You’re minding your own business as you’re out and about driving, and suddenly you find yourself in an accident. Regardless of who’s at fault, the human body is not designed to take that kind of impact.

You may not feel it right away, but chances are you will be sore following an accident. It could even be years before you feel the full extent of the injuries from the collision. That happens because small injuries left untreated will compound over time until you can’t ignore them anymore.

That’s why it’s so important to see a chiropractor after an accident. The jarring that happens during the collision can injure your spine, and a chiropractor can help prevent long-term damage. Consider these eight benefits you can expect by seeing a chiropractor right away after you’ve been involved in a car accident.

1. Relieve Pain

One of the chief complaints that people have after an accident is pain over the following days. The cause of this discomfort can be anything from strained muscles, bruises, or even broken bones. While a chiropractor cannot help a broken heal more quickly, they can still help with the pain.

Chiropractic care often has a pain-relieving effect across the entire body, not just where they focus on the adjustment. This relief happens because spinal manipulation releases pain-relieving hormones like oxytocin, which affect the entire body.

When the body is injured, especially the spine, the body will work to protect itself. This often means that muscles around the injured area will tighten to prevent further injury. Unfortunately, this often leads to chronic pain, preventing the injury from fully healing. Part of chiropractic care is helping the body release these muscle splints, helping the body heal, and preventing chronic pain.

2. Reduce Inflammation

Any injury the body sustains usually results in inflammation. This is fluid the body releases around an injured area to help protect it from additional injury. After a car accident, you may have inflammation in your spine, neck, hands, or even around the ribs.

Clinical trials have demonstrated that spinal manipulation is effective in lowering inflammatory components in the blood. This means that simply receiving proper spinal adjustments will help reduce inflammation after your accident.

3. Assist Whiplash Recovery

One of the injuries most commonly associated with car accidents is whiplash. This happens because of the rapid back and forth movement of the neck. Whiplash strains the muscles due to hyperextension forward and backward.

While spinal manipulation is what chiropractors are most commonly known for, there is more to chiropractic care for whiplash. Your treatment may also include muscle relaxation and stimulation.

Additionally, your chiropractor may offer advice on how to move your body properly to avoid further neck strain. This may include both tips for normal movements and special exercises for strengthening the neck muscles.

4. Reduce Scar Tissue Formation

Many injuries to the body form scar tissue, which is the body’s natural response to healing damaged tissue. Unfortunately, when that scar tissue forms beneath the skin’s surface, it can further exacerbate other problems related to your accident.

The collagen that forms scar tissue does not necessarily form in the same way as the original tissue. This sometimes leads to anything from restricted mobility to additional long-term pain. Chiropractic care, especially when combined with deep tissue massage, helps break up that excess collagen, and prevent scar-related complications.

5. Improve Range of Motion

A very common complaint following an accident is that you may not have the full range of motion in your neck, arms, or even legs. This often happens because of the inflammation caused by injury to the neck and spine.

By focusing on mobilizing these areas, chiropractic care removes the body’s need for inflammation. This helps you to quickly regain the same range of motion you had before your accident.

6. Avoid Invasive Treatments

It’s understandable that you may not want to pursue surgical treatment for the pain caused by your car accident. Every surgery comes with its risks, including whether it’ll actually solve the pain and future complications.

Often, the need for surgery occurs when an injury has caused significant damage to the spine or nerves. That damage is often because of a neglect of initial symptoms until it becomes unbearable. When you seek chiropractic care early, you give the body the support needed to heal itself as it’s designed to do. This both reduces your pain early on and avoids invasive surgery down the road.

7. No Risks of Addiction

Whenever you experience a physical trauma that leads to pain, forming an addiction to pain medications is a legitimate concern. After all, you need some relief from the pain to continue functioning, but those pain meds never solve the underlying problem. This leads to a cycle of long-term use with diminishing results.

Chiropractic care has no risk of forming an addiction while relieving your pain. Rather, it works with your body to do what it should be doing on its own, including releasing pain-killing hormones. This gives you the benefits of reduced pain while sparing you the difficult journey of a preventable addiction.

8. Evaluate Need for Legal Counsel

No one wants to think about taking legal action after an accident. However, sometimes injuries pose a significant enough problem to warrant it, and taking action early gives you the best chance of receiving compensation for those injuries.

While legal matters are not the expertise of chiropractors, a trained and experienced practitioner can help guide you. When you seek chiropractic care quickly, your doctor may recommend seeking legal counsel based on their evaluation of your injuries and can provide needed documentation.

If live near Redmond, call (425) 636-0303 to schedule your initial visit your initial post-accident chiropractic visit to get started relieving the pain today.