I've talked a lot about neck pain, low back pain, headaches and neck pain in auto accidents but another frequently injured body part in the shoulder. When you are in an accident, I hope you have your seatbelt on. Seatbelts save lives but they are also considered a mechanical liability-they save lives but they also injury other parts of your body in doing so. The shoulder is often injured because the driver of the vehicle has the shoulder strap come from the left side and wrap around down and insert into the latch near the occupants right hip area. When there is an impact, let's say the car is rear ended at a stop, the car will lurch forward possibly striking another object in front of the car. When this happens the body will torque due to the seatbelt restraint. This will frequently injury the shoulder.
The shoulder is one area of the body that you don't want to injure. It is the most mobile joint in the body. The shoulder is involved in flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal and external rotation. Because of the increased movement of the shoulder, there are also more chances of something to go wrong. In an accident, bruising, bicep and shoulder tendonitis, dislocation, strain/sprain come to mind. When you have a shoulder injury the last thing you want to do is simply take medication and immobilize it to decrease the pain. You may experience difficulty lifting your arm above your head or reaching behind your back with a shoulder injury. The correct way to treat a shoulder injury is to first get the pain and inflammation down by using ice over the area, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, acupuncture, oral medication as indicated, and no immobilization. When the shoulder is immobilized after an injury it may be prone to scar tissue formation. It is natural for the body to lay down scar tissue as a part of natural healing. If there is no movement of the joint the scarring will impede future movement of the shoulder joint which will lead to a prolonged rehabilitation session(s) or surgical repair followed by more rehabilitation. If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident and are experiencing headaches, neck pain, low back pain, sciatica, whiplash or the shoulder injuries that I just mentioned, give Auto Accident Pain Relief Center of Illinois a call 24/7 at 800-862-5914.
