A car accident, no matter how minor, can have a negative impact on your body. Accidents most commonly affect your neck and spine due to whiplash, which is when the force of the crash causes your head to whip forward or backward. This whipping effect can strain the muscles in the neck and back and throw your spine out of alignment.
After a car accident, it may be beneficial to go to a chiropractor. Chiropractors specialize in spinal alignment and correcting the effects of misalignment. Your doctor may even recommend auto injury treatment from a chiropractor.
If you’re not sure whether to see a chiropractor after a car accident, consider these benefits.
- Relieve pain. The first and most obvious benefit of seeing a car accident chiropractor is pain relief. You may have acute and intense pain immediately following your accident or in the days after. Chiropractic care can provide relief for your pain as quickly as the first visit. Each consecutive treatment will continue to reduce your pain and possibly eliminate it altogether. Seeing a chiropractor as soon as possible after your car accident can also prevent future pain by preventing permanent and irreversible damage. A major advantage to the pain relief chiropractic care provides is that it does not involve taking medication. You can avoid the negative side effects and potential habit forming properties of many pain medications.
- Reduce inflammation. Chiropractic treatment can reduce the inflammation that occurs from car accident injuries. When muscles are strained they tend to become inflamed, which results in swelling and pain. Anti-inflammatory pain relievers can only temporarily relieve pain and inflammation, but chiropractic care can address the source of the inflammation to relieve it and prevent it from being reaggravated.
- Restore range of motion. Injured, inflamed muscles are often tight, which can prevent you from being able to use full range of motion. If you have a neck injury you may not be able to turn your head to each side as far as you should or look up and down. A back injury could limit your whole body’s range of motion. Chiropractic treatment involves adjustments to your spine that can relieve muscle strain and loosen your muscles for improved range of motion.
- Address multiple injuries. Not every injury from a car accident is obvious. Sometimes other injuries will become known in the days, weeks, or even months following an accident. Car accident injuries are not always of the spine and neck; they can occur all over the body. Chiropractic treatment can address other bodily injuries as well, especially in a facility that also provides physical therapy and rehab.
- Avoid surgery. Another major benefit of chiropractic treatment is that it is non-invasive. Chiropractic adjustments only require physical contact to certain neutral parts of the body over the clothes. It may also help you avoid surgery to repair muscles, tendons, or ligaments that may have been damaged in your accident.
- Make a successful personal injury claim. If you wish to get adequate compensation for your injuries through a lawsuit, you’ll need documentation from any medical center that provides treatment for your injuries following your accident. An auto accident chiropractor can provide you with the documentation you need to defend your claim.
Kim Chiropractic and Rehab Provides Auto Injury Treatment
Now that you know the benefits of seeing a chiropractor after a car accident, you only need to find the right one. Kim Chiropractic and Rehab provides fully body auto injury treatment in Columbia and Rockville, Maryland and Centreville, Virginia. Our services conveniently include both chiropractic treatment and physical therapy rehabilitation to relieve your pain and restore range of motion.
Contact us to schedule a consultation today. We look forward to helping you make the best possible recovery from your accident.
