Being involved in an automobile accident can be a stressful experience in many ways. Not only can the impact of the accident result in damage to your car, it can also cause damage to your body. It’s important to know what steps to follow after an accident to ensure that you get the attention you need to heal and prevent prolonged issues.
There is a broad spectrum of injuries that can occur when you’re in an accident. While wearing your seatbelt can help to reduce the severity of injuries and save your life, you may still experience pain in the chest, shoulder, pelvis, or hips due to the seatbelt restraining you. Whiplash, which results when the neck has a sudden forward and backward motion, can cause pain from inflammation that builds up in the neck joint and muscles. When you’re hit from the side, your shoulder, head, knee, or hip can be impacted while being hit from the front or rear can cause pain in the low back, knees, hips, and head (should it hit the steering wheel or head rest).
After an accident, the first thing to do is be medically checked for any pain that you may be feeling. Beyond the severity of internal bleeding, any fractures, tears, dislocations, and other serious conditions will typically need to be treated quickly and may require surgery.
Once you have been evaluated and cleared for any life-threatening injuries, you should follow up with a chiropractor within 1-2 days. In order to ensure that your body heals properly and fully, and that the joint and muscle pain or soreness are also alleviated to promote optimal healing, it will be important to complete the full treatment plan. Because ligaments and tendons require 6-8 weeks to fully heal, it will take patience and avoiding aggravating activity to make sure your body recovers fully.
During this initial chiropractic appointment, we’ll perform an examination to document what happened and determine what injuries were sustained as a result of the accident. We will also do a gentle chiropractic adjustment to manipulate the joints in your body to improve your range of motion, diminish inflammation, and reduce the associated join paint. In order to promote better blood flow, improve healing time, and reduce muscle pain and soreness, we’ll also do gentle manual therapy in which we loosen the tight or spastic muscles. To further combat the pain and soreness, we’ll use cryotherapy and heat therapy by applying ice or heat to areas that need it. Our typical treatment plan would include 1-2 visits per week for 8 weeks with the main goal to help the body fully recover from the trauma it experienced due to an auto accident.
When you’re involved in a motor vehicle accident, it’s not only your car that can get damaged. At Kinesio Care Center, we can help to alleviate the pain and stress on your body through a comprehensive treatment plan with a goal of full recovery.