How a Chiropractor can Help with the Most Common Car Accident Injuries

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, there were 331,796 total car crashes in Georgia in 2020, and almost 125,000 resulted in injuries. This means that in the state of Georgia almost 40% of car accidents result in injury. While every situation is unique, there are several common injuries that result from auto accidents. What are these injuries and how can a chiropractor help? Read on to find out.

Head Injuries

There are many different kinds of head injuries that can result from car accidents. Concussions are very common and can happen from even seemingly minor accidents. Head injuries can also be the result of impact with the wheel or the driver’s side window. Sometimes brain injuries can be internal, where the impact of the accident causes internal damage to the contents of the skull. Head injuries are often called “silent injuries” because they can be more difficult to detect. Victims of these kinds of injuries usually suffer from memory loss, personality changes, or irritability.

Scrapes and Cuts

Another common injury is a topical wound such as cuts, scrapes, and bruises. These kinds of injuries can occur from whiplash, impact, or an airbag.

Air Bag Injuries

While airbags are designed to protect us from harm, they can cause mild to serious injury when working properly or improperly. When an airbag is deployed, it inflates quickly and forcefully to keep the passenger safe and seated. This can sometimes result in airbag-related injuries because many body parts are exposed to airbags. Most often, victims suffer from face, neck, chest, and back injuries from a deployed airbag. Additionally, the speed and force of an airbag can cause surface abrasions to the skin, likely the face or arms. This injury is similar to a rug burn and can be very painful. There are also certain chemicals released by a deployed airbag that can really irritate a passenger’s lungs and even cause asthma attacks.

Broken Bones

When the body is crushed, contorted, or struck in a car accident, bones can easily break. Bodies can absorb a lot of stress but at some point, bones will break and fracture. Broken bones can also cause more trauma to the body, such as internal bleeding.

Spinal Cord

Spinal cord injuries are a dangerous but common result of many car accidents. These kinds of injuries can affect many other parts of the body such as paralysis, loss of sensation, or loss of other bodily functions below the site of injury.

Neck

Neck injuries are also very common and can result from impact, whiplash, and forceful contact with airbags. A sudden forceful blow can cause the joints in the neck to whip back and forth causing severe trauma in the muscles and tendons. Pain from neck injuries can last for months and can make even the most simple daily tasks difficult to complete.

How can a Chiropractor Help?

Chiropractic medicine teaches professionals to manually manipulate the body in different ways to realign the bones in order to treat the following:

Muscles
Bones
Tendons
Ligaments
Cartilage
Nervous system
Pelvic pain
Neck and back pain
Arm and shoulder pain
Hip and leg pain

Chiropractic Care Encourages a Speedy Recovery

Because chiropractors provide an individualized adjustment for each unique recovery, patients are able to find faster relief from the pain, soreness, and discomfort after a car accident. Chiropractors also treat scar tissue which can help speed the recovery process. Left untreated, scar tissue can leave a patient in pain for years and even increase their chances of becoming reinjured in that area.

What are the benefits of using Chiropractic care following an accident?

Chiropractic medicine is aimed at healing the root cause of injuries and pain. Instead of prescribing costly medicine, chiropractors assess your injuries by adjusting your back, neck, legs, and arms. There are many other benefits of seeing a chiropractor following a car accident:

Reduced pain and inflammation

Chiropractors deal with pain and inflammation in order to treat the root cause of an injury. This includes a number of natural treatments including ice, heat, electro-stimulation, massage, and cold laser therapy.

Improved range of motion

Patients usually see an improvement in range of motion after visiting a chiropractor because the manual adjustments of the treatment help to release stiff and sore muscles.

Improved Mood

An unexpected benefit of chiropractic treatment is that as muscle tension is relieved, positive, mood-boosting hormones are released by the body. Patients often leave treatments feeling uplifted and calm.

Non-invasive, drug and surgery-free treatment

Chiropractic treatment is aimed at healing the root cause of an injury, pain, or soreness. For some injuries, chiropractic care can be a low-cost alternative to surgery, prescription painkillers, or other drugs.