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Accidents and Injuries

Minor Accidents

Most accidents are minor. In those cases, chiropractic care should be sought out as quickly as possible. Too often severe health problems first began as a little fall, whiplash, bump or shake-up that may have caused some pain initially but was later forgotten.

Many times chiropractic patients have discovered that the cause of their present complaints was a childhood fall or even birth trauma. There may have been no broken bones or serious bleeding, but there was spinal damage that was never corrected. The medical doctors may have checked them and said that they were fine, but medical doctors do not know how to analyze the spinal column for subluxations, nor do they know how to correct them. Millions of people leave emergency rooms unaware that they are carrying around hidden spinal distortions that may cause severe health problems at a later date.

What About Serious Accidents & Trauma?

Is chiropractic care helpful in serious accidents? Absolutely! But in such situations it is necessary to first attend to any life-threatening emergency such as bleeding or hemorrhage, stoppage of breath, loss of fluid electrolytes, internal organ damage, broken bones, serious contusions or abrasions, shock and the like. This is the specialty of the medical profession.

It must be emphasized that chiropractic is not against necessary medical care. In emergencies, all must be done to save life and limb. We will work to stop bleeding, stitch broken skin together, set the broken ends of bone together, remove bullets, supply lost bodily fluids, control shock, and perform any other procedures necessary to stabilize the patient so that they are out of immediate danger.

But after the medical doctors have done their work, there is a pause. In that pause, everyone sits back and waits for the real healing to begin.

After The Accident?

Long-term damage to the spine and head is especially common in auto accidents. Doctors of chiropractic have for years recognized that most victims of automobile injuries do not fully recover under medical care - they may continue to have problems for years after the accident because their structure is often ignored. New medical terms acknowledging the incomplete healing of accident victims have recently arisen: Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS), Whiplash Syndrome (WS), Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (MTBI) and Mild Head Injury (MHI).

Residual problems may linger for months, years or decades after an accident. They may be musculoskeletal (the muscles and bones are affected) or neuromusculoskeletal (the nerves, muscles and bones are affected). Commonly called "pinched" nerves, there may be pains or muscle spasms in the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, legs, back, face or head upon movement or when standing and sitting for long periods. The pain may radiate to other parts of the body.

Other post-accident problems may include insomnia, mental dullness, nervousness, anxiety, depression, constipation, diarrhea, headache, hearing and vision problems, reduced joint motion, and other symptoms.

This information was taken from the Koren Publications, Inc. brochure entitled, "Accidents & Injuries," 1997.