By: Dr. Ellis Schauder|December 20, 2022
When you need chiropractic care after a car accident, call 407-275-6700 to schedule an appointment with Schauder Chiropractic in Orlando, Florida!
After a car accident, you may experience pain and injuries that might take a long time to heal. While cuts and bruises will fade relatively quickly, muscle stiffness and other common car accident injuries take longer to resolve. In such cases, chiropractic care can help alleviate pain and promote healing.
When you need an auto accident injury doctor in Orlando, FL, you can rely on our professionals at Schauder Chiropractic & Wellness Center. Our team will efficiently diagnose your injuries and provide medical and chiropractic treatment to bring you back to optimal health.
Let’s look at some of the most common injuries resulting from a car accident and how they can affect you.
Five Common Car Accident Injuries Chiropractors Can Help With
Often, people do not realize they have common car accident injuries until a few weeks after the accident. Some injuries can take weeks, even months, to appear. If you have had a car accident and started experiencing any of these issues, they may be a result of that accident.
Whiplash
Whiplash happens when the accident forces the head and neck to move unnaturally or unexpectedly. Sudden head and neck movements resulting from the amount of force in a car accident can:
- Tear muscles
- Cause dislocations
- Lead to swelling and inflammation
- Cause spinal cord injuries, like hernias
- Lead to traumatic brain injuries
A person unable to move their head or neck without pain or stiffness after an accident usually has whiplash. In addition to those tell-tale signs, take note of possible headaches, dizziness, and numbness in your arms or legs.
Neck & Shoulder Pain
Although seemingly similar to whiplash, neck and shoulder pain have somewhat different symptoms and causes. Soft tissue injuries often cause these pains instead of a whipped head and neck. Neither kind of pain should immediately cause unconsciousness, dizziness, or headaches.
While neck and shoulder pain isn’t the same as whiplash, it can still cause discomfort in daily activities. Even something as simple as sitting and eating or hugging your loved ones can make you sore. These pains can escalate into headaches and stiffness if you do not treat the underlying causes.
Back Pain
Back pain is one of the most common car accident injuries worldwide. It usually occurs in the mid to lower back but can happen in the upper back. Many internal issues can cause back pain, including:
- Compressed nerves
- Muscle strains and sprains
- Spinal cord injuries
- Mechanical or soft tissue injuries
- Bone fractures
- Dislocations
Although you can usually recover naturally from other sprains or strains, back pain in this situation often indicates underlying problems. This issue, like neck and shoulder pain, can lead to complications in completing daily activities, including eating, sleeping, and maintaining cleanliness. You should always seek medical assistance for back pain after a car accident.
Arm and Leg Pain
During an accident, you may raise your arms to protect yourself, or your body may stiffen in preparation. Additionally, impact can affect your legs, causing internal muscle injuries. As a result, you may have more than cuts and bruises on your arms and legs.
Knee injuries often result from temporary joint dislocations during the crash. Other nerve damage and muscle soreness can appear as your adrenaline levels decrease. Even if the pain does not appear immediately after the crash, it may have a connection to it.
Head Injuries and Concussions
You may have a concussion if you experience dizziness or headaches after a car accident. Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries often occur from a blow to the head. They may lead to memory problems, discoordination, and an inability to concentrate.
While chiropractic care does not treat a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) directly, a chiropractor’s treatment can address the resulting stiffness and pain. These doctors has various diagnostic tools to determine the difference between other pains and TBIs and will ensure that you receive the proper medical treatment with the designated medical specialists to reduce the possibility of long-lasting brain damage.
What Chiropractic Care Does for You
In truth, common car accident injuries often take several weeks or months to heal. During that time, your body changes either for better or for worse. You can take some control over the process with chiropractic care.
Chiropractic doctors use a variety of methods to help you return to normal ranges of motion without pain. Treatment practices help alleviate and manage pain naturally without prescription medication, sometimes alongside other medical treatments. Chiropractors do not leave you with temporary solutions but instead help you build long-term management skills to improve your health.
Many chiropractic treatment plans include exercises and holistic methods of improving your health. Some practices may offer daily regimens, pain monitoring, or massage therapy. Chiropractic care does not rely only on medication, allowing you to recover with fewer chances for opioid addiction than using painkillers.
When You Should See a Chiropractor
Many people fail to seek medical care because they do not think the accident was severe enough to cause an injury. However, car accidents do not need to total a car to cause pain. Accidents as slow as 5 miles per hour can lead to internal injuries.
If you feel any discomfort after an accident, you should always seek medical treatment. Since Florida is a no-fault state, a time limit exists for using your personal injury protection insurance (PIP) within 14 days of the accident.
Call Us at Schauder Chiropractic in Orlando, Florida
At Schauder Chiropractic & Wellness Center, we have worked for over 30 years to give patients the reins to their own recovery. We treat common car accident injuries and pain so patients can adapt and improve their health. Our team provides the best customer service possible, always addressing concerns quickly.
We serve Orlando, FL, and surrounding areas with top-quality care and industry-leading tools. Now that you know when to see a car accident chiropractor, call us at Schauder Chiropractic & Wellness Center at 407-275-6700.
