I Was In A Car Accident—What Now?

Experiencing a car accident can be an extremely traumatic experience, not only for the mind, but also for the body.

Auto accidents happen quickly, and sometimes, they seem minor.

However, the damage that can occur from an auto accident can often appear after the accident and initial injuries have already been dealt with.

If you’re asking “I was in a car accident—what now?” read on to explore the ways that chiropractic care can help to resolve pain, discomfort, and trauma after a collision.

What is chiropractic care?

To fully understand the scope of chiropractic care and what it is able to treat and resolve, it’s first important to understand exactly what chiropractic care is, and how it works.

Chiropractic care is a form of treatment that addresses the neuromusculoskeletal system, which is the intersection of three main body systems: the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems.

A Note on Orthopedists

The main systems that make up the neuromusculoskeletal system are commonly treated for medical care by orthopedic doctors, who are primarily responsible for diagnosing and providing referrals for conditions like arthritis, slipped and herniated discs, spinal stenosis, severe scoliosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tumors of the bone, osteoporosis, sciatica, and hip dysplasia.

Orthopedic surgeons and doctors (also known as orthopedists) contribute valuable medical support for many of the same conditions that chiropractic care treats, particularly in the most severe cases, often with a focus on correcting symptoms with surgery or invasive treatment.

Before choosing surgery or invasive treatment, ask your orthopedist about chiropractic care. Oftentimes, chiropractic care can serve as a valuable intervention that can delay or eliminate the need for surgery.

Chiropractic care is the non-invasive and non-surgical treatment of the neuromusculoskeletal system, working through the manipulation and compression of the body from the outside.

Virginia Beach’s chiropractic team is highly trained to assess the anatomy, and, using a combination of physics and gentle force, create movement in the bones and joints that leads to better alignment and overall balance.

What happens to the body during a chiropractic treatment?

When chiropractic treatment is expertly performed, several things happen in the body.

First, the nervous system receives a reset, stimulated by the movement of the spine.

As the spine sends a surge of energy throughout the nervous system, trapped energy is released, inflammation is reduced, and communication across the body is improved.

Simultaneously, the muscles of the body in the areas being treated are also relieved of tension, strain, and inflammation.

Oftentimes, the muscles of the body are compensating for poor posture, stress, and other imbalances.

Chiropractic manipulation allows the muscles of the body to relax, increasing mobility, flexibility, and circulation.

Finally—and best known as chiropractic care’s claim to fame—the spine, bones, and joints of the body are moved toward ideal alignment through treatment.

The improved spinal alignment, increase in circulation of lymph, blood, and oxygen to the body, and the reset to the electrical systems of the body helps to improve the function of all body systems.

The therapeutic effect of chiropractic care lasts beyond the immediate treatment, often persisting for as long as days or weeks after a single treatment.

The most effective treatment plans which include chiropractic care are often long-term, however.

Usually, the longer a condition, discomfort, or pain has persisted, the more intensive and consistent the treatment plan will be to accomodate for the micro-injuries caused by the condition.

Chiropractic Care for Various Conditions

Chiropractic care is an extremely versatile form of treatment.

Whether you’re looking for back pain chiropractor in Virginia Beach, a posture correction, or to treat an accident or injury, expert chiropractor Dr. Samantha Coleman of ChiroSolutions Center is prepared to deliver the highest quality of care available for a variety of conditions.

As your Virginia Beach neck pain chiropractor, Dr. Samantha Coleman places special emphasis on individualized and customized care.

Are you experiencing back pain, neck pain, migraines and headaches, or another chronic condition causing discomfort or stress? Book your appointment at ChiroSolutions Center today.

Chiropractic Care After A Car Accident

After experiencing a car accident, the body experiences stress no matter how minor or severe the accident.

Even in the case of a mild accident, it is common for the body to experience residual pain.

Most often, the pain that follows a car accident is located in the neck and back.

