Car Accident Injuries & Chiropractic
Treatments in Towson, MD

When you’ve been in a car accident, especially a low impact one, you may assume that your body is unaffected if you’re not feeling any pain right this moment. You may also believe that if the accident didn’t occur at a high speed and if there isn’t significant damage to the car that there won’t be damage to your body. It’s understandable why you might think that but neither of these common beliefs are true.

According to prominent whiplash expert Dr. Ruth Jackson (and countless studies proving her right time and time again), “The forces which are imposed on the cervical spines of the passengers of colliding vehicles are tremendous. The damage to the vehicles involved in collisions is no indication of the extent of the injuries imposed on the passengers. Motor vehicle collision injuries to the cervical spine often go unrecognized or ignored for many months.”

On top of the importance of making sure any injuries get treated, it’s also important to see a chiropractor as soon as possible after a car accident to make sure your insurance claim gets paid.  Some insurance companies will try to deny payment of claims made months after the car accident has happened so be sure to get an evaluation and begin treatment as soon as possible. If the car accident wasn’t your fault, it’s very possible that the person at fault’s car insurance will cover your treatment.

When you come into our office, you’ll be examined by a chiropractor to see where the pain is coming from and what muscle weaknesses need to be dealt with. After that examination we’ll get right into treatment, and in Marlaena’s situation, we opted for dry needling, ultrasound with e-stim, and an adjustment followed by another appointment later that week. Chiropractic treatment is customized to the patient’s needs so if you were in a car accident your treatment may differ.

Whiplash

Whiplash is one of the most common and well known injuries caused by car accidents. Whiplash is a neck injury that occurs when your neck is whipped forcefully in a rapid back-and-forth motion. That rapid motion can result in micro-tears in the surrounding ligaments and those micro-tears may not cause pain until they start to swell.

Many people think that whiplash only occurs in high-speed collisions but must whiplash injuries occur below 12 MPH. More than 50% of those who have whiplash injuries will still have chronic pain 20 years after the injury so it’s crucial to get examined even if you don’t feel pain immediately. A chiropractor can help relieve pain, improve mobility, and help you build strength so that you’re better off in the long term.

Even if the impact of your car accident seemed mild, you may have whiplash if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Neck pain
• Shoulder, upper back, and arm pain
• Headaches
• Blurred vision
• Pain when turning the head
• Inability to move or turn the head fully
• Dizziness
• Tiredness
• Numbness or tingling in the arms, hands, and fingers
• Ringing in the ears
• Difficulty sleeping
• Depression

As you can see there are a wide range of symptoms and not all of them may be immediately traceable to whiplash.

Car Accident Injury Treatment

We’ve already walked you through Marlaena’s treatment plan, but we also want to explain exactly what each component of her treatment is and why we use it.

1. Dry Needling

Dry needling is a drug-free treatment that uses a thin monofilament needle to penetrate the skin and treat underlying muscular trigger points or muscle tension, injuries, and pain. This process has been proven to relieve and improve neuromusculoskeletal pain and movement impairments in many patients.

While the name may sound intimidating or painful, dry needling causes minimal discomfort if any. Our patients compare dry needling's effectiveness to that of multiple deep tissue massages, but in a fraction of the time.  During dry needling, a patient may feel a twitch in the muscle as it releases tension.

The needles used in dry needling provide a constant mechanical stimulus to the trigger points while they’re in place, which is usually about 8-10 minutes.  The mechanical stimulus provided is similar to what your muscles would get from a massage but because the needle doesn’t need to release pressure like a hand does when massaging a muscle, the pressure remains constant and is able to provide relief in a very short period of time. 

In addition to the mechanical stimulus that dry needling provides, it is also an effective way to improve blood flow and oxygenation to damaged tissue. Dry needling provides a natural way to relieve pain using anti-inflammatory mediators that exist in the body to decrease the sensation of pain.

2. Ultrasound & E-Stim

Ultrasound therapy uses sound waves at a frequency out of range of the human ear that stimulates muscle tissues causing them to spasm. It is delivered through the skin by covering the skin in gel to prevent friction and then moving a handheld instrument gently over the affected areas. Sound waves are transmitted directly into the injured area to drive inflammation out of the muscles.

Electric muscle stimulation or e-stim is especially beneficial during the injury rehabilitation process. When the muscles contract during the electric stimulation, the patient experiences pain and tension relief and a reduction in swelling. Electric muscle stimulation is utilized very frequently for those who are working to recover from an injury because it can actually speed up the recovery process.

Both of these treatments provide pain relief through muscle spasm and inflammation reduction so we combine them to get even better results than we could with just one treatment.

3. Chiropractic Adjustment

During a chiropractic adjustment, your chiropractor will use a wide range of movements to manipulate the spine and the soft tissue around it. As chiropractors, we have a wide variety of adjustments we can perform to treat everything from TMJ to sinus pain to neck pain. Chiropractic adjustments are not painful and they often result in instant relief for patients.

Need A Car Accident Injury Chiropractor in Towson?

If you have been in a car accident recently we’d be happy to examine and treat you in our Towson office so you can feel better and prevent future problems from creeping up on you. We can even help you out with the paperwork involved! Make your chiropractor appointment now by clicking here or call us at (410) 296-7700!