You’d be surprised to know how even the most trivial car accidents can sneak up years later into a victim’s life, resulting in a life of discomfort, pain, and a sense of confusion and exasperation when symptoms are seemingly of unknown origin. Even when accidents seem small and insignificant, each physical injury that we experience in our life, for example slips, falls or fender-benders, will minimally shift the body’s alignment; these small injuries are called microtraumas. With each new microtrauma we progressively come closer to putting pressure on nerves, and this is important because nerves direct much more than pain sensation, they direct the functioning of every single tissue and organ in your body.
However, while the numbers of automobile accidents don’t look like they’re going down anytime soon, there can absolutely be improvements made when it comes to alleviating pain from its victims, even years after-the-fact. More and more people are realizing how chiropractic treatment can drastically change a car collision survivor’s quality of life. In this article, we’ll explain how!
How Can Car Accidents Change The Body?
Unfortunately, we’re all too familiar with how motor vehicle accidents can lead to serious injuries and fatalities. However, most often the results are much more subtle.
There can be a lot of problems that happen after a car accident. For instance, whiplash is one of the most common injuries. Any motion that violently causes your head to snap forward or backward causes the tendons and muscles in your neck to tear and stretch. A huge role of these muscles and ligaments is to stabilize the neck in order to protect the spinal cord from damage. In motor vehicle accidents, these muscles and ligaments can fail to do so, which is why nerve damage can happen. This doesn’t typically result in paralysis, but it can mean experiencing headaches and pain, numbness or tingling traveling down the arms.
How Can Chiropractic Treatment Help The Negative Effects of a Car Accident?
It Realigns Your Body
In biology there is a core principle that says that structure determines function. When applied to the neck, this simply means that we all have an ideal curve or structure in our necks that allows the spinal cord to safely pass through and deliver trillions of nerves to our organs and tissues. After a car accident, our neck can become unstable and compromise the structure in our neck. This process can occur immediately, but it can also take years of instability and degeneration to develop. When this happens, the structure is no longer ideal and it increases the chance of having more pressure on the nerves. Pressure can impede nerve functioning, which is why any misalignment in the backbone of our body can result in the symptoms described above, but also a dysfunction of organ systems, such as the cardiovascular system, respiratory system or digestive system.
Chiropractic doctors can examine your spine for regions where spinal subluxations or misalignments are causing disruptions to the neurological system, and then use a chiropractic tool known as an integrator to perform an adjustment based on the Torque Release Technique. This technique is not only safe and gentle, it’s also extremely specific when targeting a segment to correct.
Chiropractors are experts in optimizing the structure of your spinal column so that nerves can communicate with the rest of your body properly, which also alleviates any associated symptoms. With the use of the Torque Release Technique, chiropractors can identify and correct misalignments while neurologically signaling to your nervous system to release and reduce tension, allowing your body to self-correct and restore the inner harmony of your body’s systems.
It Reduces Inflammation
While some inflammation is normal and reflects your body’s attempts to mend itself, excessive inflammation can injure your tissues and create discomfort. The reduction of inflammation and scarring is another compelling reason to see a chiropractor after an accident.
Inflammation is a chemical response by the cells in your body that occurs when tissues are damaged. The peripheral nervous system is involved in the early stages of inflammation, and so nerves that are communicating improperly can also trigger an improper inflammatory response. When a chiropractor manipulates your spine and relieves pressure from the spinal cord, your body can respond by reducing the number of inflammatory agents it produces, which can lessen inflammation and pain. Chiropractors can also conduct techniques that help the body heal more quickly by breaking down scar tissue and preventing them from expanding.
It Treats Pain Naturally
It’s no secret that pain medications can be extremely addictive because they provide a quick and simple option for pain relief. The problem with pain medication is that its abuse can damage the liver and the digestive system. Another huge problem with pain medications is that it only masks symptoms of pain without treating the actual cause behind it.
Chiropractors have a holistic and vitalistic approach to wellness, which means that they’re concerned with offering a natural, safe and even preventative alternative to dealing with the pains and aches that emerge after a motor vehicle accident. By attending to the structure of your spine and minimizing nerve pressure, chiropractors tackle the underlying cause behind pain. In many cases, they have even helped patients reduce or eliminate their intake of pain medications!
It Restores The Proper Joint Movement
Accidents are among the most common causes of a loss of range of motion. After a whiplash injury muscles will spasm in an attempt to stabilize the neck, but because the muscles attach to the vertebrae in your spine, their spasming can shift the bones out of alignment and cause pain, headaches and nerve damage. As a result, even the most basic chores, such as driving, can become difficult.
By seeing a chiropractor after your accident, you can encourage proper alignment to regain range of motion in addition to signaling the muscles in the neck to relax into their proper tone. With the help of chiropractic care, you can speed up the recovery process and get back to doing the things that you need and love to do in your life!
The Sessions are Customized to Your Needs
One of the most unique values of chiropractic treatments is that it effectively puts its patients in the center of the treatment plan, while simultaneously adapting to the patient’s needs throughout treatment.
Chiropractors perform a precise examination of the patient, searching for any hidden abnormalities. Through this full-body examination, they can identify both clear and less-obvious abnormalities. This is critical because not all injuries manifest themselves immediately after an accident and even the subtle ones can eventually develop into excruciating pain.
Conclusion
Chiropractic offers a safe, natural and corrective approach to the negative effects associated with motor vehicle accidents. It can do this by (1) optimizing the proper communication of nerves by correcting the structure of your body, (2) reducing inflammation, (3) restoring proper joint motion, (4) treating pain naturally, and (5) tailoring treatment to the person’s needs.
When it comes to chiropractic care, it’s never too late to get checked and start making these changes. Even if your accident was months or years ago, chiropractic care may be right for you!
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