How To Heal From Common Car Accident Injuries | Personal Injury Chiropractor in Newport Beach, CA
Whiplash is a common neck injury caused by the sudden, forceful back and forth movement of your head. It most often occurs during rear-end collisions. This rapid, forceful movement of the head beyond the normal range of motion stretches and tears muscles, ligaments, tendons, and damages nerves in your neck. While symptoms can vary, some of the most common ones include neck pain and stiffness, headaches often starting at the base of the skull, reduced range of motion in the neck, dizziness, fatigue, and tenderness to touch in the neck and shoulders. Other symptoms like blurred vision, ringing in the ears, or difficulty concentrating, along with pain in your arms and hands with sometimes numbness, may also appear. Symptoms don’t always appear immediately after the accident; it may take a day or two, or even weeks to show up. If you’ve been in an accident, it’s important to get checked right away, even if you don’t think you have any symptoms, to ensure proper documentation and start necessary treatments.
Common Back Injuries from Car Accidents
Low back pain is a very common complaint after a car accident, arising from the strain placed on your spine and nervous system during the sudden impact. Car accidents can cause various injuries to the lower back, including muscle and ligament sprains and strains, which occur when the muscles and ligaments supporting the spine are stretched and torn beyond their limits. This can put pressure on existing nerves that go into your buttocks, legs, and feet. Disc injuries from the impact can damage the discs cushioning the vertebrae in your spine, potentially causing bulging or herniated discs. Facet joint injuries, where these small joints between the vertebrae can become inflamed or misaligned due to the force of the accident, are also common. Without prompt attention, some people can experience chronic pain that significantly impacts their daily lives.
Chiropractic Care for Car Accident Injuries
Chiropractic care can be crucial for addressing injuries sustained in car accidents, including those involving the spine. Seatbelts, while life-saving, can cause shoulder pain, and airbags can inflict pain on your sternum, ribs, and arms. Chiropractic care helps with dysfunctional joints throughout the body.
Shoulder Injuries from Car Accidents
Shoulder pain is a frequent consequence of car accidents due to the complex and vulnerable nature of the shoulder joint, which relies on muscles, tendons, and ligaments for stability. A car accident’s force can easily overwhelm these structures. Seat belts can be lifesavers but can also put stress on your shoulder in a collision, straining ligaments or muscles. Common shoulder injuries include soft tissue strains or sprains, rotator cuff injuries where the tendons that stabilize your shoulder joint are torn, dislocated shoulders where the humerus pops out of its socket resulting in severe pain, deformity, and instability, and AC joint separation where the ligaments holding the collarbone and shoulder blade together are stretched or torn, leading to pain and tenderness at the top of your shoulder. Prompt chiropractic care can help manage and potentially alleviate these conditions.
