You are driving home from work looking forward to spending a quiet and relaxing evening with your family.
When suddenly, BANG, you get rear-ended by the vehicle behind you.
You are shocked.
What just happened? How did it happen? What was that driver thinking about..
Oh man, now what? Does that sound familar to you? It does to me.
I think back and remember the confusion, anger, and annoyed feeling I had at the time of my accident.
Not to mention the pain in my back and neck as the minutes and hours went by..
Most people really don't have any idea of what they should do at the time of an accident.
Trust me, a lot of things go through your mind.
It's too late to be concerned about your auto insurance policy.
That should have been taken care of a long time ago.
(this will be a topic for another article).
Your primary concern after an accident should absolutely be your health and well-being.
I know, the car is a mess.
But don't worry about the car at that moment.
Take stock of what you are feeling so that you can report any immediate symptoms to the emergency professionals who arrive on the scene.
While it is not always necessary to be transported to an emergency room, if you have ANY doubts about your injuries, make sure you follow the paramedics advice in that regard.
Let's say you were lucky.
You got banged up a bit, perhaps even have a sore neck or back pain.
But you didn't need to go to the emergency room.
That's great, but don't delay in calling your local chiropractic physician.
It's very important to find out what structural damage may have occurred in order to give yourself the best opportunity to recover from your injuries.
Don't be fooled by the lack of symptoms at the time of the accident because it can fool you into believing you have no injuries at all.
Many patients report symptoms that increase over the first few weeks after the accident, even if they are getting the correct type of treatment! My experience shows me that this is more the norm rather than the exception.
Most states require that you wear a seat belt, by law.
So let's say you were following the law and wearing your seat belt.
When your car was hit from the rear, your seat belt prevented your body from hurling into the dashboard and steering wheel.
That's a good thing.
However, once your car came to a complete stop, the laws of physics made your neck snap back.
That's why this injury is typically called a whiplash injury, because of that snapping back motion.
Quite frankly, there is really no way to prevent the injury from happening.
To help make the injuries a bit less, always be sure to have the head rest high enough so that the back of head is resting on it.
The whole purpose of the head rest is to prevent severe hyperextension of your neck, which would create an even more dangerous injury.
Years ago many physicians used soft cervical collars on whiplash patients.
Twenty nine years of treating whiplash patients have taught me that its more important to create mobility for most whiplash patients, not immobility.
So in my office, it is a rare sight to see a patient with a soft cervical collar.
In most cases the combination of physical therapy on the muscles of the upper back and neck, gentle chiropractic adjustments to increase spinal mobility, and then rehabilitative exercises to strengthen the affected muscle groups are the key ingredients for recovery in many whiplash cases.
When suddenly, BANG, you get rear-ended by the vehicle behind you.
You are shocked.
What just happened? How did it happen? What was that driver thinking about..
Oh man, now what? Does that sound familar to you? It does to me.
I think back and remember the confusion, anger, and annoyed feeling I had at the time of my accident.
Not to mention the pain in my back and neck as the minutes and hours went by..
Most people really don't have any idea of what they should do at the time of an accident.
Trust me, a lot of things go through your mind.
It's too late to be concerned about your auto insurance policy.
That should have been taken care of a long time ago.
(this will be a topic for another article).
Your primary concern after an accident should absolutely be your health and well-being.
I know, the car is a mess.
But don't worry about the car at that moment.
Take stock of what you are feeling so that you can report any immediate symptoms to the emergency professionals who arrive on the scene.
While it is not always necessary to be transported to an emergency room, if you have ANY doubts about your injuries, make sure you follow the paramedics advice in that regard.
Let's say you were lucky.
You got banged up a bit, perhaps even have a sore neck or back pain.
But you didn't need to go to the emergency room.
That's great, but don't delay in calling your local chiropractic physician.
It's very important to find out what structural damage may have occurred in order to give yourself the best opportunity to recover from your injuries.
Don't be fooled by the lack of symptoms at the time of the accident because it can fool you into believing you have no injuries at all.
Many patients report symptoms that increase over the first few weeks after the accident, even if they are getting the correct type of treatment! My experience shows me that this is more the norm rather than the exception.
Most states require that you wear a seat belt, by law.
So let's say you were following the law and wearing your seat belt.
When your car was hit from the rear, your seat belt prevented your body from hurling into the dashboard and steering wheel.
That's a good thing.
However, once your car came to a complete stop, the laws of physics made your neck snap back.
That's why this injury is typically called a whiplash injury, because of that snapping back motion.
Quite frankly, there is really no way to prevent the injury from happening.
To help make the injuries a bit less, always be sure to have the head rest high enough so that the back of head is resting on it.
The whole purpose of the head rest is to prevent severe hyperextension of your neck, which would create an even more dangerous injury.
Years ago many physicians used soft cervical collars on whiplash patients.
Twenty nine years of treating whiplash patients have taught me that its more important to create mobility for most whiplash patients, not immobility.
So in my office, it is a rare sight to see a patient with a soft cervical collar.
In most cases the combination of physical therapy on the muscles of the upper back and neck, gentle chiropractic adjustments to increase spinal mobility, and then rehabilitative exercises to strengthen the affected muscle groups are the key ingredients for recovery in many whiplash cases.
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