clinic that's vague about billing or can't explain its approach is worth thinking twice about.
The western growth corridor is full of people who commute a long way. A lot of locals drive to the CBD, to Werribee, to Laverton or out to the industrial areas along the Princes Freeway and Western Highway corridors. More kilometres on the road means more exposure, and plenty of people in our area know someone who's been in a crash on a familiar stretch.
The practical upside of treating close to home is consistency. Rehab works best when you can actually get to it. If you're in the middle of recovery from a back or neck injury, the last thing you need is a long drive to an appointment that aggravates the injury you're trying to treat. You can find our rooms at Physio Truganina and Physio Tarneit, and the appointments page has current booking options.
If travel itself is the problem, for instance because driving hurts or you're not yet cleared to drive, ask us about what's possible. Our mobile and home-visit services exist largely for situations like this, and it's worth a phone call to see whether it fits your circumstances.
According to the TAC's guidance, in the first 90 days you need a TAC claim number and a recommendation from your doctor or another health professional. In practice many people get that recommendation from their GP at the first visit after the accident. Ring ahead and we'll tell you what we need.
Fault doesn't generally decide whether you can access TAC treatment support. If you're unsure about your own situation, the TAC can tell you what applies.
The TAC covers a range of transport accident scenarios, not just drivers. If you were hurt in any kind of transport accident in Victoria, it's worth contacting the TAC to find out if you can make a claim.
If you have any ongoing stiffness, headaches, or pain that comes and goes, a physio assessment is worth having. Some injuries settle quietly and then flare when you return to normal activity. If you genuinely feel fine and are moving normally, you may not need treatment, but a quick check can give you peace of mind and a baseline on record.
It depends on the injury, how long it has been there, your general health and how your symptoms respond. We won't quote a number before we've examined you. After the first appointment and again as you progress, we'll give you our best estimate and revisit it as things change.
Usually yes, within limits. We'd rather you stay active than sit at home worrying. We'll tell you what to avoid for now and what's fine, so you're not guessing. If you play sport, we can help you plan a graded return, and our post on sports physiotherapy in Truganina and Tarneit explains how we approach that.
Tell us straight away. A flare-up isn't unusual, particularly after a busy week or a bad night's sleep, but a steady worsening, new numbness, weakness, or severe headaches need review. Sometimes the right move is to adjust the program. Sometimes it's to send you back to your GP or for imaging.
We keep detailed clinical records, and where the TAC or your doctor requests information about your treatment and progress, we can provide it. Reports for legal purposes are a separate matter, so raise that with us directly if it applies.
A few habits make treatment go further, and none of them cost anything.
Do the exercises you're given, even the boring ones. The deep neck and shoulder blade exercises that matter most for whiplash are small, quiet movements that feel like nothing. They are also the ones most people drop after a week. Ten minutes a day, done consistently, usually beats an hour on the weekend. If an exercise hurts more than a mild stretch or ache, tell us at the next session so we can change it rather than you quietly stopping.
Track what you notice. A simple note on your phone is plenty: how you slept, what you did, how the pain rated that evening. Over a few weeks, patterns appear. Maybe your neck is worse after long meetings, or your back eases after a walk. That information helps us adjust the plan and gives your doctor and claim contact something concrete when they ask how you're going.
Pace your return to driving. Many people feel anxious behind the wheel for a while after a crash, and a stiff neck makes shoulder checks genuinely harder. Start with short, familiar trips at quiet times, build up gradually, and don't force a long motorway drive in the first week back if it doesn't feel safe. If you can't turn your head far enough to check your blind spot properly, that's a safety issue as well as a recovery one, so raise it with us and your doctor.
Tell your other providers what's going on. If you're seeing a GP, a psychologist or a specialist, they should know about the physio plan and vice versa. Recovery goes better when everyone is working from the same picture, and it avoids contradictory advice like one person saying rest and another saying keep moving.
Finally, be honest about work. If your job is part of what's keeping you sore, whether that's long hours at a desk, driving, or lifting, say so. Small changes to a workstation, regular movement breaks or temporarily modified duties can make a bigger difference than another round of hands-on treatment.
Most post-accident pain is musculoskeletal, but a few symptoms need prompt medical attention rather than a physio appointment. Seek urgent care for:
If you're unsure, call your GP or head to emergency. It's always better to be checked and told it's nothing.
Recovery from a transport injury rarely goes in a straight line. You'll have good days that make you think you're done and bad days that feel like starting over. That's normal. What tends to separate people who recover well from people who struggle is less about the severity of the injury and more about a few ordinary things: getting assessed early, staying active within sensible limits, sticking with the exercise program when the pain eases, sleeping as well as you can, and having someone in your corner who explains what's happening.
The paperwork side can feel like a second job. It helps to deal with it in small pieces: lodge the claim, keep your claim number handy, keep notes, ask questions early. You don't have to understand the entire system on day one.
If you've been injured in a transport accident in Victoria, you can access TAC-funded physiotherapy through a claim, and the early 90-day window is generally the simplest stretch administratively. Get checked by a doctor first, lodge your claim, and book a physio assessment sooner rather than later. Expect treatment that blends hands-on care with progressive exercise, with clear goals and honest timeframes. Ask about gap payments before you book, keep an eye on the 90-day mark, and speak up if something isn't working.
If you're in Truganina, Tarneit or nearby and want to talk through where to start, have a look at our TAC physiotherapy page or contact the clinic. Bring your claim number if you have one, and if you don't have one yet, bring your questions. We'll help you work out the next step.
