5 min read
If you’ve been involved in an auto accident but didn’t have any obvious injuries, there’s a chance that you may still have an injury that wasn’t easy to diagnose right away. Pain caused by an auto accident can appear days or even weeks after the event. It’s important that you don’t ignore these conditions that may be a sign that you need medical attention for an accident-related injury.
A chiropractor can often help you with the treatment of conditions caused by accidents – whether right away or later. You should schedule an appointment if you notice one or more of the following:
Whiplash or Other Neck Pain After a Car Accident
During a car accident, especially rear-end collisions, the head is suddenly thrust backward and them forward. This is commonly called whiplash. The rapid forward and backward movement of the head and neck causes the muscles to feel tight and knotted. In the days following the accidents, you may experience neck and shoulder pain, and decreased range of motion in the neck. In addition to neck and shoulder pain, other signs of whiplash include chronic headaches, jaw pain, and arm pain.
Chiropractic techniques such as adjustment, massage therapy, and cold laser therapy can help alleviate neck, back pain, and shoulder pain.
- Adjusting the spine can help realign the body for better healing and blood flow.
- Massage therapy relaxes the neck and shoulder muscles. Several massages may be needed over a few weeks for the most benefit.
- Cold laser therapy uses laser technology to stimulate damaged cells and increase blood flow in the treatment area. These methods not only provide permanent relief but also promote the healing of affected cells.
Delayed Back Pain After a Car Accident
The sudden impact resulting from a car accident may cause injuries to your back muscles and/or your spine. A medical professional should evaluate your back pain and take some images to decide if it’s soft tissue injury to the muscles and tendons, or related to the discs in the neck or spine.
If there is only soft tissue injury, your chiropractor can help relieve pain by making sure your spine, neck, and hips are in alignment. Massage therapy can help relax the muscles and help you to feel better sooner.
Sometimes a disc in the spine or neck starts to bulge or even herniate after a sudden impact. Back pain caused by disc injury can often be helped by a chiropractor using spinal decompression therapy. Treatment involves gently stretching the spine for a period of 15 to 30 minutes over several weeks, depending on the severity of the condition. This reduces pressure on the spinal discs and allows them to heal.
Persistent Headaches After an Accident
Painful headaches occurring at least four to five times a week after an accident can be a sign of an injury with delayed symptoms. Frequent headaches can also be a sign of stress or anxiety resulting from the shock of being in a car accident. It may not mean there is a head injury specifically. Rather it could be a result of strain on the neck and shoulder muscles. In some cases, headaches signify a severe underlying condition such as traumatic brain injury and blood clot complications. It's advisable to see a physician who may want to perform some imaging tests. If the diagnosis is muscle and tendon strains, or stress and anxiety from the accident, chiropractic care is a great option for relieving the conditions causing frequent headaches.
Post-Accident Tingling and Numbness
Unexplained numbness and tingling, coupled with back pain or pain running down the arm, can be signs of spinal or cervical discs being out of alignment, putting pressure on your nerves. Depending on what your medical provider can see in images of the spine, there may be only mild nerve compression caused by the spine being out of alignment, or even a bulging disc. With gentle chiropractic adjustments, your chiropractor can often realign the spine which reduces the pressure on the nerves and can stop the tingling. More severe cases of tingling and numbness after a car accident can be caused by a herniated or bulging disc putting pressure on the nerves in the spinal column. Non-surgical spinal decompression in the chiropractor’s office can often be used to reduce that pressure and stop the tingling or numb feelings in the back, neck, arms, or legs.
Dizziness and Changes in Vision
Dizziness and blurred vision following a vehicle accident can be signs of a concussion. In many cases, these symptoms appear very shortly after the accident, but they can be delayed symptoms of a concussion. If you start to experience this after an accident, seek medical attention right away.
Changes in Appetite and Sleeping Patterns
Loss of appetite and changes in sleeping patterns after an accident could be related to anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s not surprising that you might be anxious after a car accident as you pay attention to your physical health and the repair of your vehicle. You may even be concerned about any injuries caused to others as a result of the accident.
But you might not realize just how anxious you are about it until you try to go to sleep at night. If you find that you’re experiencing any of these, you should schedule a time to talk to your chiropractor about stress relief options:
- A decreased appetite -- eating only because you know you have to.
- An increased appetite -- sometimes referred to as stress eating.
- Not being able to fall asleep
- Falling asleep but not being able to stay asleep.
Chiropractic care and massage therapy reduce anxiety and stress symptoms and help you sleep and eat better.
When to Schedule Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident
If you find that you’re experiencing some of these conditions after being involved in a car accident, speak with your healthcare provider. By talking to a chiropractor at Village Chiropractic we can create a treatment plan that can help alleviate headaches, neck, shoulder, and back pain, muscle soreness, and other conditions resulting from the accident.
Other benefits of chiropractic care for car accident victims include:
- Chiropractic care is a non-invasive form of treatment.
- It provides pain relief without the use of drugs.
- Chiropractic adjustments can alleviate pain in the entire body.
- It can restore range of motion in the neck, lower back, arms, and legs.
- Chiropractic care is also known to help relieve stress, anxiety, and PTSD caused by an accident.
An important thing to note is that any injuries related to a car accident are covered by the responsible party's Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance. If the responsible party does not have insurance, the victim's insurance has an Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) insurance that will cover medical expenses. If the sustained injuries are more extensive, Village Chiropractic works with, Bergquist Law Firm.
at our office in The Woodlands!
