I see many patients involved in auto accidents and some patients have some interesting ideas if what happens when involved in a crash. Here are some of my favorites.
1) It's only a small dent in your car. It couldn't have caused any damage to your body. Small crashes are actually worse to the occupants body than big crashes. Why? Because cars are made to crush under impact. That is one way automobiles have progressed from earlier decades. An automobile, when struck will deform under impact. The purpose of this is to displace the force going through the car. When an accident occurs and there is minimal damage, the force of the impact is not displace and vector goes right through the car and it's occupants. Research shows that someone can sustain an injury in a crash as low as 2.5 miles per hour !
2) It's pre-existing. What defense attorney's want to make you believe is that if you have an underlying condition like arthritis or a disc bulge that their client (the person who hit you) couldn't be responsible because it was already there! Well it will be hard to find someone in adulthood that doesn't have arthritis, disc bulges, ligament laxity, etc. Number one, with proper diagnostic testing you can determine if an injury is old, or new. You just need to go to the correct trauma trained chiropractor who knows how to do this. The examination, testing and documentation is important to rule out if this was caused by the current accident or not. 2) even if you do have underlying health issues, it doesn't mean that you can't get injured in a car accident. What that means is that you will have more bodily damage at lower intensity accidents. Again, you need a trauma trained chiropractor to correctly diagnose, prognose and give the correct treatment plan for your specific injury.
3) "It'll go away by itself". Some people either treat themselves or get the incorrect treatment for their injuries. Oftentimes, these injuries start to get better, but at what cost? Scar tissue forms, muscle tissue gets tight, tight muscles can't put a joint through it's proper range of motion. It takes only 6 months before degenerative changes appear on x-rays. These are the things not to do after an auto accident:
a) don't apply heat to the area
b) over the counter and prescribed muscle relaxants and pain relievers only mask the problem. This buys time for your body to heal itself-again it heals incorrectly-giving you immediate short term relief but long term problems from what I just mentioned above.
c) don't "rest". I know, I've been in a car accident and I know it's difficult to do activities daily but what I mean is-don't lay around all day without moving. You need to walk, stand, sit, stretch. If you don't, you are setting yourself up for more injuries as you age.
The takeaway, you need to see a trauma trained chiropractor that knows how to give a proper diagnosis, prognosis and treatment that correlates causality to bodily injury, and bodily injury to functional loss. Anyone can give you the incorrect treatments, you need someone who knows what they're doing. You can see my qualifications here:
If you have been in an auto accident and are experiencing headaches, neck pain, dizziness, ringing in the ears, nausea, shoulder pain, low back pain, sciatica, disc herniation, disc bulge, spinal stenosis or shoulder pain and live in the Chicagoland area like: Chicago, Elmhurst, Melrose Park, Northlake, Berkeley, Bellwood, Hillside, Westchester, Villa Park, Lombard, Bensenville, Oak Brook or Stone Park call Auto Accident Pain Relief Center of Illinois at 800-862-5914 24/7
