Treatment For Car Accident Injuries

Car accident injuries should not be taken lightly as you can experience chronic pain if injuries aren’t addressed in a timely manner. Neck pain, back pain, and upper or lower extremity injuries can be debilitating and can feel worse over long periods of time if not treated by a trained medical professional.

Absolute Life Wellness Center provides a variety of chiropractic treatments for car accident injuries at our three convenient locations in Austin, Kyle and San Marcos.

Types of Car Accident Injuries We Treat

Soft Tissue Injuries

car accident injury due to whiplashLikely the most common auto accident injuries, soft tissue injuries involve damage to muscles, tendons, and ligaments. These can range from bruises and cuts to heavy tissue damage and severely mobility-limiting injuries. Think sprains, strains, and contusions.

Damage to the soft tissues of wrists, hands, fingers, feet, and toes can be easily underestimated. These extremities absorb impact from car collisions and can become swollen, achy, or even lose mobility over time.

Car accident treatment for soft tissue injuries typically involves either immobilization, such as wearing a neck brace, or physical therapy.

Back Injuries

Back injuries (lower, mid, and upper) can also occur from sudden impact car accidents and can often be helped by chiropractic adjustments. Herniated discs are some of the most common back injuries from car accidents.

Since spinal discs are soft, flexible tissues, they can easily sustain damage from heavy impact. As the disc flexes and absorbs impact, part of the tissue may herniate and pinch nerves along the spinal cord, causing pain throughout the body.

Auto accident treatment for lower, mid, and upper back injuries commonly involves chiropractic exercises and physical therapy. These treatements aid in rehabilitation by increasing overall range of motion, shortening recovery, and decreasing your chances of repeat injuries.

Recover from your car accident injuries today

Chest Injuries

While most chest injuries from car accidents are cuts, scrapes, or bruises, in more severe accidents the chest can be impacted which can result in rib injuries and even broken ribs.

If a driver is not wearing a seatbelt before a car accident, impact with the steering wheel can cause trauma, and if the driver is wearing a belt, extreme pressure may be exerted against them through the chest strap.

Even if you feel perfectly normal after a car accident, seat belts could have caused internal damage. Organ bruising is a high risk after collisions of moderate speed, and might not be externally visible or noticeably painful.

Cracked ribs might not be obvious until they are a serious problem. You should have your entire body examined to be sure no internal chest injuries have occurred after a car crash.

Arm or Leg Injuries

Arm and leg injuries are another common issue seen in cases of car accidents. Leg injuries often occur in head on collisions when the legs are jammed towards the driver’s chest. Arm injuries are typically caused by contact with the steering wheel, doors, or windows.

Hip injuries are also common, as your legs push backward into the sockets from accident impact. This may make walking painful after a collision, and could result in misalignment of the spine without correction.

Whiplash

Whiplash is the most common car accident injury. Impact from the collision snaps the head back and forth, or side-to-side, causing damage to the soft tissues in the cervical spine, or straining muscles in the neck. Symptoms include

  • Stiffness of the neck
  • Sharp neck pain
  • Back issues
  • Problems with memory

Though whiplash is not serious by itself, if left untreated, it can worsen rapidly. Your neck is one of the most commonly stretched, utilized, and rotated muscles in your body. Furthermore, even if you don’t feel pain immeadiatly, symptoms commonly appear over time, developing several days after the accident.

Without using a brace, it can be difficult to minimize muscle usage to promote healing. Chiropractic treatments can also stimulate muscle recovery without the use of a neck brace.

diagram of man with whiplash injury to cervical spine

Recover from your car accident injuries