Car accidents can result in whiplash and other injuries that may be hidden at first. Chiropractic care can help ensure that these injuries and any pain are addressed and treated before becoming chronic.

Chiropractors report that many car accidents result in injuries that can be helped by undergoing prompt and effective chiropractic care and specific customized treatments.

Not seeking proper treatment right away after a motor vehicle accident can result in long-term injury-related complications like chronic pain, arthritis, and other consequences.

Sobering Statistics on Car Crashes in the United States

More than 2.5 million people sought emergency treatment following a car crash in 2012. Of that number, more than 200,000 where subsequently hospitalized for their car crash injuries. This number has continued to grow through the last 10 years, and injuries sustained in a car wreck are increasing the numbers of disabilities, money spent on medical care and other important statistics here in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the U.S.

Teens and young adults are involved in more motor vehicle crashes each year, and distracted driving is a leading cause of many of these accident events. This number has continued to rise since the latest data on distracted driving from 2018.

Whiplash Injuries Are Common Following Motor Vehicle Accidents but Are Often Overlooked

Whiplash injuries result from the forceful impact that a car or other motor vehicle accident can cause. Oftentimes, these whiplash injuries are overlooked in the immediate aftermath of an accidental event. This is often due to whiplash symptoms’ propensity to appear normal until a few hours or days after the frightening event.

Undiagnosed and untreated whiplash injuries sustained in a car crash are the leading causes of ongoing post-accident injuries like continued pain and joint-related stiffness or arthritis if the injuries become chronic in nature over time.

Seeking prompt and effective chiropractic treatment can help to avoid these serious post-crash complications. While in the immediate aftermath of a car accident, the priority is to seek qualified emergency medical treatment at an ER or other emergency care center, some injuries, including whiplash, go undiscovered until the patient notices continued pain and motion injury symptoms later on.

Untreated Whiplash Injuries Due to a Motor Vehicle Accident Can Be Debilitating

The rapid back and forth motion that car crashes can cause the head and body to do often results in widespread whiplash-related injuries that can be found and felt throughout the body. Most people only consider whiplash injuries if the pain or symptoms are felt in the neck or head directly after the impact of the crash.

This is not always how these injuries first present themselves, however. Patients may not realize that their other bodily injuries felt in farther away body areas may in fact have been caused by that whiplash motion sustained as the car and body met with the intense force of impact.

Seeking Chiropractic Care Can Minimize Lingering Injury Symptoms in Many Cases

People who develop arthritis may not fully understand how this occurs. Oftentimes, there is an initial injury to a joint or bone that occurs due to some trauma that could have happened years and decades prior to the onset of noticeable arthritis symptoms.

Sadly, some of those symptoms may have been present all along, and the delay in seeking the proper treatment could mean that the injuries have caused chronic problems like continued pain, joint stiffness, mobility issues, and other post-traumatic injury-related symptoms and consequences.

Consider the following examples. A star track runner in high school could have hurt their knee or ankle during a competitive track meet or during practice. Although the initial injury is usually treated and symptoms typically resolve, there could be underlying injuries that were not fully healed or addressed at that time.

The result could be a diagnosis of arthritis in those joints in later life. Sometimes, as the person ages, they may note some minor issues related to their past knee or ankle injury. These could be a knee slipping when under more intense pressure like running or climbing lots of stairs. This may result in medical treatment for the injury symptoms, but not all medical doctors will connect that incident with previous ones that began when the patient was a teen involved in sports for instance.

Understanding How Widespread Whiplash Injury Symptoms Can Be

Here are just a few examples of widespread whiplash-related injury symptoms. These include:

  • Headaches
  • Neck pain or stiffness
  • Back related discomforts
  • Vertigo – balance issues
  • Dizziness
  • Foggy thoughts or decreased mental focus
  • Pinched nerves
  • Muscle spasms
  • Shoulder pain
  • Nausea or other gastrointestinal complaints
  • Numbness, lack of feeling or tingling in upper extremities
  • Problems with movement or mobility

It is easy to see how medical doctors may miss the first whiplash-related symptoms. These often seem unrelated and not a part of the initial car accident event.

Seeking the professional services of a team of knowledgeable and skilled chiropractors may help to pinpoint the true causes of the troubling symptoms. Patients who have been in a car collision and then develop concerning symptoms later down the road should report these findings to their healthcare team. This can help to diagnose and then accurately treat the underlying causes of those symptoms and not just treat the symptom itself.

Consider Seeking Chiropractic Care for Herniated Discs or Other Back/Spinal Problem

 

There are other symptoms that may have first been initiated due to a motor vehicle-related accident. These often involve the back, spine, or neck. One of the most common symptoms that encourage patients to seek treatment is pain in the back or neck areas. This can become worsened due to movements, and the patient may notice stiffness and other discomforts upon arising in the morning after sleeping.

Oftentimes, there was an accidental event, like a sports injury or traumatic car crash, that caused the beginning of these symptoms. The problems may have appeared to resolve long ago but then reappear later in life as back or neck stiffness, low back or lumbar pain, difficulties in moving from side to side, or other symptoms.

