When you experience a car accident in the Twin Cities south metro, Apple Valley, Lakeville, Rosemount, Eagan, Burnsville and Farmington, one of the first things you should do is get in to see a chiropractor right away. Of course, your number one priority should be to safely get your car out of they way of traffic and call the police to make a formal report.
But as far as your health goes, get in to see a chiropractor right away. One of the first things we will do after we gather a full report of how the accident occurred and how you are feeling is take X-rays of your spine. Sometimes, right after the car accident or even several days later, you still have so much adrenaline that you don’t feel any symptoms. Sometimes the symptoms are latent. The reason you want to see a chiropractor as soon as possible is so that we can start working on things before your muscles and ligaments start to react in a way to protect you after that adrenaline wears off. We can help to calm your nervous system to ease out of that “fight or flight” state.
Symptoms that you should be watching out for after experiencing in a car accident in Apple Valley include pain. This can be a new kind of pain that can be unspecific, where you might say to yourself, “Ah, for some reason my neck just hurts all over.” For example, if your car gets hit it is common to have a whiplash injury. Sometimes after a car accident it is old injuries that get worse suddenly. So let’s say, you have a shoulder injury and it’s been fine for a long time and then you get into an accident and all of a sudden your shoulder starts hurting again. This is very typical. Another common injury is to be bruised and feel pain where the seatbelt was contacting your shoulder and chest. Even if you have had issues with your right shoulder for a while, but you were in the driver’s seat and it was crossing over your left shoulder, you could get a lot of left shoulder pain from the impact of the seatbelt.
What does a chiropractor do for you after you are involved in a car accident?
First we get a set of X-rays taken. We want to see in the alignment of the spine if there has been a serious whiplash injury or if there has been ligament damage. Next, we want to take a close look at your range of motion and perform some orthopedic tests. After the assessment is completed and a treatment plan is written, we start treatment. This is very similar to normal treatment where we really want to focus on relieving your pain right away. Then after that we want to rebuild to get you to the point where you were pre-accident.
While treating you we will work with your insurance. Your car insurance should cover 100% of costs for chiropractic. This can relieve the worry about costs. We will take care of all the billing. We can at least take one thing off of your plate because we know there has been a lot that you have to deal with post car accident.
10 tips to help you recover from my car accident in Apple Valley:
Tip # 1: Get checked out by a chiropractor because they are going to have a full scope of treatment to be able to get you back on your feet.
Tip # 2: Rest after, even if it seems like it is a minor accident and especially if it is more intense accident, your body goes into a sympathetic state so you will experience some of those “fight or flight” symptoms and so you really need rest to get back into the parasympathetic mode.
Tip # 3: It is always a good idea to talk to your employer. Depending on your profession part of recovery might include light duty at work or some time off work. Hopefully your employer is understanding because over working can really set people back in their recovery. If your chiropractor examines you and they deem that you should have any sort of work restriction they are able to give a written recommendation to your employer on your behalf.
Tip # 4: Take an Epsom salt bath. The magnesium in the Epsom salt helps your muscles to relax after an accident. This can help in the relaxation process of getting you out of “fight or flight” mode.
Tip # 5: Go see a massage therapist or a physical therapist. Your chiropractor can also recommend any additional services that you’ll need.
Tip # 6: Drink a lot of water. That is a great one. Stay hydrated. It is amazing how much flushing the system with extra water can help.
Tip # 7: Go to bed early. One of the best ways to heal your body is to get extra sleep. Your body goes to work healing itself for you when you sleep. Often times we don’t have much control over when we have to get up in the morning so going to bed earlier is key.
Tip # 8: Stay consistent with whatever treatment for your car accident that you’re doing. Sometimes you’ll feel better, the symptoms will start to go away after a few visits, but if the injuries weren’t completely healed yet those symptoms will keep coming back.
Tip # 9: Avoid food and drinks that are going to cause more inflammation in your body. Often your body reacts to a stressful situation by increasing your cortisol levels and that increases the inflammation in your body. Try to reduce your intake of refined sugar, alcohol, processed foods and your body will be able to deal with that inflammation much more easily.
Tip # 10: Find a supplement that is good for muscle aches and pains. I have one that I recommend from a company called NutriDyn. Initially you may want to take an NSAID and that will help with some of your muscle soreness, however even a small amount of NSAIDs can be detrimental to the gut. If you can find something that is more natural and easier on the gut, that is very helpful.
Can you help me address car accident insurance issues?
It can be very frustrating working through the insurance process. Your chiropractor will help you navigate that part of the process. They will be in communication with your insurance adjuster and get you the answers to your questions.
The easiest way to start the process after you get into a car accident is to call your chiropractor and schedule an appointment. From there, they will take care of you. They will make sure everything else is their responsibility. Just get yourself in and bring your insurance card and they’ll take it from there.
Thanks for reading!
