Author: Dr. Tyler J Tonso, DC
Auto accidents unfortunately happen at inopportune times. In and around Cheyenne, with our varying degrees of weather consisting of snow, ice, wind, and fog, we are no exception. It’s common for people to ignore seeking treatment after an auto accident and instead try to mask the pain afterwards with NSAIDs and muscle relaxers. In fact, people are often more worried about their car than they are themselves. However, many people don’t quite understand that merely masking the symptoms with medication can have detrimental effects for them in the future and lead to long term chronic pain.
What Happens To Your Body During an Auto Accident?
The effects on your body of course vary depending on the severity of the auto accident and how the accident happened. Your body is going to have different problems if you’re rear-ended while not seeing the crash coming and not wearing a seatbelt compared to being t-boned from the side while wearing a seatbelt. Some common problems associated with auto accidents include sprains and strains of the muscles and joints throughout the spine. This can lead to headaches, neck pain, changes in vision, memory problems, and even pain with swallowing due to strains in the front of the neck. In severe cases there can be fractures, disc herniations, serious concussions, and other injuries associated with the head. However, the most common injuries consist of whiplash and sprains/strains throughout the cervical spine all the way down to the lumbar spine.
The Importance of Seeking Treatment
Even if the pain or auto accident seems minor, it is important to seek medical attention. It is often common for people to experience either no pain or mild pain for several days to a week after an accident only to have severe pain gradually increase. It’s also important to get evaluated to ensure there is not a more serious underlying condition. The earlier you get treatment for you injury, the better of you’ll be.
Whiplash
When people are in auto accidents and get whiplash, there ends up being micro-tears along the joints throughout the neck. This leads to instability, inflammation, and if untreated can lead to long term chronic pain as the body does not heal correctly and lies down scar tissue throughout the injured areas. Seeking treatment consisting of exercises, chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, and modalities to help with healing and inflammation are imperative to ensure the areas heal correctly and do not lead to chronic issues.
Chiropractic adjustments will help restore proper motion to the joints since muscle spasms after an auto accident lead to tightness and abnormal joint motion. This also leads to what some people call a “straight neck”. Other modalities such as massage therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, kinesiotape, electrical stimulation, and exercises will help increase healing and decrease scar tissue formation in and around the joints of the injured area. This increases healing, decreases long term pain, and ensures there is a proper return to your pre-injury status.
The effects of Kinesio Tape
Hate To Use your Medical Auto Insurance?
People are often afraid or discouraged to use their medical on their auto insurance. Why should you be? Usually treatment is 100% covered and there is no deductible. You pay the premium every year and if you are injured in an accident, that’s what it’s for! It’s no different than paying the premium for your medical insurance and then not using it if you have a medical problem. People think that if they aren’t in a serious accident they shouldn’t use it but that isn’t the case. You should by all means use this coverage to ensure you get back to pre-injury status.
If you have any questions about your auto insurance medical coverage feel free to give our staff a call and we can help with any information.