An unfortunate fact of life is that car accidents happen all the time. Five million Americans were in car accidents in 2020, according to the Department of Transportation. Fortunately, car safety rules – like wearing your seatbelt – mean that the injuries caused by car accidents are often minor.
Regardless of the severity of the accident or the injuries, being in a car accident is a shock to the system – both physically and emotionally. Should you see a chiropractor after a car accident? Absolutely.
If you or a family member have recently been in a car accident, we’re here to help. There are many benefits of seeing a chiropractor after a car accident but the most important thing is that you seek medical attention even if you don’t have any obvious or urgent injuries. The quicker you do this, the better.
What are the most common injuries caused by car accidents?
There’s studies that show how chiropractic care improves the most common injuries caused by car accidents. The study also shows that the quicker someone seeks treatment, the better their recovery.
You may feel fine immediately after your accident and find yourself questioning should you see a chiropractor after a car accident. Even minor car accidents knock you around and it’s likely that your muscles and joints are damaged, even if you don’t feel different.
Chiropractic care helps with the most common injuries caused by car accidents:
- Whiplash: is caused when the neck moves forcefully back and forward, causing a stiff neck.
- Back and neck pain: commonly your spinal area is injured during a car accident causing back and neck pain.
- Headaches: can occur when whiplash, back and neck pain are left untreated.
What are the benefits of seeing a chiropractor after a car accident?
1. Chiropractic care will treat hidden injuries
Sometimes pain does not appear immediately after the accident. As chiropractors, we’re able to treat and diagnose a wide range of injuries and diseases – even those that are not yet manifesting in pain or swelling.
As we use a whole-body approach to treatment, instead of looking at a problem in isolation, we’re able to treat an injury that hasn’t appeared as a bruise or pain point.
Our chiro care involves hands-on therapies that target the most common injuries caused by car accidents; neck and back injuries. By ensuring that your joints and bones are in the correct position we’ll help to identify and treat injuries that are hidden.
2. Chiro care will support your body’s natural healing response
Your body’s immune system responds to injury by sending inflammatory cells to the area. These cells trap bacteria before it spreads and begin to heal the damage.
While you can’t see what’s going on a cellular level, you’ll see the swelling, bruising and redness that happens around the injured area. This is inflammation.
This minor and temporary inflammation is your body doing its job – it’s a natural response to injury. Another of the many benefits of seeing a chiropractor after a car accident, is that chiropractic care can support this healing response. We do this through manual adjustments, as well as heat and cooling techniques that decrease ongoing inflammation by improving your circulation and ensuring that you maintain mobility in the area.
3. Chiro care helps to restore your range of movement
After a car accident, you may find you’ve lost range of motion in some areas – most commonly, in your neck. We’ll take the time to understand where you are experiencing a reduced range of motion, and any other concerns that might be causing problems in this area.
Our chiro care gently adjusts the area to effectively get you back to your full range of movement, and back to all the things you love to do.
4. You’ll get drug-free relief
While a seemingly simple and convenient solution to pain is to take pain relief medication, there are sometimes side effects to this solution.
At Gateway to Wellness, we believe our chiro care provides long-term solutions, rather than quick fixes. Our hands on manipulations will both alleviate your pain promptly and provide you with long term relief, without having to rely on medications.
5. Chiro care will reduce the risk of chronic health conditions and the need for future medical care
Unfortunately, there are cases where some people have chronic pain and other long-lasting complications after a car accident.
Thankfully, for most people with whiplash and other common car accident injuries recovery is swift when they seek the right treatment, and when they seek it promptly.
If you’re questioning should you see a chiropractor after a car accident, the answer is yes. We use spinal manipulation to improve joint mobility and ensure your body is in alignment. This reduces muscle tightness and pain allowing tissues to heal.
Those are the five main benefits of seeing a chiropractor after a car accident. Overall, chiropractic care ensures the proper functioning of your nervous and musculoskeletal system, preventing pain and dysfunction before they can occur but especially ensuring that your body can heal after injury.
If you or a family member have experienced a car accident recently, make an appointment with us and we’ll help you heal for the long term.
