6 Ways Physiotherapy & Chiropractic Treatment Can Help You After a Car Accident
Physiotherapists and chiropractors can help most people make a significant recovery after a car accident.
They’re able to help rehabilitate any injury, no matter how big or small.
In addition, they can also help to prevent minor injuries from having long-term side effects.
Some injuries that physiotherapy and chiropractic care are able to treat include:
- Whiplash and neck pain
- Lower back pain and sciatica
- Shoulder and rotator cuff injuries
- Disc herniations
- Concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries
- Broken bones or fractures
- Headaches or migraines
- Chest injuries
- Hip, leg, knee, ankle, or foot injuries
A majority of people know that they have these injuries right after the car accident.
However, in some cases, car accident injuries aren’t apparent until weeks or months after the initial accident!
There are many reasons why you should seek immediate care after a car accident.
Do your present AND future self a favour by getting seen by a physiotherapist or chiropractor right away to assess your injuries and get you started on an effective treatment plan.
6 Ways Physiotherapy & Chiropractic Treatment Can Help You After a Car Accident
1. Decreases your pain
The most common benefit that people are looking for after a car accident is pain relief.
Physiotherapy and chiropractic care are known by many people to be treatments that provide immediate and long-lasting relief from pain that’s associated with a car accident injury.
Not only can physiotherapy and chiropractic care relieve discomfort, but it can also help to find and correct the root cause of your pain.
Some treatments that your physiotherapist or chiropractor will provide you with to reduce your pain include:
Soft tissue massage
Soft tissue in your body can be damaged by a major stressor like a car accident. This can cause swelling, inflammation, and of course, pain in your body. Soft tissue therapy involves a chiropractor or physiotherapist stretching the area of OR around your painful area.
This can help break down restrictions in your body to help decrease tension, increase blood flow and nutrient delivery to specific sites of your body, and repair damaged muscles.
Exercise therapy
Contrary to popular belief, rest is not always beneficial for healing an injury. In fact, it could make things worse by creating even more stiffness and tension in the body.
Moving your body is important to decrease your pain and initiate healing after a car accident. Your physiotherapist or chiropractor will prescribe you a specific exercise program that’s designed to heal your injuries and correct any movement patterns that could be contributing to your pain.
Heat and cryotherapy
Heat and cryotherapy can help to diminish pain, reduce inflammation, and promote healing at any stage of your recovery. Your physiotherapist or chiropractor may have high-quality heat or ice technologies that can provide you with quick and sustained pain relief while also maximizing your recovery.
Electrical stimulation and TENS
Electrical stimulation or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is often prescribed for those with acute or chronic pain. This pain-free treatment helps to stimulate your body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals and even provides you with IMMEDIATE pain relief.
Laser therapy
Laser therapy involves a healthcare expert applying a pain-free laser for about 2-10 minutes to heal different areas of the body.
Most commonly, people can benefit from laser therapy if they have neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and sciatica, disc injuries, soft tissue damage, and other car accident injuries.
Patients can expect to see results from laser therapy after only a few short sessions.
Ultrasound therapy
With ultrasound therapy, sound waves are applied to painful areas of your body to increase blood circulation and heat up deep tissues in your body that heat packs can’t reach in order.
This can help to RELIEVE PAIN and PROMOTE HEALING in your body.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture can be applied by a trained physiotherapist, chiropractor, or acupuncturist to improve blood flow, promote healing, and alleviate soreness from a car accident injury.
2. Relieves your stiffness and soreness
Physiotherapists and chiropractors are experts at fixing the root cause of any stiffness or soreness in your body. They rely on different hands-on techniques that restore the range of motion in your joints, release any tension, and get you moving better overall.
Myofascial release
Myofascial release helps to reverse tight muscles in any area of the body.
Tight muscles in your body after a car accident can contribute to the development of common conditions such as chronic pain, chronic headaches, and fibromyalgia.
