Car accidents happen every day and most people have been in one during their lifetime. As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, I see patients from the area, including Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Millstone, Morganville and Jackson, New Jersey in Monmouth County.
While reading some articles online today, I came upon Denver Chiropractor, Dr. Trent Artichoker’s blog post on auto accidents. It reminded me how important it is to educate the community the importance of getting their spines checked after an accident, no matter how serious one things their accident is or is not. Many times people walk away from an accident not feeling any pain, but even a 5 mile per hour little fender bender results in whiplash injuries, also called cervical acceleration deceleration syndrome. It’s important to get checked to prevent future problems, not only with the body, but trying to get coverage by the auto insurance. It’s possible that the symptoms from this type of injury don’t show for days, weeks, months or even years down the road.
I have patients that come into my office with neck pain, headaches, lower back pain, sciatica, numbness and tingling down the arms, or mid back pain not knowing where it came from, but upon proper questioning usually find out the patient had a car accident years before that they thought was harmless. After an exam, it can usually be traced back to the car accident. The difficult part is, if the problem has been laying without symptoms for months or years, scar tissue builds up and is more difficult to correct.
So, whether you do or do not have pain after an accident. It is so important to get examined by a qualified health professional. Many seek the help of a medical doctor, but in most cases they will just treat the symptoms with pain medication, ice and rest. This makes the problem more chronic in the long run as the underlying cause of the pain is not corrected. Dr. Artichoker mentions in his Denver Chiropractic blog there are many options in treatment of an auto accident, but I totally agree that chiropractors are are at the top of the list to get examined and treated by as we are one of the only health professionals trained to examine the joints, nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and other soft tissues and the in treatment in these musculoskeletal conditions.
Documentation of these findings and treatment are so important, especially for insurance needs and in case attorneys and a court case is in the future.
Remember.. no accident is too small for problems to occur. Call our office if you have been in a motor vehicle accident to make sure no underlying problems are present and to get treatment quickly to expedite recovery.
If you are in the Denver Colorado area, make sure you look up Dr. Trent Artichoker, MS, DC:
Denver Chiropractic LLC
3890 Federal Blvd Unit 1
Denver, CO 80211