This is because the cervical spine (where the neck is located) is often subjected to whiplash during a collision.

Whiplash

Whiplash occurs when the neck is violently thrust forwards and backwards, usually at the moment of impact.

Whiplash can cause long-term pain and discomfort, leading to neck pain even years after the original event if the structure and position of the bones and joints in the neck are disrupted.

Back Pain

Another common car accident injury is back subluxation, which occurs when impact from the crash forces the joints out of alignment.

Subluxations in the spine can cause serious pain and discomfort, as they often lead to inflammation of the nearby nerves.

Sciatic pain often results from subluxations of the lower spine, causing the sciatic nerve to become bruised, compressed, and irritated.

Back pain resulting from a car accident is frequently due to nerves that have become inflamed from impact to the spine, causing joints to move.

Herniated Disc

Another cause of back pain from a car accident injury is disc herniation.

In the spine, a disc-shaped collection of tissue helps to insulate and protect the interior portion of the spine, absorbing shock and allowing for mobility.

Sometimes, impact or unnatural movements can force the cushioned disc out of the spine, causing a herniation.

When a disc is herniated, it may not initially (or ever) cause any symptoms, but when it does, it is usually accompanied by sharp, shooting pain or dull aching in the affected area.

Because herniated discs affect nearby nerves, they can create feelings of numbness and tingling in the extremities, weakness in one or more arms or legs, and pain upon certain movements.

How Chiropractic Can Help

Although the impact of a collision in an auto accident can create damage and misalignment in the spine from neck to back, chiropractic care serves as a wonderful solution to helping treat this damage.

As an intervention that is designed to treat the neuromusculoskeletal system, chiropractic care is uniquely appropriate for treating car accident pain and injury from car accidents.

Chiropractic care can help to realign the bones and joints, which takes the stress off of the nearby nerves that may be inflamed from contact with the misaligned skeletal structure.

In the case of whiplash, back pain, and sciatica, this is very helpful and important.

Realigning the bones and joints after an auto accident can also help to prevent future injuries and pain from occurring, a common cause of chronic pain following even mild accidents.

In addition to helping alleviate whiplash and back pain associated with nerve inflammation (for example, sciatic pain), chiropractic care can also reduce stress on the body overall as it repairs from any other damage that may have occurred during the collision.

This can be as simple as helping to treat vertigo and mental stress, or as comprehensive as creating an individualized treatment plan to support the healing of more serious injuries.

The Psychological Effects of Chiropractic Care After an Auto Accident

Minor car accidents and major car accidents have one thing in common—they cause stress.

Stress in the body leads to a variety of imbalances, many of them well-known: headaches, tension and pain in various areas of the body, inflammation, indigestion, anxiety, insomnia, and increased heart rate are among some of the most common.

Chiropractic care can produce strong psychological benefits. Chiropractic treatment often induces a profound relaxation effect on the body.

As the nervous system is regulated through the application of chiropractic treatment, the central and peripheral nervous systems send messages across the body that induce the release of chemicals associated with positive mood like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin.

A chiropractic adjustment helps not only the physical body, but also helps facilitate a critical reduction in stress hormones and perceived stress that helps to induce the immune response and the healing response.

After a chiropractic treatment, patients often report improved sleep, increased relaxation, decreased pain and stress, decreased anxiety and heart rate, and an improvement in mood.

The psychological effects of chiropractic care can be just as important for recovery after an auto accident as the physical benefits of chiropractic care.

Booking Your Appointment

If you’re looking for a chiropractor in Virginia Beach, VA, Dr. Samantha Coleman of ChiroSolutions Center is ready to provide you with the most advanced chiropractic care available to help facilitate your recovery after a car accident.

Upon your first appointment, you can expect to experience a complete assessment to determine the root cause of your pain and discomfort.

After a comprehensive analysis, you will receive a treatment plan designed to best support your journey to health and wellness If you’re ready to get started, book your appointment today.

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