Your physiotherapist or chiropractor can find “trigger points” in your body and massage them out to help relieve tension and get you feeling better.
Spinal manipulation
Spinal manipulation is an effective and safe technique that’s commonly used by chiropractors, and some trained physiotherapists, to reduce back pain and enhance the way your spine functions after a car accident injury.
Joint mobilization
This treatment technique can successfully treat conditions such as sciatica, low back pain, neck pain, whiplash, and other conditions that develop after a car accident.
Sometimes after an injury, your joint isn’t moving properly which can lead to a reduction in your range of motion, increased stiffness, and pain. With joint mobilization, your physiotherapist or chiropractor will apply gentle motion to restore your range of motion and improve the quality of your movement.
3. Reduces dizziness, vertigo, and headaches
Dizziness, vertigo, headaches, and other concussion symptoms can happen after you experience the high-impact forces of a car accident. Fortunately, this can be resolved with the right treatment program.
Your physiotherapist or chiropractor can effectively reduce these symptoms by using treatments such as hands-on manual therapy, exercise therapy, and other vestibular and visual rehabilitation strategies. They’ll be there at every stage to guide you to a gradual return to your regular activities.
4. Improves your function and mobility
No matter what stage you are in your recovery, you can still make progress in improving your function and mobility.
Physiotherapy and chiropractic care can help relieve new pain or chronic pain after a car accident.
They can help you get back to your regular routine and favourite hobbies using a realistic and personalized treatment plan that caters to your unique needs.
5. Helps you avoid surgery
Some people develop severe injuries after a car accident that require unavoidable and immediate surgery.
In other cases, minor car accident injuries can develop into bigger issues over time when they’re left untreated, which can result in the need for surgery.
Physiotherapy and chiropractic care can help fully resolve minor injuries in order to prevent them from getting worse.
This can be accomplished by an effective treatment plan to heal and strengthen any muscles, joints, ligaments, bones, and nerves that may be injured from your car accident.
6. Prevents long-term symptoms
Immediately after a car accident, you can get obvious injuries like bruising, swelling, or broken bones.
However, it’s also possible to get delayed symptoms that show up days, weeks, or even months after your initial accident.
In any case, don’t assume that your injuries will get better on their own.
Your symptoms can have long-term consequences if not treated properly and fully.
See a physiotherapist or chiropractor as soon as possible after you’ve had a car accident so you can work toward making a full and complete recovery.
Book Your Initial Assessment and Treatment Session NOW!
At PhysioPlus Health Group, we promise to provide the highest quality of care to allow you to make the best recovery you can in the shortest amount of time possible.
Book your first appointment with us with our team of experts. We have experienced staff, modern equipment, and advanced technology to ensure that we can provide you with a high standard of care after your car accident. We’ve helped thousands of patients heal from injuries since 2001, and we’re looking forward to helping you make a recovery as well.
This blog was written by Anna Zheng, a Physiotherapy student at the University of Toronto.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my insurance cover car accident treatment?
Most insurance plans pay for the medical treatment you need after a car accident. Depending on your situation, some clinics can submit your medical treatment plan to your car insurance provider and bill them directly. At PhysioPlus Health Group, our knowledgeable office admin team can help you with all of this – just ask us at (437) 747-6236 or email help@physioplushealth.com to find out more.
How long does whiplash take to heal?
Whiplash can take a few months to fully heal under the right guidance for the majority of people. Unfortunately, whiplash can also last for one to many years after the initial accident. The length of recovery for whiplash depends on factors like the severity of your initial whiplash injury, any pre-existing health conditions that you might have, and other injuries you have alongside your whiplash injury. See a physiotherapist or chiropractor to have a more precise timeline of how soon your whiplash injury will heal.
How soon can I expect pain relief from a car accident injury?
Many people feel some pain relief even as soon as one session after their initial visit with a chiropractor or physiotherapist. Your healthcare expert will tailor their session toward your specific symptoms. They’ll start you on a treatment plan and help you begin your journey to long-lasting pain relief.