If you have been injured in an auto accident, you need to see a chiropractor first. I've been practicing for 25 years, I have been involved in accidents myself. I know the routine, you are in an accident, you either 1) go to the hospital and get evaluated only to be released after getting tests and a muscle relaxant and/or a pain reliever, or 2) think that because your accident was minor that you'll be fine, but... in a few days you start to experience headaches and neck pain. You decide to see your primary care physician who sends you for x-rays/CT scam/MRI only to find it negative and they give you a muscle relaxant and/or pain reliever and if you're lucky, they recommend rehabilitation. Now, these avenues are not wrong, they are doing what they were trained to do. That is, in the hospital, they look for life threatening injuries and fractures, internal bleeding, etc. That's great. Your primary care doctor wants to get you out of pain. That's great. But they are both sweeping dirt under the rug. The ER has more serious issues to deal with once you are not dying. And your primary care doctor sees mostly upper respiratory infections, routine physical examinations, prescription renewals. They don't have time to get to the cause of your problem. Did I mention that back pain is self limiting? Yep, that's right. If you do absolutely nothing, your pain will go away. That's why they give you a muscle relaxant and pain medication. They are trying make you comfortable but in the interim your body is incorrectly healing itself with prolonged inflammation, scar tissue formation and altered biomechanics. So because you are out of pain you believe that your condition is better. No need to do anything more. But if your body heals incorrectly, you will have degeneration (arthritis) that sets in. It takes a minimum of six months before degenerative changes appear on x-rays.
Chiropractic is the best choice for auto accident patients. Why? Because chiropractors terat the cause of the pain, not just the pain. Muscle relaxants and pain relievers can have some benefit. Mostly to keep you functional, getting in and out of the shower, sleeping throughout the night, sitting on the toilet, etc. etc. But chiropractors look at the short, and long term affects of an auto accident on your body. We will quarterback your injuries. If after a complete exam I think you need extra tests like X-rays, MRI, Ct Scan, blood tests or a referral to a specialist, we will do it. Once we have all of the information we can give an accurate diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plan. Treatment will be conservative. like chiropractic manipulation, massage, ice, interferential therapy, ultrasound and rehabilitation as common treatments. Re-evaluations to determine your progress. If you aren't getting better, we will refer to other doctors. If you are feeling better, we continue with treatment until you get to the same level of health that you were in before the accident, or as close to it as we can get. Not only do we want to decrease pain, inflammation, painful range of motion, etc, etc. We want to make sure that you are correctly healed up. If not, you will experience premature degeneration of discs, joints and quality of life as you age. By the way you should see a chiropractor that is trauma qualified to treat your auto accident injuries. Is your primary care doctor? Is the chiropractor you are planning on going to qualified? I am. Here is my CV: US Chiropractic Directory - US Chiropractic Directory (uschirodirectory.com)
You can check my qualifications. If you have been involved in an auto accident and are experiencing, headaches, neck pain, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, low back pain, sciatica, knee pain, shoulder pain, disc herniations, disc bulges or spinal stenosis and live in the Chicago and Chicagoland area like: Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Westchester, Hinsdale, Hillside, Berkeley, Maywood, Stone Park, Melrose Park, Northlake, Bensenville or Bellwood, you need to contact the Auto Accident Pain Relief Center of Illinois 24/7 at 800-862-5914.
