Unfortunately, tens of thousands of car accidents happen in Charlotte each year, many of which result in drivers and passengers experiencing a variety of injuries.
But is going to see a chiropractor enough to deal with the common types of injuries that come from car accidents?
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What is chiropractic care?
The premise behind the complementary medicine of chiropractic care is that the body can heal itself with the aid of hands-on manipulations from a professional chiropractor. The manipulations realign joints, which in turn leads to pain relief.
Chiropractic treatment can aid conditions and injuries that affect your joints, bones, muscles, cartilage, and connective tissue.
While chiropractic care is most commonly known for helping back pain, with a focus on the spine, it can also be used to treat other parts of your body. However, chiropractic care has its limitations.
A car accident can cause a number of different injuries, so the treatment you require will be based on the nature of your injuries. Chiropractors can help with things like whiplash, neck and back pain, soft and tissue injuries, but for some other car accident injuries, going to the local chiropractor is not enough.
Traumatic Brain Injury
“Concussion” is such a commonly used word, that you may not realize it is actually a form of traumatic brain injury.
If you hit your head during a car accident, you could well end up with a concussion, which includes symptoms like blurred vision, dizziness, fuzzy thinking, and headaches, to name just a few.
Furthermore, you may not realize you have a concussion at first. Days or weeks after the accident it is possible to experience common delayed concussion symptoms, such as memory problems and fatigue.
So, if your head is hit in a car accident, you could have a concussion or a more serious traumatic brain injury. Therefore, you should always head to the emergency room rather than to your chiropractor.
Broken Bones
If you break or fracture any bones in a car accident, you also need to go to the emergency room.
You may not even realize that you have broken anything, especially if you are in shock from the accident, and you could also have less noticeable injuries like soft tissue tears.
While a chiropractor can help in the aftercare process, you first need to be seen at a hospital to treat any broken bones and other injuries. You will also need to see an orthopedic specialist.
Spinal Cord Injury
While chiropractors can treat spinal injuries, if you experience a spinal cord injury from a car accident, your first port of call should be the emergency room.
A neurology specialist is the only one who can fully know how to minimize the effects of a spinal cord injury. So, even with minor spinal column damage, you should head to a hospital and get treatment from an expert.
Spinal cord injuries typically require stabilization and monitoring in order to prevent long-term damage. Some months later, the neurologist may recommend you see a chiropractor for aftercare. But always see a neurology specialist first.
Internal Injuries
If you experience back pain after a car accident, you may think it is best to head straight to a chiropractor. After all, chiropractors are experts in treating back pain. But your back pain, or any other pain, could be due to internal injuries that you are unaware of.
Therefore, you need to go to the emergency room first. If things like internal bleeding are not immediately addressed, it could be life-threatening.
Even if you are not in any great pain after being involved in a car accident, you need to get checked out at a hospital for things like internal injuries. Later, you can head to the chiropractor to help your recovery and get back to being fighting fit.