How to Relieve Pain After a Car Accident

Accidents Are Responsible for Many Debilitating Conditions

It’s been estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that somewhere between five and six million auto accidents occur in the United States per year, which roughly translates into at least one accident occurring every minute of every day. Those statistics are staggering when you take the time to think about them. If you drive a car on a daily or even a weekly basis, the chances are good that you’ll eventually be involved in a car accident at some point in your life no matter how safe of a driver you consider yourself to be. It’s also estimated that as many as three million of the drivers involved in those auto accidents sustain injuries, which range anywhere from minor cuts and bruises to concussions, whiplash, broken bones, and other debilitating and life-threatening complications.

Effective Chiropractic Care Can Aid in Your Recovery

Are you looking for ways to relieve pain after a car accident in the Lanham, Maryland area? Our chiropractors at Effective Chiropractic PG County specialize in treating patients who’ve been injured in car accidents. The road to recovery is often a lengthy one, especially since pain and discomfort often don’t rear their ugly heads until well after your collision. Whether you need to relieve pain right after your car accident or much later on, we’ll have you feeling better in no time thanks to our tried-and-true chiropractic techniques and compassionate, individualized care. Even patients with older car accident injuries may find our chiropractic treatment beneficial in restoring their overall function and mobility.

What Happens If Your Car Accident Injuries Go Untreated

If you’ve never been involved in an accident before, the aftermath can be confusing, overwhelming, and traumatic. Whether you were the driver, or just a passenger involved, the pain after a car accident may seem temporary at first. However, without cause or warning, it can escalate quickly to more severe pain. For many individuals, it eventually becomes lingering or chronic pain. From back, neck, knee, hip, and shoulder pains to muscle strains, severe migraines, and whiplash, accident-related injuries tend to run the gamut. The pain after a car accident can make it challenging to get out of bed in the morning. It can make going back to work or even playing with your kids seem like a daunting prospect. How long the pain will last is also unpredictable. Ignoring your car accident injuries can make them worse over time.

Even If Your Accident Was Minor, It Could Cause Chronic Pain

Even if you think your car accident and the resulting injuries were minor, you should seek treatment immediately. Minor injuries often cause chronic pain and discomfort. As is the case with many medical conditions, the earlier you seek treatment, the better off you’ll be in the long-term. You could have been injured more seriously than you know in your auto accident. It can take hours, days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years for all of your pain symptoms to show. Not getting some form of medical treatment after an accident can have permanent, and in some cases, dire consequences. Remember, injuries are not always apparent to the naked eye. Many car accident injuries are internal in nature.

What Are the Benefits of Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident?

After you’ve sought medical attention from your closest emergency room, scheduling an appointment with your chiropractor is one of the most significant things you can do to relieve pain after an accident. While you could try to deal with your recovery using over-the-counter or prescribed pain medications and various home remedies, chiropractic care is often more effective. That’s because chiropractors focus on the underlying causes of your pain rather than merely treating the obvious symptoms. Seeking chiropractic care after a car accident can be beneficial in many ways. Our specialized auto accident treatment helps patients recover faster by offering all of the following benefits:

• Increased Mobility – Many individuals injured in a car accident find themselves feeling sore and stiff afterward. Mobility is essential to your overall health and well-being and is often taken for granted until it’s been compromised by an injury. Chiropractic care promotes movement and physical activity to help increase your mobility. It’s critical to restore mobility before scar tissue develops, as this can cause further health and mobility complications down the road. If your spine isn’t realigned before scar tissue develops, it can cause spinal degeneration over time.
• Better Range of Motion – Many accident injuries result in a loss of range of motion. When this occurs, it slows down the body’s natural healing process because inflammation makes it difficult for your blood and nutrients to reach the areas they need to while you’re recovering. Chiropractic adjustments work to improve your range of motion using non-invasive means.
• Effective Pain Relief – While chiropractic care may not be the cure for everything, studies have shown how beneficial it is for providing effective pain relief without relying upon pain medications. Because many of your body’s nerves are centered along your spine, spinal adjustments are used frequently by chiropractors. Spinal adjustments can be applied to the neck, lower back, or hips to promote healing and aid in pain relief after a car accident.
• Improved Function – Chiropractic treatment improves overall physical function and performance. Not only does it provide pain relief, but it also helps improve posture and nerve communication inside your body. This results in better joint motion and coordination. When you think of chiropractic treatment as more than just back pain relief and as a means of committing yourself to a healthier lifestyle, you’ll find that it helps free your mindset for an improved quality of life in more ways than one.

How Your Type of Car Accident Injury Determines Treatment

Our chiropractors at Effective Chiropractic PG County have seen auto accident-related injuries of all kinds, including head and brain injuries, facial injuries, neck injuries, back and spinal cord injuries, internal injuries, and lower extremity injuries. Based on your specific type of bodily injury and its severity, we apply various chiropractic techniques to provide successful treatment. Sometimes, we may recommend a combination of several treatments for the best care. We won’t know what to suggest for you until after you’ve come in for your initial consultation and we’ve assessed your case thoroughly. Physical therapy and rehabilitation are usually recommended within a week after your car accident to treat various injuries, including herniated discs, knee injuries, whiplash, tissue damage, and more.

Physical Therapy Treats Muscle Aches After a Car Accident

Physical therapy and rehabilitation are commonly used by chiropractors to treat patients with soft tissue and joint issues after a car accident. Physical therapy involves a customized therapeutic exercise regimen and stretching techniques that help alleviate pain while improving your range of motion, posture, and control. When your body’s healing after an auto accident, new tissues develop while your body works to repair damaged tissues. Physical therapy ensures that those new tissues develop correctly. In many cases, physical therapy helps patients avoid surgery because it helps strengthen muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Physical therapy also helps prevent long-term damage, including chronic pain and migraines. Studies have shown that individuals who sought chiropractic care immediately after their car accident were less likely to develop issues like degenerative disc disease when compared with those who did not seek chiropractic care.

How Our Holistic Chiropractic Approach Helps Relieve Your Pain

Anyone who’s ever been injured in an auto accident can testify that it can be emotionally, mentally, and physically traumatic. At Effective Chiropractic PG County, we recognize this when applying our holistic chiropractic approach for patients requiring auto accident treatment in Lanham, Maryland. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, we want to ensure we get you started on the right road to recovery for both the short-term and the long-term. With over a decade of expertise in treating patients with whiplash and other auto accident-related injuries, you have nothing to lose by seeking our chiropractic care to help you relieve your pain after a car accident. On the contrary, you have everything to gain.

Make an Appointment for Auto Accident Treatment in PG County, MD

Call our chiropractors today to schedule an appointment for a free initial consultation. Together, we’ll come up with a personalized plan using a combination of chiropractic care, physical therapy, and at-home recommendations to get you back to enjoying life again as quickly as possible. Our experienced staff at Effective Chiropractic PG County will also work with your attorney or insurance company to file claims on your behalf to ensure you receive care without worrying about the upfront expenses. In many cases, the costs for chiropractic care and physical therapy may be covered, especially if the accident was the other driver’s fault. Don’t continue struggling to resume daily activities in the painful aftermath of a car accident. Let us help!