WHIPLASH NECK PAIN TREATMENT AFTER A CAR ACCIDENT
Imagine driving your car in another Pittsburgh rain storm and when you push on your brake pedal, your car keeps propelling forward causing you to collide into the car in front of you. Your initial reaction is to confirm that everybody involved in this car accident is safe. Once you confirm that everyone is safe, the next step is to assess the damage. At this point your adrenaline is pumping through your veins, which is essentially numbing your body. Adrenaline is a painkilling hormone and can mask pain upon a traumatic episode. Often times people may refuse medical attention at the scene of a car accident to avoid the potentially complicated process, such as being admitted into the emergency department.
X-rays and other imaging tests are often done at the hospital to rule out severe injuries, such as an internal bleeding or fractures. Once you are discharged from the hospital, you are left with the concern about how your life will function now that you were down a car. It’s easy to forget about our health, since there were no major medical injuries, sustained during the car accident. And yet here is where the problem happens.
Studies have found that a whiplash injury can occur at just 5 mph. Symptoms of whiplash include neck pain and soreness, headaches, dizziness, nausea, vertigo, shoulder pain, chest pain, vision, problems, TMJ problems, and a feeling of your head weighing like a 50lb bowling ball. Just because the MRIs, x-rays or CT came back negative doesn’t mean that the neck ligaments and muscles weren’t strained or sprained. Your neck may be sore and achy for a few days after the car accident but when that neck pain last for weeks and months, a bigger problem is brewing. Now that this inflammatory process has settled in your neck, the longer that you go without treatment the more likely chronic neck pain could happen in your future.
DOES MY CAR INSURANCE COVER CHIROPRACTIC CARE?
This answer will vary state-by-state, but Pennsylvania is a no-fault state. In other words, if you are involved in a car accident, you can seek out medical care whether you are or are not at fault for causing the car accident. It’s important that if you do seek out a Pittsburgh area chiropractor following a car accident that you do so within the first 30 days. Studies have found that recovery times are quicker if you seek out a chiropractor within the first 30 days.
At Hometown Spine & Sport, we assess every one of our patients with a very specific movement screen following a car accident. If x-rays or more advanced testing is necessary, then we can perform that. Our treatments involve a combination of spinal manipulation, electric muscle stimulation, rehab, exercises, spinal traction, and laser therapy for soft tissue injuries. Seeing a chiropractor for a whiplash injury is unique since the underlying cause of the injury is treated with a solution rather than just masking the pain with medications.
In conclusion, the quicker that you act on an injury the quicker it will go away. If you live in the Pittsburgh or Oakdale area and need a chiropractor who specializes in injuries after a car accident, call our office to see if you’re a good candidate for care.