Seeing a Chiropractor After a Car Accident

When you are involved in a Car Accident it is always advised to seek the help of a Chiropractic Doctor right away.

If you suffered serious injuries such as broken bones, or traumatic brain injury, you should go immediately to the emergency room.

In this article, we discuss how and when to seek medical attention at your local chiropractor's office following an accident, and how chiropractic care helps relieve accident injuries.

Should I See a Chiropractor After an Accident?

When you are involved in a Car Accident, emotions and adrenaline are running high, which means it can be easy to ignore pain symptoms immediately after the crash occurs.

As a result, many people have a tendency to leave the accident scene thinking they do not need medical attention right away.

Unfortunately, failing to seek immediate medical care after an auto accident can be costly and delay the recovery process.

Some injuries can take hours, days, or even weeks to appear, and regardless of how long injury symptoms take to come on, they need to be addressed immediately after the accident.

The question is...

How soon do I seek medical attention at my chiropractor's office after a car accident?

The answer: immediately.

When you are involved in a Car Accident, it is always advised to seek the help of a Chiropractic Doctor right away.

If you suffered serious injuries such as broken bones, or traumatic brain injury, you should go immediately to the emergency room.

Ideally, visit a chiropractor within 72 hours of the accident. Chiropractic medicine is a holistic form of treatment that does not rely on medication, surgery, or other invasive procedures.

Whiplash is the type of car accident injury most often treated by chiropractors.

You may be concerned about having to pay for all these medical expenses. Read our blog post, How to Avoid Long Term Cost of Medical Care After a Car Accident, for more information.

From a Medical Standpoint:

Your injuries need to be assessed, documented properly, and treated so you can begin the healing process. This needs to take place right away.

Although you may not have symptoms, or they may be mild at first, the fact is, your neck or back could be damaged and causing little pain initially.

So it is important that regardless of the symptoms you are experiencing, you receive an assessment from an experienced Car Accident Injury Chiropractor right away.

From an Insurance Standpoint:

It is important that you are examined by a doctor within three days of the accident otherwise they will discredit the value of your case.

Car insurance companies will assess your auto accident claim and often times drastically reduce the value of your case if they notice that you waited more than three days to seek medical treatment.

In their eyes, your injuries could not have been that serious if you did not need to be seen by a professional right away.

Depending on the length of time you wait to seek treatment, they may not offer you any amount of money for your medical expenses.

For this reason alone it is always in your best interest to seek treatment as soon as possible.

What Kind of Accident Injuries Are Sustained in Car Accidents?

There are so many different kinds of injuries that victims can sustain when they are involved in a car accident. However, it is difficult to say what kind you may have because every auto accident is different.

The severity of the crash has a big impact on the severity of the injuries, but even in minor car accidents, damage can be done to the body.

Three factors typically affect injuries and damage caused by an accident.

These factors are:

• The Type of Accident (Rear-End Collision, T-Bone, or Single Vehicle Accident)

• The Rate of Speed in which the Involved Vehicles Were Traveling

• If The Passenger(s) of the Vehicle was Wearing a Seat Belt

Even if the best circumstances possible happened during your collision like it was at a low speed, you were wearing your seatbelt, and another driver hit the back of your car at a stop sign, you may still have sustained an injury.

Any type of force that a driver was not expecting can cause the body to react adversely. For example, whiplash is the most common injury the victims of car crashes suffer from.

Even in very minor rear-end collisions, if the driver that is struck does not have time to prepare for the impact that neck will most like take the brunt of the damage, first flying forward and then violently stopping and flinging backward.

Other very common injuries in motor vehicle collisions include:

• Soft-tissue Injuries

• Bruises

• Lacerations

• Fractures

• Broken Bones

• Sprains and Strains

• Concussions

• Traumatic Brain Injury

Luckily, if you see a chiropractor, many of these injuries can be treated with chiropractic care.

Symptoms to Look Out For After Car Accident

The most common injury reported from car accidents is whiplash due to the body’s natural response to being jerked backward and forwards in a sudden movement.

Whiplash occurs when the body is whipped back and forth beyond the normal limits, which can cause tears in the surrounding ligaments of the affected area.

In addition to symptoms of whiplash, here are other symptoms to look out for after an accident:

• Neck pain

• Back pain

• Dizziness

• Neck stiffness

• Blurred vision

• Headaches

• Lower back pain

• Shoulder pain

• Arm pain

If you think you are suffering from whiplash or any other accident injury based on the symptoms listed above, seek treatment from a chiropractor immediately so that the pain does not worsen.

How Does Chiropractic Care Help After a Car Accident?

A chiropractor is specially trained to help car accident injury victims heal faster and refrain from developing further pain conditions.

Your Chiropractor will complete a thorough exam, diagnosis, develop a treatment plan, and specifically target your source of pain through chiropractic manipulations.

Ways chiropractic adjustments help:

Relieve Pain

Chiropractors help to heal soft-tissue injuries much faster than they would be able to heal on their own, or with other forms of medication.

Restore Mobility

Soreness and stiffness from an injury can decrease mobility.

When you receive a chiropractic adjustment, it will mobilize your spine, restoring mobility, allowing the body to begin the natural healing process at a much faster rate.

Promote Long-term Healing

Seeing a chiropractor immediately after your accident will help to avoid long-term, chronic pain conditions from developing.

Your doctor will be able to diagnose and treat your injury before it has the chance to manifest into a much larger problem.

Chiropractic Care is Safe and Natural

The best thing about chiropractic treatment is that chiropractors are holistic practitioners who focus on improving the body’s biomechanics.

They do this without invasive techniques like surgery and without pain medication or drugs that are commonly prescribed by others in the medical community.

While pain medication does have its place, using it to mask symptoms of an underlying problem doesn’t do the patient any good.

Chiropractors understand that in order to alleviate the pain they must get to the root cause of it. To do so, they examine the patient as a whole and provide treatments that align the body and get it back in proper working order, even after a car accident.

Treatment for whiplash by a chiropractor includes massage therapy, physiotherapy, ultrasound therapy, or Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS), and physical adjustments.

Treatment for contusions and bruises depends on the area that is injured but often includes rest and ice to reduce swelling, physiotherapy and massage or adjustments.

Contact our Chiropractors for Car Accident Injury Relief

If you have been injured in a Car Accident in Georgia or Tennessee, it is essential for your health and injury claim to see a Chiropractor as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing neck pain or any other symptoms after a crash, chiropractic care is just what you need.

The Chiropractors at Arrowhead Clinic have been helping Car Accident victims recover from their sustained injuries for over 40 years.

Our Chiropractors have the experience and training to provide car accident victims with the best chiropractic treatment plan to help them avoid long-term pain and costs and promote the body's natural method of healing.

If you ignore the pain associated with a car crash, it can lead to long-term damage. Whether your injuries are severe or not, do not wait to contact a Chiropractor for treatment.

We offer free consultations to the victims of car accident injuries.