Pain and injury after a car accident are normal. Sometimes even a minor car accident can leave you with severe body injuries. Regardless of how serious the accident was, it’s advisable to seek medical attention immediately after the incident for an evaluation.
Some serious injuries may take a while to show symptoms, and an early medical evaluation will ensure your doctor spots these injuries before they do serious damage to your body. If you experience physical pain following a car wreck, there are several ways a chiropractor can help.
1. Treating Invisible Injuries
After a car wreck, you may sustain injuries that are not visible. Such injuries include internal pain and misalignment of muscles and joints visible through X-rays or felt through exerting pressure. A professional and experienced car accident chiropractor will diagnose the cause of the injury from just one consultation.
2. Easing Inflammation
Even minor car accidents may lead to lasting swelling and inflammations that are uncomfortable and painful to handle. Chiropractor professionals are trained to spot even the smallest tears that X-ray machines can’t scan.
These small tears in your muscles could be the root source of the inflammation and the pain experienced after an accident. A chiropractor will manipulate your spine to release anti-inflammatory substances known as IL-6 that helps fight developing serious injuries.
3. Reduction of Scar Tissue
Scar tissue forms both internally and externally. After an accident, it’s common for muscles to develop scar tissue as the body is trying to recover naturally. Some of these issues may turn into stiffness affecting the body’s natural flexibility and movement.
Chiropractors are quite knowledgeable and will spot which muscles are more affected by scar tissues. They will manipulate these muscles to reduce the amount of scar tissues in them to boost mobility.
4. Will Alleviate Body Pain
After a car accident, it’s common for a patient to experience widespread pain throughout their body. Chiropractic treatment will help alleviate the pain by releasing pain-reducing hormones that act on the entire body, including the injured site.
5. Reduce the Chances of Long-Term Effects of an Accident
Chiropractic therapy will treat more than the immediate health issues. The therapy also helps patients stop patterns that may result in long-lasting injuries and disability. These injuries may include:
- Whiplash
- Soft tissue injuries
- Lower back pains
- Muscle and neck pains
- Headaches
Some of these problems may cause permanent body issues years after the accident. One of the benefits of chiropractic therapy is the ability to spot and treat these issues before they become potential problems for the patient.
6. Helps You Avoid Pain Medication Addiction
Chiropractic therapy offers pain relief without using pain medications. One of the biggest problems of using pain meds is the high rate of addiction. Sometimes patients may even experience withdrawal after taking the medication for a few days or end up addicted unintentionally. With Chiropractic treatment, you will be treating the pain and its source instead of masking it as painkillers do.
7. It’s a Non-Invasive Treatment Option
Today, most doctors will quickly prescribe surgery after a car accident injury. While some injuries may not be very serious, you may still require surgery if you wait too long to seek treatment. A car accident chiropractor can offer you alternative non-invasive remedies to help you avoid surgery.
What To Expect When Visiting a Chiropractor for the First Time
Your chiropractor will use their hands to manually manipulate your muscles and joints to release the pain and pressure from your body’s injured nerves. Your doctor may not use their hands only. They may also use a mixture of heat, exercises, ice and massages to manipulate your spine and muscles.
If you’re involved in an accident, remember to make an appointment with a car accident chiropractor for an evaluation.
