If you or someone you care about has been in a car accident at some point, there is a good chance that you have suffered injuries and need car accident therapy. Sometimes, these injuries are subtle and can take time to reveal themselves fully. When they become fully apparent, connecting the symptoms to the cause can be challenging.
This is often the case with neck and back injuries following car accidents. A person will experience a collision, see no visible physical damage, and assume they are okay while the adrenaline roars through their body and numbs their pain. Frequently, they will find after a few hours – or even days – that their initial assessment was incorrect.
By then, though, the damage has compounded. The longer you wait to seek help after a car accident, the worse your injuries will become over time and the more difficult it will be to treat them. That’s where the Utah Accident Clinic comes in.
We are a chiropractic clinic that serves Provo and Taylorsville, focusing on treating car accident injuries. We offer spinal manipulation, soft tissue healing, muscle stretching therapy, healing massage therapy, and in-house physical therapy, and we are available by phone to answer any questions you may have.
Why Do Car Accidents Cause Back Pain?
Car accidents are often traumatic and very hard on the body. You are dealing with high-impact forces and three or more collisions: that of the vehicle, your body, and the organs within your body.
Crash force is one of the determining factors for how much damage a car accident will do. Crash force is calculated by multiplying the victim’s body weight by the vehicle’s speed during the accident. For example, if a 200-pound person were behind the wheel when they got into an accident at 50 miles per hour, the crash force would be 10,000 pounds of crash force.
Even if an accident occurs at a relatively tame speed, such as 20 miles per hour, the crash force for that person would still be 1,000 pounds.
Common Injuries Your Chiropractor Can Help With After an Accident
It would be impossible to list every single injury you might sustain following a car accident, but what follows are the most common injuries that your chiropractor treats in car accident victims:
- Whiplash
- Dislocated joints
- Herniated discs
- Spinal column damage
- Pinched nerves
- Soft tissue damage
- Vertebra fracture
- Shoulder impingement
- Muscle strains or ruptures
- Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) or Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL)
- Torn, ruptured, or inflamed tendons
Symptoms of Neck and Back Injuries After a Collision
It is vital to monitor yourself for symptoms after a car accident. Ideally, you will seek advice from a medical professional as soon as possible following your accident. Car accidents are traumatic; they result in the production of adrenaline.
Adrenaline is a hormone that functions as a painkiller and can cause specific symptoms after a delay. If you have these hidden symptoms and continue to live your life without seeking help from a medical professional, you run the risk of accidentally worsening your symptoms.
Immediate Symptoms:
- Limited range of motion, especially in the shoulders and neck
- Severe pain in the head, back, or neck
- Numbness, tingling, or burning feelings
- Difficulty breathing
- An immediate, excruciating headache
Delayed Symptoms:
- Constant headaches
- Pain, swelling, bruising, or tenderness
- Pinching in the neck, shoulders, and back
- Persistent fatigue
- Difficulty lifting objects that usually would not pose an issue for you
- New decrease in hearing ability
- New decrease in vision
- Continual numbness or tingling sensations
- New feelings of extreme anxiousness or sudden panic without an apparent reason
How Can a Chiropractor Help with Car Accident Therapy?
Your chiropractor can use spinal manipulation, soft tissue healing, muscle stretching therapy, healing massage therapy, and in-house physical therapy to help you in many ways.
Firstly, they can reduce inflammation. While inflammation is a normal part of healing to a certain extent, it can become excessive and cause damage to your soft tissues. Spinal manipulations can help with excessive inflammation.
Your chiropractor can also use spinal manipulations and other methods to reduce pain, as your body produces pain-reducing hormones like oxytocin, neurotensin, and cortisol during chiropractic adjustments.
If you have been struggling with a limited range of motion following your accident, your chiropractor can help you recover your range of motion through chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy.
Allowing a chiropractor to help you can also speed up your healing process. Using healing massage therapy, your chiropractor can break up the forming scar tissue to reduce feelings of pain and discomfort.
Avoid the need for a more invasive surgery by addressing your symptoms before they worsen. The sooner you see a medical professional about your injuries, the more available treatment options. Waiting until the pain is unbearable often limits your options to invasive surgery to fix the issue.
Questions Your Chiropractor May Ask to Assess Your Pain
Knowing what to expect before you visit a chiropractor for the first time may help alleviate some of the anxiety before your appointment. Your chiropractor will ask you several questions to help determine the best treatment plan for you.
These questions could look like this:
- Do you have a prior history of back or neck pain?
- Can you rate the severity of your pain from 1 to 10?
- How long ago did the accident occur?
- Did you experience a head-on, rear, or side-impact collision?
- How fast were the cars going at the time of the accident?
- Is the pain radiating from anywhere specific?
Finding a Chiropractor in Utah to Help After Your Car Accident
If you or someone you love has suffered injuries following a car accident, don’t wait to seek help from a medical professional. Our compassionate care team at Utah Accident Clinic is here to answer all your questions and help you determine the best treatment plan. Call us today at (801)-701-3271, and get car accident therapy.