Fifteen minutes to the exam table.

Most of the distance between a Kirkwood reader and an exam is not miles. It is the small friction of not knowing what the visit is, what to bring, and what to say when someone picks up the phone. This entry removes that friction. The miles themselves are short: the Tesson Ferry room of Missouri Injury Clinic sits at 11144 Tesson Ferry Road, Suite 200, Saint Louis, MO 63123, roughly fifteen minutes from downtown Kirkwood via Lindbergh south or I-270, depending on traffic.

The call

Dial (314) 530-5480. Say that you were in a crash, roughly when, and that you want an exam this week. That sentence is enough. The desk will take it from there. If your day runs north, the Hazelwood room answers at (314) 627-1411, and if it runs west across the river, the O'Fallon room is (636) 280-0990. All three rooms belong to the same clinic under Joseph L. Hollingsworth, DC, and all three close from 12 to 2 each day, so call in the morning or after 2.

If a head is involved, say that too. "I was rear-ended on Tuesday and I have been foggy since" is a different intake than "my neck hurts," and the clinic publishes a TBI and concussion lane with its own tools. You want to be booked into the right lane from the first call.

Room	Hours	Phone
Tesson Ferry, south county (nearest to Kirkwood)	Mon to Thu 9 to 6, Fri 9 to 12, closed 12 to 2	(314) 530-5480
Hazelwood, north county	Mon to Thu 9 to 6, Fri 9 to 12, closed 12 to 2	(314) 627-1411
O'Fallon, Lake St. Louis	Mon, Tue, Thu 9 to 6; Wed and Fri by appointment; closed 12 to 2	(636) 280-0990

The drive

From downtown Kirkwood, Lindbergh south is the plain route. It carries you past the I-44 interchange and on into south county, and Tesson Ferry is a right turn near the end of the run. From Des Peres or the west side of town, I-270 south to I-55 north and then Lindbergh is often faster at rush hour. From Webster Groves or Oakland, Big Bend to Lindbergh does the job. None of these are hard drives. The Journal mentions them because a reader with a stiff neck is, for good reason, reluctant to drive anywhere unfamiliar, and "I know that road" lowers the bar.

If you cannot drive, that is worth saying on the phone. Bring a friend who can. The exam is the point. How you got there is not.

The visit

The first visit at Missouri Injury Clinic, as the clinic publishes its auto injury lane, is a diagnosis and a treatment plan after a crash. In practice that means a history of the crash, a hands-on exam, an exam of how the neck and back move, the findings explained in plain terms, and a treatment plan in writing. Ask the questions plainly: what did you find, what is the plan, how long before we should expect a change, and what would make you send me somewhere else. A clinician who can answer all four is handing you a record worth keeping.

If the findings point to something outside the clinic's lanes, expect to be told so. Imaging, a different specialty, or the emergency room are all possible answers, and a clinic that gives one of them is the system working, not a wasted trip.

What to bring

• Your insurance information, and any paperwork the crash generated.
• Whatever you know about the crash: road, direction, rough speed, where the hit landed, whether your head touched anything.
• A list of what hurts today and when it started. Day one stiffness and day three pain are both useful to the examiner.
• Any medication you take, and anything you have taken for the pain since.
• If you already have an attorney, bring their contact so records can be sent where they need to go. You do not need one to be seen, and the clinic will not ask you to decide anything about a claim before it examines you.

What to say

Be literal. "It hurts when I look over my left shoulder to merge" is better than "my neck is bad." "I have had a headache behind my eyes since Wednesday and the office lights bother me" is better than "I feel off." Examiners work from specifics, and the specifics become the record. The record entry explains why that record is a care document first and what it is not.

The bright line

An injury clinic is built for planned care. 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. If any of that describes you, the clinic is the second call, not the first. The Journal's ER or clinic entry spells the line out symptom by symptom.

Ask the clinic about billing

The Journal does not publish payment terms for a clinic it does not own. Ask the desk directly how a visit is billed and what they accept, and take the answer from them. That is the honest way to handle a question this desk cannot verify.

The emergency line, first. 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.

Advertising disclosure. This page is advertising. This desk is compensated for featuring Missouri Injury Clinic, and it is not the clinic, not a law office, and not a party to anyone's insurance claim. We publish only the lanes, rooms, and hours the clinic publishes on moinjuryclinic.com. We do not write reviews, rank providers, or give medical or legal advice.

Educational reading. Not medical advice, not a diagnosis. The Journal cannot examine anyone.