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Originally Posted On: https://drcalvinsclinic.com/7-signs-you-need-to-visit-a-chiropractor-after-a-car-wreck/
Recent statistics from the National Safety Council show that about 4.8 million people experienced serious injuries from a car wreck in 2020. Also, in 2020, the total cost of car accidents was $474 billion.
When you suffer from car accident injuries, it is more than painful. You are compounding the stress you are under because you have property damage and damage to your body. What you need is for a medical expert to not only diagnose you but to create a treatment plan to make you better.
How do you know if chiropractor care can help you feel better after a vehicle accident? If you experience these signs, schedule a chiropractor visit ASAP.
1. Pain
Common areas of injury after a vehicle accident include the back, neck, and joints. However, whiplash is the most well-known common car accident injury.
Whiplash alone is rarely a permanent condition. However, there is pain that accompanies whiplash that could show a more serious issue. A car accident can cause severe back and neck injuries, which is why you need to seek medical attention to identify a serious injury.
Contusions and bruises are common car accident injuries, too, and these will heal within a matter of weeks typically. The impact of a car accident could also cause broken bones and fractures. Rarely is a broken bone permanent or life-threatening, but it takes time to heal, and sometimes, surgery.
To help ease pain, you may wish to consider a chiropractor visit as part of your treatment plan.
2. Stiffness
Some people may not experience pain following a vehicle accident but will experience stiffness. The most common area for stiffness following a car accident is the upper body, which includes your upper back, shoulders, arms, head, and neck.
If you feel stiff, this could show pain in the future. It is best to seek chiropractic care for a full range of motion. This will help prevent additional damage to your health.
3. Numbness
This can happen if there is damage to your spine or nerves. You can experience numbness and tingling sensations if you have:
- Compressed nerves
- Herniated discs
- Pinched nerves
- Severed nerves
- Spinal disc misalignment
Common ways to incur these injuries are neck and back injuries resulting from a car accident. Unfortunately, tingling and numbness are common symptoms, but also overlooked symptoms.
Physical therapy and anti-inflammatories could help numbness, as well as exercise. For more serious cases, you will need additional help. If you have numbness, seek chiropractic care right away.
4. Inflammation
During a chiropractic visit after an auto accident, a chiropractor can also help you treat inflammation. While this may be a natural way for your body to respond, it is still uncomfortable, even painful.
Inflammation occurs because your body tells the white blood cells to help heal your areas of injury. This results in redness, tenderness, swelling, and heat to your injuries. Chiropractic care can help reduce inflammation that results from car accident injuries.
5. Headaches
Following a car accident, this is often a post-traumatic headache. It may not start right away either, or in this case, they call it a delayed-onset post-traumatic headache. The typical cause is whiplash, a concussion, or a blow to the head.
When you suffer from an impact on your head resulting from a vehicle accident, it can turn into a consistent headache. With enough impact, you may suffer from a concussion.
A concussion is a traumatic brain injury. You can experience a concussion with or without losing consciousness. It can also result in temporary cognitive symptoms.
Symptoms of a concussion include excessive fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, lack of coordination, confusion, and headache.
You will want to seek medical attention if you are experiencing a dull aching in your head, tightness or pressure across the forehead, or pressure on the side or back of the head. Further, if your scalp, shoulders, or neck feels tender following a car accident, see the help of a medical professional.
6. Trouble Sleeping
The pain you feel from car accident injuries can often lead to sleep disturbance or insomnia. Not only could you experience discomfort physically, but you may also experience emotional and psychological damage. Such damage can be just as harmful to your quality of life.
With emotional and psychological damage, there could be a delayed onset. It may even develop.
At your chiropractic visit, you will want to discuss all your symptoms. To heal, you need a comprehensive treatment plan.
7. Your Recovery Speed Is Slow
Chiropractic care can improve the speed at which you recover because of the special training and knowledge that a professional chiropractor has. Chiropractors know the human body, and they understand how it functions. That is why they can find treatment plans that are non-invasive.
If you do not recover as quickly as you would like to, a chiropractor visit following a vehicle accident will prove to be most beneficial.
When a Car Wreck Causes Injury
Regardless of if a car wreck is your fault or the fault of another party, when you sustain an injury, you need help. Do not suffer in silence.
Dr. Calvin’s Clinic has a simple approach because they understand that your most valuable possession is your health. Therefore, Dr. Calvin’s Clinic sees care in these three types: pain relief care first, corrective care second, and wellness care third. They will address what is causing your pain instead of targeting the symptom.
Don’t wait to get relief. Schedule an appointment online today with Dr. Calvin’s Clinic or call 801-797-2330.
