After a Crash, Some Symptoms Can Be Delayed

After a car crash, you may feel thankful you got away with a few visible scrapes. But weeks later, you feel pain and stiffness in your neck or back, and you realize the crash did in fact take a toll on your body.

It’s common for some injuries to hide for a while after an accident. Here’s a few of the most common symptoms you may experience, and several ways a chiropractor can help you alleviate your symptoms.

Whiplash

The most common head injury from a car crash is called “whiplash,” which occurs during sudden back-and-forth movement of the neck and head in a collision. The sudden movement during a crash stretches ligaments and muscles, and the stretching can cause pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders. The effects of whiplash may not be felt for several hours or days after the crash.

An experienced Florida chiropractor will realign your spine and help strengthen your neck muscles. They can teach you stretching exercises, massage away the pain, and show you good posture techniques so you can get back to good health. Treatment for whiplash can last six weeks or more.

Your chiropractor can also evaluate whether you have any disc degeneration in your neck, which will need further treatment. They may refer you to a specialist if more tests are needed.

Headaches

If you are experiencing headaches after a car crash, they may be a symptom of other problems, like whiplash, neck injury, a blood clot, concussion, or a brain injury. Headaches may also result from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the crash.

If you have experienced a concussion from the crash, it means that your brain moved inside your skull. Concussions cause temporary and sometimes permanent loss of brain function. Symptoms of concussions include headaches, vision problems, nausea, loss of focus or concentration, loss of balance, irritability, and confusion. Some concussion victims may experience seizures for years after the accident.

A chiropractor can help you determine the cause for your headaches. If the headache is related to whiplash or a neck injury, chiropractic techniques can alleviate your pain. Massage and hydrotherapy can alleviate stress-related symptoms as well. If a concussion or brain injury is suspected, your chiropractor will refer you to a neurologist.

Back Injuries

Back injuries often occur in car crashes. The same forces that cause whiplash can cause strain on back muscles and ligaments, so it’s common to have mid- and lower-back pain after a crash. Back pain may not show itself for days or even weeks after a car crash. Car crashes may also cause herniated disks, which can be intensely painful and problematic.

When you visit the chiropractor for a back injury, they will give you a realignment to ease the source of the pain. They can also teach you exercises to strengthen your core muscles, which support a healthy posture and strong back, and may start a physical therapy course for your rehabilitation. They will determine whether you have had damage to your spinal column and decide whether you need further evaluation.

Joint or Muscle Injuries

Your arms and legs are at a very high risk of injury in a car crash. Depending on the type of collision and whether you are driving or riding, you may be thrown against the car’s interior, or your knees may hit the dashboard or the seat in front of you. Because of this, you may endure lingering knee or shoulder pain after the crash.

Knee pain can be related to misalignment of the back and hips. Your chiropractor can fix the problems in your alignment to help ease your knee pain. Your shoulder may be out of joint as well, and your chiropractor can reset it in the joint.

If you are experiencing muscle pain or tenderness after a car crash, you may have a soft tissue injury. Your chiropractor can pinpoint the causes for your pain. You may have muscle tightness due to resistance against the impact of the crash. A massage from your chiropractor can dissipate toxins in muscles and relieve your symptoms by helping the muscles relax.

Numbness in Extremities

Victims of a car crash may experience temporary sensation loss to extremities, depending on the damage to the spinal column. This can be due to compressed disks in your spine or pressure on your joints. A chiropractor can investigate the source of the numbness and work to solve it with therapeutic treatment.

Contact a Florida chiropractor today to get relief from your symptoms. Don’t spend another day in pain after your accident.

About the Author:

Dr. Singer has been a practicing chiropractor for more than 20 years, and USA Health & Therapy has been around since 2004. Over the course of his career, Singer has helped tens of thousands of people with all kinds of issues by using a wide variety of treatment strategies. He has extensive knowledge of chiropractic modalities, including Gonstead, Diversified, Thompson Drop Table, and Activator, and in 1997 he earned a special adjunctive Chiropractic Certification in Spinal Trauma (CCST) to better provide care for car crash victims. Dr. Singer is licensed to practice chiropractic medicine in both Florida and New York.