Once you’ve exchanged insurance information and talked with the police after a motor vehicle accident, consider making a call to a chiropractor in your local area your next move. A post-crash exam from a doctor of chiropractic care can be a crucial move—even if you initially feel minimal or no symptoms.
Chiropractic Care for Accident-Related Injuries
A chiropractor can provide car accident medical treatment, providing pain relief for numerous automobile accident injuries like:
- Whiplash
- Back pain and stiffness
- Sciatica
- Headaches
- Pulled muscles
- Dizziness
- Numbness and tingling in the extremities
- Pulled muscles
- Pinched nerves
- And more
Painkillers merely mask these symptoms, and you likely don’t want to undergo surgery if it can be avoided. However, chiropractic care can address the underlying issues without resorting to medications or invasive surgical procedures. Chiropractic treatment may be exactly what you need to recover fully.
Whiplash of the Neck After an Auto Accident
Whiplash of the neck is one of the most common injuries sustained during a motor vehicle crash, especially if you’ve experienced a rear-end impact. Interestingly, whiplash can take a few days to manifest symptoms fully. However, it can cause years of agony without prompt treatment interventions.
Many people leave the scene of low-speed auto accidents without feeling any immediate signs of injury. But whiplash is well-known for having its symptoms turn up later. These symptoms may include:
- Neck pain
- Stiffness
- Dizziness
- Tingling or numbness in the extremities
- Headaches and migraines
- Ringing in the ears
- Focus and vision problems
- Lost range of motion
When a vehicle accident causes the head to whip back and forth, the spinal vertebrae are knocked about, which can result in small tears to the surrounding muscles. The tendons and ligaments in the neck may be overextended, as well. As the hours and days pass, the body’s inflammatory response, which kicks in to heal these injuries, may cause an increase in pain and stiffness. When the spinal vertebrae are misaligned, they can pinch or irritate nerves and put undue stress on the intervertebral discs, which can also cause a variety of symptoms.
Furthermore, the same forces of impact that cause whiplash can also cause extremity and back pain and injury after a vehicle accident. Painkillers may hide the symptoms of pain temporarily, but chiropractic care can correct the underlying problems causing the pain. Thus, chiropractic care provides lasting recovery without using drugs or invasive procedures.
Get Chiropractic Care for Recovery from Automobile Accident Injury
By now, you should understand that prompt, post-accident chiropractic care can address your immediate pain relief needs and help you recover from injury. A chiropractor can realign out-of-place neck and back vertebrae gently and deftly. He or she can also provide soft tissue physiotherapy to rehabilitate your stiff and sore muscles. Lastly, your chiropractor can provide the medical evidence confirming your need for treatment should you have to file a personal injury claim to recoup what you have lost in the accident.
To find out more about how chiropractic care can help you after your accident-related injury, contact a chiropractor in your local area today.