When it comes to car accident injuries, you don’t always need surgery to get quality treatment and long-term relief. Car accidents can cause acute injuries like scrapes, bruises, or even broken bones that require specific types of care. However, car accidents can also cause injuries that may not be as obvious right away and can cause lingering pain and discomfort. A car accident doctor can work with you to determine the best treatments possible for your specific car accident injuries and talk you through your non-surgical treatment options before resorting to more invasive procedures. You shouldn’t have to live with back pain just because you’ve been in a car accident, and car accident doctors can help with that.
How a Car Accident Can Cause Back Pain
A general rule of thumb for car accident injuries is that if your vehicle sustained any damage from the wreck then it is likely that your body did too. When you’re in a car accident, whether a fender-bender or something more serious, your body will get shaken up and jostled around from the impact. While seat belts are designed to keep you from being ejected from the vehicle, they cannot protect you from getting injured. The most common car accident injury is whiplash, which can affect your head, neck, and back. The force of impact can also cause strains and sprains that may impact the muscles in your back and even lead to misalignments in the spine.
Non-Surgical Treatment Options after a Car Accident
Most of the time, non-surgical treatment options can be taken into account as a more conservative approach to treating your car accident injury. These non-invasive and minimally invasive options typically involve therapeutic treatments with much shorter recovery periods than surgery would require.
Here are three non-surgical treatment options to help with back pain after a car accident:
At-Home Remedies
For mild pain and discomfort following a car accident, you may want to try at-home remedies to help soothe sore muscles and promote healing naturally. You should always see a car accident doctor no matter how small the accident was, but they may recommend at-home remedies that you can do instead of or alongside other methods of care. At-home remedies for back pain may include taking over-the-counter pain medications to help with back pain, inflammation, and swelling. Resting after the accident will also be key to supporting your recovery process. Your doctor may also recommend alternating ice and heat on your back. Applying ice to a sore back can help reduce swelling and relieve pain, while applying heat will encourage oxygen-rich blood flow to the area.
Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors are most commonly associated with treating the spine and spinal injuries, but they are also highly skilled in addressing car accident injuries involving muscles, spinal discs, and other soft tissues as well. A chiropractor will assess your whole spine to see how it may have been negatively impacted by the car accident. They will want to identify any potential misalignments in your spine caused by the accident and resolve those with gentle, therapeutic chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractors use adjustments to restore vertebrae and joints to their optimal positioning so your body can function optimally and effectively. When your spine is properly aligned, your natural healing processes can continue without being disrupted. Chiropractors may also use therapeutic massage and other techniques to address muscle strain and other causes of your back pain with all-natural approaches to treatment.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapists also offer non-surgical treatment options for recovering from a car accident injury. While you may think of physical therapy as something you do after surgery, it is actually a type of treatment approach that is minimally invasive and can be used whether or not your injury requires surgical intervention. A physical therapist will work with you to pinpoint what is causing your back pain and help you regain strength, flexibility, and mobility after the accident. Stretches and exercises led by your physical therapist will promote muscle strength so your back is better supported. These activities also address sore, strained muscles by promoting greater flexibility. The back pain can cause you to restrict certain movements that make you uncomfortable, and a physical therapist can help you work through those to increase your mobility.
At Pro-Care Medical Center, our team of car accident doctors provides a wide variety of non-surgical treatment options to address any car accident injury. Don’t let back pain after an accident affect your quality of life. Visit one of our convenient locations today to find out more about how a car accident doctor can help you experience lasting pain relief.
