Why You Should See a Chiropractor After a Personal Injury

by | Jul 2, 2021 | Chiropractic

After an accident, it can take a few days or weeks to even realize the extent of your injuries. But, even if you’re involved in a minor accident, the injuries can have lasting effects on your physical and mental health that you need to address.

Visiting a chiropractor after you have an accident is an excellent way to ensure that you know all your treatment options. Unfortunately, doctors might only recommend surgery and medication to treat your injuries, which present their own sets of risks.

Chiropractors personalize your treatment and give you access to an alternative approach that expedites your recovery and gets you back to your everyday activities sooner rather than later.

Governor’s Park Chiropractic offers full-service chiropractor care as well as acupuncture, massage therapy, physical therapy, and orthotics to treat your injuries in the most comprehensive way possible. Using the advanced methods developed by our lead chiropractor, Dr. Ferdowisian, we incorporate the most advanced technology and innovative techniques in your treatment to get your back to normal as soon as possible.

What Is a Chiropractor?

Chiropractors are trained medical professionals who provide pain relief primarily through spinal adjustments. Chiropractors are licensed professionals who have a thorough understanding of the chiropractic field. Additionally, all states require chiropractors to obtain a degree from a Council of Chiropractic Education accredited university.

What Kind of Treatment Does a Chiropractor Provide?

Chiropractors typically provide treatment by manipulating specific joints with smaller instruments and their hands. This treatment can realign bones and can provide relief for conditions such as constipation and acid reflux.

Chiropractors can treat conditions that affect the following body parts:

  • Muscles
  • Tendons
  • Ligaments
  • Bones
  • The nervous system
  • Cartilage

Chiropractic methods can improve your mobility, strengthen, and stabilize your joints and ligaments following an injury. Unfortunately, injuries can cost a fortune in medical bills and rehab. Chiropractic care offers a safe and effective alternative to back surgery and other more invasive therapies, such as pain medication.

When Should I Go to a Chiropractor?

Governor’s Park provides every patient with comprehensive chiropractic care. So whether you just sustained an injury or you’re trying to keep your body in peak condition, Governor’s Park can help you on the road to recovery and peak performance.

Minor accidents might not warrant a trip to a chiropractic facility. However, injuries can take several days, or even months, to fully manifest. Following an accident, adrenaline can mask the initial pain and you may not even realize you’re seriously injured. Prolonging chiropractic care can result in chronic conditions that worsen over time. That’s why obtaining a quick, accurate assessment for your injuries can end up saving you thousands in medical treatment. Insurance companies can also use your choice to forego therapy as an excuse to reduce or deny your claim.

What Injuries Can Chiropractic Care Treat?

Back Pain- Car accidents can cause nagging back pain and an overall misalignment of the spine. Even minor accidents can cause debilitating back pain that doesn’t get better with time. Regardless of how severe you think your accident was, you should consult a chiropractor for an accurate, thorough assessment.

Whiplash- This common condition typically results from car accidents and can result in a stiff neck and limited ROM. While most cases aren’t severe, you should consider receiving chiropractic treatment from a professional.

Joint Pain- Joint pain is expected from any accident, and it can be acute or chronic, depending on the incident. If the pain persists or gets worse after an accident, you should receive a medical examination to rule out other, more severe conditions. Ruling out more potentially serious causes will help you devise a treatment strategy.

Headaches- Headaches often occur as a side effect of whiplash or a neck/back injury.  These headaches are typically more severe than regular headaches and they can cause a significant amount of pain discomfort. As with ongoing joint pain, headaches can be a sign of other underlying symptoms and you should receive a medical evaluation to rule out other potential causes.

Sciatic Pain- Sciatica is a symptom of severe nerve compression. It can cause serious pain and disrupt people’s ability to live their everyday lives. Pain medication often gets prescribed to mask the patient’s symptoms, but symptoms will continue and worsen without adequate treatment. Chiropractic care aims to relieve pressure from the nervous system by resituating the joints into their correct positions.

Numbness and tingling in extremities- Nerve pain is common following an accident and you shouldn’t ignore these symptoms as they can lead to more potentially serious symptoms. These symptoms are often a function of poor blood flow. However, other causes, such as low blood sugar, can cause tingling, so it’s critical to get an evaluation to see if chiropractic care can potentially treat this nerve condition.

The Benefits of Visiting a Chiropractor After a Personal Injury

Drugs and surgery can often seem like the only options after sustaining a significant injury. However, chiropractic treatment methods offer alternatives, which often prove to be safer, for anyone thinking they have limited treatment options.

Increased Recovery Time

Visiting a chiropractor after an accident can diagnose and treat a multitude of conditions related to the accident. With personalized assessments and treatment plans, you can restore your life to its pre-accident position. Injuries caused by accidents can have lifelong implications if left untreated. Obtaining a comprehensive treatment plan for your injury will save you significant pain and stress.

Reveal Hidden Injuries

The adrenaline rush following an accident can be deceiving. Additionally, many people can go into a state of shock after getting into an accident. Unfortunately, these states can conceal lingering issues that can turn into chronic conditions.

You will most likely be able to identify significant injuries such as broken bones after an accident. However, some of the more chronic issues can take a few days or weeks to appear.

Increase Range of Motion

If your body is immobile, you won’t be able to move without pain and discomfort. Range of motion is a critical component of joint movement that allows you to go about your daily tasks. Range of motion is especially important in your spine. If you have limited mobility in your spine, you will likely experience pain all over your body.

Following an accident, a limited range of motion isn’t always noticeable. Luckily, a chiropractor can help identify stiff locations in the spine before they start to cause more issues throughout the body.

Non-Invasive Therapeutic Approach

Doctors usually won’t recommend any other treatment besides surgery and medication. Though some injuries require surgery, there are plenty of others that don’t. These injuries can benefit from alternative therapies such as chiropractic care. Consult your doctor before you decide to receive chiropractic treatment.

Reduced Inflammation

X-rays won’t catch micro-trauma sustained by your muscles and ligaments in an accident. This microtrauma is why you might wake up and feel soreness and pain in the weeks following your accident, even after your doctor told you there was no significant damage. Chiropractic therapy uses manipulation techniques to uncover these micro tears and develop a treatment plan.

How Do I Choose a Chiropractic Firm?

When deciding on a chiropractor, it’s wise to consult your friends and family to see if they have any referral options. You can also look at online forums to see what various chiropractors’ clients say about their experience.

You should feel comfortable throughout your experience with a chiropractor and your pain shouldn’t worsen throughout your treatment. Also, make sure you understand the chiropractor’s pay scale before committing to any treatment plan.

Why You Should See a Chiropractor After a Personal Injury

Following an accident, you might not understand the extent of your injuries. Or worse, you might think surgery or pain medication is your only option for treatment. While your injuries might require surgery, it’s worth saving you money and the toll that surgery takes, if possible.

If nothing else, seeing a chiropractor for a consultation gives you access to a second opinion. When accounting for your health, you want to know that you’re making the right choice for your future. Seeing a chiropractor might be the best choice for your condition following an accident.

At Governor’s Park, your treatment is our main priority. We customize our treatment plans to fit your needs and use the most innovative methods and technology to ensure you have access to the most advanced treatment.

Contact us today to see what chiropractic care can do for your recovery after an accident.