Auto Collision Injuries and What to do About Them

   

 For most people, being in a car accident is one of the scariest and most painful events to happen in a person’s life; even a small accident can lead to debilitating pain. After broken bones and life threatening injuries are ruled out or resolved what should you do about other lingering pains? Many doctors will recommend rest and medications, however patients are often looking for more treatment options and a faster recovery time. This is where chiropractic comes in, we offer hands on, fast, and effective relief from pain and faster recovery from injury.

    After an auto accident, symptoms can range from mild aches and pains to severe pain in any part of your body. It is important that severe injury be ruled out in all cases, this can be done in an emergency room, primary care office or even by your chiropractor. Chiropractors go through extensive training to learn how to rule out severe injury to the body and to accurately diagnose the cause and source of pain.   

    Pain experienced after an accident is not always proportionate to the level of damage or severity of the crash, many things need to be taken into account including, but certainly not limited to, angle of the impact, body position, and speed to name a few. When most people think of injury from an auto accident they think of neck pain, while whiplash of the neck is very common, injury to any joints, muscles, and nerves are all just as common after car accidents.

     So where does chiropractic come into play? Chiropractors are highly skilled at treating musculoskeletal pain of any kind, but have been found to be particularly helpful in auto injury recovery! If you find the right chiropractor, they do far more than adjust your spine. Chiropractors can help restore normal motion to your spine as well as other joints in your body, they can also help muscle and ligament injuries heal faster, decrease inflammation and rehabilitate injuries after they have healed. Chiropractors also work with your other healthcare professionals to treat more severe or complex issues.

      In our office, depending on the type and severity of injury, treatments including 

• Adjusting 
• Manual therapy (similar to massage) 
• Light stretching
• Range of motion exercises
• Kinesio taping
• Other modalities 

will be used to help reduce the initial pain and inflammation. This phase typically lasts from 1-3 weeks. As you move from the initial (or Inflammatory) phase of treatment into the recovery phase of treatment you will slowly move from the more passive (in office activities and treatments performed by the doctor) phase treatment plan into more of an active, rehab based phase of treatment designed to strengthen injured muscles, restore movement patterns, range of motion and balance to normal. During this phase you may still receive the passive treatments you did in the initial phase of treatment. As your pain disappears and your function returns to your preinjury status you will be given home care to prevent any symptoms from returning and when we are sure you have recovered fully, you will be released from care. This treatment outline only gives you an idea of what a treatment plan after a car accident may look like, all treatments in our office are tailored for each patient specifically to ensure the fastest and most efficient recovery possible. 

Dr. Rachel Kohn, DC is a chiropractor with Active Life Chiropractic and Rehab, LLC in Tualatin, OR. She graduated from the University of Western States in 2013 and is working everyday to improve the health of her community's 2 and 4 legged residents.  Questions for Dr. Kohn?