What happens after the Car Accident?
Whiplash Injury after the accident:
Recent research tells us that people who suffer a neck injury during a motor vehicle accident are very likely to experience future neck pain. Thankfully, research also indicates that chiropractic care can help improve your range of motion and decrease the pain associated with whiplash injuries.
Your body wasn’t designed to deal with the forces that occur in a car accident. If you’ve sustained a whiplash injury, your head and neck have been forcefully extended beyond their normal range of motion. Even low-speed collisions can generate enough force to injure the delicate ligaments in your neck that support your head. This can create partial tears and other damage to the muscles and ligaments around your spine and also injure your spinal discs or nerves and your spine’s supporting muscles. A few key indicators that you may have suffered a whiplash injury include neck pain and stiffness, headaches, dizziness, and pain in your upper or lower extremities.
Don’t shrug off any accident. Don’t push your symptoms aside! Instead, follow three easy-to-remember steps. First, get an evaluation. Next, begin receiving care. Finally, stay consistent.
3 Common Manifestations of Delayed Pain After a Car Accident
With your adrenaline pumping directly after an accident, your brain may not fully register the pain signals coming from your body. It’s often only after you have some time to calm down that you find yourself suddenly living with previously silent injuries and seemingly delayed pain.
Medications may provide temporary pain relief, but they aren’t doing a thing to resolve the injuries that are the real source of your pain. Typically, minor symptoms can be an indication of a more significant problem.
Headaches following an accident can mean you’ve suffered a concussion, neck, or whiplash injury. Back, neck, or shoulder pain can indicate significant injury to the spinal discs or soft tissues of the spine.
The longer you wait to get evaluated and receive care, the more likely it is you’ll need more aggressive care, and the longer it is you’re likely to be living with those symptoms.
The stress of a car accident can make it difficult to truly assess how you feel in the minutes after impact. So, if you’ve been in an accident, let us know. Getting evaluated gives you the best chance to find any issues or behind the scenes injuries early on so you can put them in the rear view mirror as quickly as possible!
Here's How to Recover From Whiplash Injuries Naturally
While it may seem strange that movement can be a good thing even if it causes discomfort, we know that controlled movement can limit the amount of scar tissue that forms and may even increase the healing rate.
Obtaining an accurate diagnosis with a complete examination and spinal imaging is the first step towards determining the best plan of care to heal from your injuries. Because inflammation is often the primary factor that causes pain and restricted movement after a whiplash injury, taking steps to control that inflammation naturally and to reestablish your range of motion can help us turn the dial down on pain and improve the long-term results of your care.
Chiropractors are considered essential after an accident because of our focus on improving your movement, biomechanics, and functional ability while reducing your pain. So if you’ve been in any kind of collision accident, whether it’s sports, slip and fall, or auto related, seek treatment.
The 3 Most Common Injuries We See With Collision Accidents
Head injuries are common during a collision accident, and striking your head against the steering wheel, dashboard, or window can result in a concussion (which is considered a mild traumatic brain injury).
Next on the list are spinal injuries. The forces that occur during a collision accident can cause spinal injuries like instability, whiplash, or herniated discs.
Finally, arm and leg injuries. Injuries to your shoulders (likely if you’re holding the wheel) or your knees (if they hit the door or dashboard) are very common after a collision accident.
The injuries sustained in most accidents can be treated conservatively, and many don’t require surgery. Research has shown chiropractic care to be very effective at treating injuries like neck and back pain, headaches, whiplash injuries, and extremity issues. So, if you’ve been in an accident, be sure to let us know!