Even though the initial injury event may have happened years or decades ago, a competent chiropractor can begin to connect the dots and develop an appropriate and personalized care treatment plan to help undo some of the damages and lessen and hopefully resolve many of those troubling symptoms.

Disc Herniation Symptoms Can Differ Between Patients

Not all symptoms related to disc herniation are completely the same. In fact, patients can note a wide variety of symptoms that may not at first seem to relate to a disc type of injury. Therefore, seeking the expert services of a seasoned team of chiropractors familiar with all phases of disc herniation symptoms, especially those related to car accidents, is a wise move.

What Happens When a Disc Becomes Herniated?

The pain that patients feel due to a disc herniation can seem to go from normal to intense and unbearable seemingly in an instant. This is a common theme in various patient reports of symptoms. Others will have continuous pain that appears debilitating and demands a quick resolution.

What Causes the Pain When a Disc Herniates?

A herniated disc occurs when the cushioned layers between the discs that make up the spinal column becomes worn or pushed out due to a traumatic event of some sort. This often occurs during a forceful impact of a car crash or other strong forceful event. At first, the symptoms may appear to resolve or perhaps the patient never really felt much in the initial stages.

Later, over time, those layers that have lost some of their cushion begins to wear down causing the vertebral discs to rub against each other during movements like bending over or turning to the side. The result can be an intense and stabbing pain. If this continues for a long time, arthritis can also set in making the pain and other unwanted symptoms even worse.

Available Treatments for a Herniated Disc Explained

There are several treatments for a herniated disc. Surgical intervention is often warranted in the most severe cases. However, many herniated disc symptoms can be monitored and treated without surgery especially in the early stages. Experienced chiropractors familiar with treating car accident victims can perform precise spine, back and neck manipulations that can relieve the pressure on those vulnerable discs and reduce or resolve the associated pain as well.

Surgery for a Herniated Disc Comes with a Few Risks

Many individuals are leery about undergoing surgery for a herniated disc due to the possible risk factors. Any surgery that involves the spine, neck, or back comes with risks related to complications from general anesthesia, possible surgical complications that will not completely resolve the initial pain or other symptoms completely. Paralysis or other serious surgical complications may occur in rare cases.

Other patients may have chronic or serious health conditions that make undergoing a surgery more of a risk. There are some less risky treatments that many patients respond well to that do not involve surgery. These treatments include pain-relieving medications and chiropractic treatment.

A good rule of thumb is to start with the treatment measure that is considered the least risky. This can include seeking competent chiropractic care for a herniated disc or other related treatment measures.

In-Depth Chiropractic Care & Assessment Can Address Your Specific Pain Level

 

Many individuals involved in injury-causing motor vehicle accidents experience pain that lingers for a longer time following the initial event. This pain level can range from mild to severe, and each patient will have their own unique ability to tolerate pain as well that should be addressed.

Addictive Pain Medications Are Risky for Seniors or Those with Balance or Other Chronic Health Issues

Oftentimes, older individuals and those with balance or mobility issues dislike having to take strong narcotic pain relievers to lessen their pain levels and make life more tolerable after an accidental event such as a car crash. These strong narcotics can impact a person’s mental focus, disrupt sleep, cause extreme daytime fatigue, and otherwise result in a less than ideal lifestyle moving forward.

Strong Pain Narcotics Are Addictive & Should Not Be Taken Long-Term if Possible

Strong pain medications can also cause dizziness and balance issues which are especially troublesome and concerning when the patient is of an older age. The risks of falling increase when taking these drugs. The drugs are also addictive, and this can cause a serious problem if taken long-term for chronic types of pain and discomfort.

Chiropractic Treatment Can Be a Better Choice for Pain Management of Car Accident Injuries

Many individuals find that chiropractic treatment is a safer alternative to risky treatments like surgery under general anesthesia or the taking of powerful but addictive pain medications. A chiropractor also seeks to find and pinpoint the exact underlying causes of the pain and not just treat the symptoms.

This can result in better management of pain, and hopefully, complete resolution of any lingering pain or other symptoms that come from car accident injuries for some patients.

Chiropractors are trained to assess and accurately pinpoint hidden causes of a person’s pain and other symptoms. They are experienced in taking the least risky path of treatment that still accurately addresses and manages the person’s pain level throughout the treatment regimen.

Pain management is an essential component of top-notch chiropractic care and treatments for accident victims and others with ongoing pain and discomforting symptoms.

Conclusion

Car accidents can cause various injuries that can disrupt a person’s lifestyle tremendously. Chiropractic treatment seeks to understand the patient’s unique pain level and other symptoms by determining the underlying causes of the discomforts. Chiropractic care may also help to manage pain, improve flexibility and treat a wide variety of musculoskeletal problems.

Get in touch with Structural Chiropractic in Redmond by phoning (425) 636-0303 to schedule a complimentary consultation. Visit the website via https://structuralchiro.com online anytime.