No matter how careful you are or how skilled a driver you may be, you can never completely dismiss the possibility of getting into an auto accident. On a global scale, auto accidents account for an average of 3,827 deaths each day, with up to 50 million more cases of injury or disability occurring each year from these catastrophic events. A car crash can leave you suffering from all kinds of problems, from whiplash to low back pain, even if you don't notice these symptoms immediately afterward. But whether you're in acute pain or harboring a secret injury in Torrance, San Pedro or Newport Beach, Zaker Chiropractic can help.
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> Soft Tissue Injuries
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> Benefits of Chiropractic
> Car Accident FAQ
If you're experiencing agonizing back, leg or neck pain following a car crash, you may feel compelled to seek out immediate medical evaluation -- and rightly so. While your body has remarkable self-repair capabilities, it cannot always repair an injury properly, especially if tissues are severely torn or joints have been pushed out of their normal positions. As a result, serious joint problems may linger indefinitely, while scar tissue builds up on damaged tissues in a way that "glues" them together (a condition known as adhesion). These problems can lead to chronic pain and stiffness, as well as neurological issues caused by chronically pinched nerves. If you walk away from your car crash without any obvious injuries, you can count yourself lucky -- or can you? When people are involved in traumatic, frightening accidents, the body releases a torrent of adrenaline and other stress hormones. The ongoing shock from the incident can keep these hormones floating through your bloodstream for some time, suppressing pain signals and delaying other symptoms of damage. If you take this lack of pain as a signal that you're fine, you may allow the damage to worsen as you go about your daily life. When the symptoms finally do occur, you'll wish that you had sought evaluation and treatment earlier!
Even a low-speed car crash can convey high-impact damage to the body. Heavy objects such as vehicles can convey extremely strong momentum forces to the people and objects within them. A safety belt may keep you from flying into the dashboard or windshield, but that restraint is limited to your trunk. Your head is free to fly forward and backward -- which it does, at sufficiently high speeds to damage your neck vertebrae, discs, nerves, and soft tissues. This effect is known as whiplash. Whiplash causes more than just neck pain; it can also create headaches, migraines, dizzy spells, hearing and vision changes, and cognitive problems. Other common injuries resulting from auto accidents include:
Our chiropractor in South Bay, San Pedro, and Newport Beach treat soft tissue injuries after a car accident. These are injuries to the muscles and ligaments. Common soft tissue injuries that occur during a car crash include head and neck injuries, joint injuries, sprains and strains, whiplash, and herniated discs.
Traumatic head injuries, like concussions, can occur during a car accident and result in confusion, difficulty concentrating and sleeplessness. If you suspect you have a concussion, our chiropractor can diagnose the injury, evaluate your symptoms and recommend a treatment program to help with your post-concussion syndrome.
The force placed on your body at the time of the accident can cause herniated discs in your back and neck. Herniated discs occur when a portion of the disc bulges or slips out of place, putting pressure on the surrounding nerve roots and causing back, neck and extremity pain.
Car accident injuries can result in inflammation and swelling of the muscles and ligaments due to sprains and strains. Immediately after the accident, you may not notice any pain due to the adrenaline rush. However, you may feel stiff or sore the next day. Our chiropractor can diagnose sprains and strains and recommend a treatment plan to reduce pain, inflammation, and swelling.
During the car crash, your body may slip forward enough in the seat to allow your knee to impact the dash or door. This can result in a twisted knee and/or bruising and welling. Our chiropractor in South Bay can diagnose the severity of your knee injury and recommend a treatment program to reduce swelling and inflammation and restore range of motion and strength.
Shoulder injuries are common in the shoulder that is held back by the seatbelt. This can result in shoulder pain and loss in the range of motion of the joint. Chiropractic care with our chiropractor can help heal shoulder injuries that occur as the result of an auto accident.
Whiplash occurs because the head and neck are not as well secured as the rest of the body. At the time of the crash, your body ricochets back and forth between the seatbelt and seatback. While the seatbelt holds your body in place, your head and neck continue forward to their maximum range of motion. This can cause a severe sprain and strain of your neck and misalign the vertebrae. Common whiplash symptoms include:
Here at Zaker Chiropractic, Dr. Misa Zaker and Dr. Jong H. Kim can provide natural, non-surgical auto accident injury treatment. The first step always involves a thorough physical examination to catch any alignment changes that may cause trouble, either now or in the future. We evaluate your symptoms, baseline health, medical history, and other factors to determine the safest, most effective course of treatment for your injuries. Your holistic auto accident recovery plan may include:
We use these and other treatment methods to create an individualized program that suits your unique body's specific needs.
When you get into a car accident, one of the best things you can do is seek out chiropractic care, even if you don’t feel any immediate pain or discomfort. Benefits of Chiropractic Care for auto accident injuries include:
Taking care of an acute or incipient auto accident now could save you months or even years of chronic disability down the road. Don't assume that everything is okay or that your injuries will magically reverse themselves. Call Zaker Chiropractic at our Torrance, San Pedro, or Newport office to schedule an evaluation and get whatever help your body many need. We're happy to serve as your musculoskeletal "body shop" for those car crash repairs! For more answers about how we can help you relieve pain without drugs or surgery, make an appointment with Zaker Chiropractic. Our chiropractors provide a wide variety of services to diagnose and treat your condition. Zaker Chiropractic has several locations to serve you. Call (949) 734-4454 for an appointment in Newport Beach, (424) 235-1562 for South Bay, or (310) 831-0003 for an appointment with San Pedro. Each clinic offers a multidisciplinary list of services.
An auto accident can happen at any time. Even though most people place safety first when they get behind the wheel of a car, even an accident at low speed can lead to serious injuries. When this happens, it is important for everyone to seek car crash treatment from a trained car accident doctor. At Zaker Chiropractic, we are a southern California chiropractor and we treat auto accident injuries. When our patients come to see us, there are a few common questions that we hear. These include:
At Zaker Chiropractic, we are here to take care of patients who have been injured in an auto accident. As a southern California chiropractor, we are here to serve the Torrance, San Pedro, or Newport Beach, CA area. We place the needs of our patients ahead first. Our dedication has been reflected in the glowing reviews we have on Yelp and Google. Contact us at (949) 734-4454 today to book an appointment!
