Car wrecks are never fun and exciting, even though Hollywood dramatizes the experience. Auto accidents lead to property damage, bodily injury, and can be the cause of chronic conditions that may take months or years to heal, if they heal at all. Even minor car accidents can result in thousands of dollars in damages.

If you were involved in an auto accident, even if it was minor, failure to see a chiropractic specialist could further impair your road to recovery. Some individuals claim that chiropractic, “saved their life”, while others “don’t believe in that.” How could chiropractic affect your body’s ability to heal and recover, and what are a few of the many benefits of chiropractic care after an auto accident?

Many people involved in a minor auto accident do not even think to see a chiropractor, even though there is plenty of evidence that the chiropractor’s office is the best solution for most accident related musculoskeletal injuries. Additionally, chiropractic care typically does not involve drugs or surgery, so the risk of side effects are lessened as well.

Surgery and medications are usually the go-to treatments for car accident injury victims in emergency room and primary care offices, while chiropractic doctors who specialize in treating accident injuries are able to provide more conservative solutions.

3 Benefits of Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident:

1. Identify ALL of the injured areas

Broken bones, cuts, bruises, lacerations, and other easily visible injuries on the surface of the skin will be easy to identify after an auto accident. Unfortunately, other soft tissue and connective tissue injuries may be harder to identify.

Whiplash may be felt within 24 hours of an accident, but in some situations may not be felt for a few days. Pain, stiffness, dizziness, nausea, upper back pain, shoulder tightness, and headaches are frequently associated with whiplash symptoms.

Auto accidents lead to biomechanical injuries, injuries that affect movement. Chiropractors at Synergy Chiropractic of Houston are trained in the evaluation and diagnosis of biomechanical injuries, and are able to gather advanced imaging studies that can demonstrate biomechanical injury. Specific types of x-rays are one example of how the chiropractors at Synergy Chiropractic of Houston are able to get to the cause of the injury.

For example, this image demonstrates that the neck (cervical spine) does not have a fracture, and generally speaking, the patient would be released from the emergency room with a prescription for muscle relaxers and pain relievers.

Fortunately for the patient, specialized x-rays were requested that showed a significant problem (ligament tear) that resulted from the auto accident.

2. Reduce Inflammation

Injuries, even small ones, create micro-tears in the ligaments, tendons, and muscles. These common injuries accompany auto accidents, even at low impact speeds. Due to the limitations of x-rays, which are used to identify fractures and other bony abnormalities, many injuries are dismissed and covered up with muscle relaxers and pain relievers.

Damage to soft tissues are the main reason for stiffness, soreness, and pain even if the x-ray was “normal.”

Chiropractic doctors are able to support the inflammatory response through a variety of therapeutic approaches. At Synergy Chiropractic of Houston, some of the modalities we incorporate include:

• acupuncture
• dry needling
• ice
• chiropractic manipulation
• intersegmental traction
• massage
• trigger point therapy
• cupping
• stretching
• active rehabilitation
• electrotherapy

When you are involved in a car accident, micro-tears in the ligaments and muscles are a common injury, and unfortunately, an x-ray is not going to catch them.

These tears in the muscles are the main reason people wake up after a car crash in severe pain wondering what is wrong because their X-rays looked normal.

3. Avoid Long-Term Pain

Minor car accident injuries can become serious long-term problems if the conditions are left untreated. The best way to deal with a whiplash injury is to catch it early on. This means, if you were involved in a car accident, do not wait to seek treatment until you feel pain.

Postponing treatment for whiplash related injuries is the major cause for allowing a seemingly minor accident to turn into a chronic, long term, injury. A 1998 study on whiplash showed that injuries can be sustained at low speeds, even as slow as 8 km per hour. 

Ignoring a potential injury can lead to long-term pain,  which is why it is essential to see a chiropractor immediately following your accident so they can properly diagnose your injuries and start you on a treatment plan before the pain become unbearable.

A study on whiplash recovery time published in 2005 showed that 71% of people surveyed had some whiplash symptoms (such as chronic pain or headaches) for more than 7 years after they sustained their injury, and that whiplash took 2 years to stabilize.

Similarly, a 2001 Danish study found that whiplash victims who suffered more serious neck pain and stiffness immediately after a car accident were more likely to remain disabled a year later, with no obvious physical cause for their lingering problems.

Take Advantage of Chiropractic Care

Injuries from car wrecks can lead to long term issues when they are misdiagnosed and ineffectively treated. We recommend that every individual involved in an auto accident (whether it was your fault or not) be evaluated by a chiropractic doctor trained in the management of auto accident injuries (yes, even if that means you do not see the chiropractors at Synergy Chiropractic of Houston). Chiropractic treatment after an auto accident can help you get back to your pre-injury health life.

We would love to be a resource for you and your loved ones. Contact our office with questions or to schedule an evaluation of your recent injuries. If we are not the chiropractic office to help you, we will direct you to a doctor that is in your best interest.