Auto Accident

East Coast Injury Clinic

How can a car accident affect my neck and head?

Head and neck trauma are some of the most common injuries sustained in a car crash, primarily because a seat belt doesn’t restrain your head and neck, so they take the full force of any impact in a car wreck.

Although the two most common injuries in these areas — concussion and whiplash — can be the result of a direct hit to the head or neck, they’re usually caused by the type of severe jolting that comes with rapid deceleration and a quick change of direction.

Concussion: This head injury occurs when your brain shifts, bounces, or twists inside your skull, creating chemical changes that lead to abnormal brain function. Concussions may cause a temporary loss of consciousness, or they may cause subtle symptoms that emerge slowly, such as headache or neck pain, general pressure, confusion, dizziness, or a dazed feeling.

Whiplash: This neck injury occurs when your head is thrown back and forth, causing the quick, forceful, and uncontrollable movement of your neck. Whiplash injuries typically cause some amount of trauma to the discs, ligaments, muscles, nerves, and surrounding tissues in your neck. Common symptoms include neck pain that gets worse when you move, a decreased range of motion, and headaches that start at the base of your skull.

 

How can a car accident affect my back?

Patients who’ve been involved in a minor or moderate collision may walk away with hidden trauma to their lumbar spine (lower back) or their thoracic spine (mid- to upper-back).

Although these injuries are often the result of rear-end collisions, they can happen in any forceful impact. While most back injury symptoms appear within 24 hours, it’s possible for them to emerge days or even weeks after an accident.

Common signs of back trauma from an automobile accident include:

• Ongoing lower back pain
• Back pain that gets worse when you move
• Decreased range of motion in your back, shoulders or arms
• Sciatica, or lower back pain that radiates into your leg
• Shoulder or arm pain

When the nerves, discs, tendons, ligaments, or muscles in your back are damaged in an auto accident, inflammation can prevent your body from healing afterward. Left untreated, injury and inflammation can lead to dull, chronic back pain that may worsen with time.

 

Why is it important to seek medical care?

Traumatic injury recovery from an accident injury is an individual journey: Some injuries heal quickly and completely, while others persist and become more complicated with time. The best way to avoid complications like long-term nerve damage, permanent sciatic nerve pain, or post-concussive syndrome is to find out if you’ve sustained any trauma that requires special attention or medical management though treatment options offered by your doctor trained in car accident treatment.

Your primary care physicians are a good place to start to make sure you are okay but when it comes to a complete care manage program to deal with your pain management an accident doctor is your best option. You may think using a massage therapist is a good idea for accident injuries but they may not have the diverse training needed to get you back to peak performance.

Many car accident injuries respond well to conservative treatments like pain medication, physical therapy, massage, and chiropractic care. The experts at East Coast Injury Clinic – Your car accident clinic Jacksonville – We are dedicated to helping accident patients recover completely, providing a customized treatment plan designed to address each patient’s individual needs.

Depending on the type automobile accident injuries that cause of your back pain or whiplash, your Auto Accident Chiropractor may recommend different types of treatments. Each injury will have a different treatment plan. It is up to you whether you want to follow the plan laid out by the Chiropractor or not to heal from your auto accident

 

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