How Chiropractic Treatment Helps You Recover from an Auto Accident
Broken bones, cuts, and bruises aren't the only injuries you may experience after a motor vehicle accident. Car accidents can also strain muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints, causing pain, stiffness, and loss of flexibility. Fortunately, your chiropractor offers several treatments that can ease pain and other symptoms.
Chiropractic Offers a Non-Invasive Way to Treat Whiplash
Whiplash, an injury that happens when your neck moves and back forth suddenly, is one of the most common auto accident injuries. The injury damages or strains muscles, ligaments, and discs in your neck and may move vertebrae out of alignment. The injury affects approximately two-thirds of people who have been in motor vehicle accidents, according to the American Chiropractic Association.
Whiplash can occur at both low and high speeds and can be just as painful no matter how fast the car was traveling. Neck pain, stiffness, headaches, and spasms can happen immediately or might start several days after the accident.
Chiropractic treatment decreases inflammation, realigns the vertebrae in your neck, improves range of motion and blood flow, and decreases pain and spasms. Your chiropractic treatment plan may include several of these therapies:
- Spinal manipulation
- Soft tissue mobilization
- Flexion-distraction
- Ultrasound
- Trigger point therapy
- Muscle stimulation
- Interferential electrical stimulation
Tired of Muscle Spasms? A Visit to the Chiropractor Can Help
Even if your body is restrained by a seatbelt during a crash, you may still develop muscle aches and spasms in your back, shoulders, and neck. Massage and soft tissue manipulation, a technique that gently stretches tissues, can reduce pain and spasms. These therapies also relieve stiffness and improve range of motion. Other helpful treatments include hot and cold therapies, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation.
Chiropractic Offers Drug-Free Pain Relief
Over-the-counter and prescription medication can be very helpful when pain interferes with your life. Unfortunately, the effects of the drugs wear off in a few hours, causing your symptoms to return. If you don't treat the source of your pain, you may become reliant on or addicted to your pain medications.
During your first visit to the chiropractic office, your doctor will perform a thorough examination, ask a few questions about the accident and your symptoms, and recommend X-rays or other tests that will provide information about the extent of your injuries. This information will help your practitioner determine why you have pain and create a treatment plan that will pinpoint the source of your pain.
You'll Be Less Likely to Develop Scar Tissue with Chiropractic Treatment
Your body produces scar tissue to repair damage caused by your auto accident. Unfortunately, scar tissue can also limit the movement of a joint or a muscle, making it difficult to reach for a glass on a high shelf or bend to pick up a stray sock. Massage, soft tissue mobilization and manipulation, and other treatments break apart pockets of scar tissue and relieve pain and stiffness.
Treatments Help You Avoid Chronic Pain and Inflammation
Auto accident injuries can increase your risk of arthritis and other chronic conditions without prompt treatment. Unfortunately, if you wait until the pain becomes a constant complaint, it may be too late to eliminate it.
Inflammation isn't limited to your sore neck or shoulder after a car accident but can affect your entire body. The longer inflammation remains, the longer you'll experience aches and pains. Chiropractic treatment can jumpstart your body's natural anti-inflammation response, relieving pain and reducing your risk of developing chronic health conditions.
Are you struggling with pain, stiffness, or headaches after an auto accident? Chiropractic treatment offers a natural solution for your symptoms. Contact our office to schedule your appointment.
Sources:
American Chiropractic Association: Whiplash: More than Standard Neck Pain, 3/15
Journal of Chiropractic Medicine: Chiropractic Management of a Patient With Chronic Pain in a Federally Qualified Health Center: A Case Report, 6/18
Spine Universe: Chiropractic Care for Whiplash