Auto Accident Chiropractor in Rome, GA

Why Crash Injuries May Not Appear for Several Days

You drive off of a crash on Turner McCall Boulevard feeling no worse for wear. Perhaps a little scared, but fine.

Then three days later you can't move your neck.

We see this almost on a weekly basis here in our Rome chiropractor office. Somebody gets hit in the back by another vehicle, tells the emergency crew they are doing alright, and skips getting a checkup. A week later they are suffering from neck tightness and mid back pain and nonstop headaches, and the call comes.

Here is what is going on inside your body. When you are involved in a crash, your body releases stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol. This surge of chemicals can suppress symptoms of your injuries for 48 to 72 hours. According to the Mayo Clinic, soft tissue injuries like whiplash can show up later and continue to worsen over several days or even weeks [1]. Your body did you a favor in those moments by masking your pain. Unfortunately, it is doing the opposite by covering up the damage that occurred.

Injuries commonly overlooked include:

• Whiplash strain to the cervical spine, even if it was a minor accident
• Small tears in mid-back ligaments or muscles
• Disc issues where a disc is bulging or herniated, and irritating nerves
• Gradual inflammatory responses that decrease your mobility

Not sure whether or not the symptoms you are having have anything to do with the crash last week? That is not unusual. Some folks think their neck is tight from sleeping on it wrong, or their headache is from a stressful week. Timing is everything. The more time you wait, the more likely you are to develop scar tissue that will limit joint motion.

There is also the matter of documentation. If you wait to see a doctor too long, the insurance company may claim you were injured on a different occasion. We have seen a number of Rome residents who did not receive the coverage they were rightfully entitled to, simply because there was no doctor's visit between the accident and the injury. That allows insurance companies a lot of wiggle room for pushing back on claims.

The best option is straightforward. You need to get checked out within several days, if not sooner, even if no pain is apparent. A physical exam can discover conditions that your body is not yet alerting you to. It makes a big difference in both your recovery and the status of your claim.

Treatments We Offer Car Crash Injury Patients

Most people believe they are fine after their car crash. Then a few days pass and now they cannot turn their head or can't roll out of bed without their lower back locking up. This is what we see frequently in our Rome practice.

Here is the problem with car accident injuries. They are very good at hiding. Adrenaline masks your pain for hours or days, but when it wears off inflammation sets in. Then your body begins to compensate. That compensation causes additional injury.

This is what we typically treat following a Rome wreck:

• Whiplash from rear end accidents, even at speeds less than 10mph
• Bulging or herniated cervical and lumbar discs
• Nerve impingement resulting in tingling or numbness, burning sensation, and radiation of pain in your arms, shoulders, or legs
• Muscle strains and soft tissue injuries throughout the back and neck
• Headaches and migraines from neck misalignment

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found positive results for whiplash injuries with a timely chiropractic intervention [2]. This supports our own practice observations.

Individuals from the vicinity of North Broad Street may be affected by sciatica or have frozen shoulder from the accident weeks later. Others don't realize that their headaches started because of the crash until they come in for evaluation.

The injury might not stay limited to one area. A rear impact affects the entire spinal column. This may cause the neck pain to be the most noticeable; however, the injury often impacts the low back and the pelvis. We test the whole area rather than the one location in which pain is being experienced.

Are your symptoms related to the accident? This is a normal query to have. People often believe their discomfort will resolve by itself. When it does not, the injury has the opportunity to heal improperly with scar tissue and restricted joint motion, which only gets worse without care. Early intervention in Rome gives the best probability for a good result.

What to Expect at Your First Appointment

Are you in pain? Are you nervous? It's understandable; we deal with it every day at our Rome office.

This is how your appointment proceeds after a collision at our clinic. No questions left to be answered.

• First, a consultation. You'll have a chance to sit down with our staff and describe what happened. Your accident's description will be recorded. The same with your symptoms, even the tiny ones, such as an ache behind your eye or a stiff neck when turning your head.
• Medical records will be reviewed. If the ER or urgent care was involved, please bring along any documentation, including x-rays and discharge paperwork. This makes the process faster and more efficient.
• Hands-on physical examination will be done. We'll test your range of motion, check your posture, palpate along the spinal column. We are looking for misalignment, inflammation, tenderness, and areas where the body is trying to protect itself.
• Diagnostic imaging may be done. In office x-rays may be taken at our discretion.
• Discussion of findings. We'll explain everything to you in clear terms. No jargon or confusion; you will understand what's happening to your bones and soft tissues before any care begins.

Typically, those who come to us from North Rome or West Rome say the same thing. They expected to be rushed. They weren't. That initial visit typically lasts 45 minutes to an hour. It is thorough because it needs to be.

In most cases, we can start formulating your treatment plan right at that first visit. If there is anything that requires care beyond chiropractic adjustments or spinal manipulation, we will let you know.

One thing that most people don't expect is how much they already feel better by knowing exactly what is the matter. You have been living around Rome wondering if your neck pain is serious or if it is going to go away on its own, and it feels good to have an answer. Sometimes that feeling is literal relief.

Bring your insurance card and any auto claim number you have. The paperwork is handled at the front so you can focus on getting better. Ready to be evaluated? Give us a call.

Documentation Supporting Your Georgia Insurance Claim

This is something you don't realize often is missing until it is too late. The care you get is important, and the paperwork is also important.

Georgia is an at-fault state when it comes to an auto accident. This is to say that the driver that caused the crash is liable for your medical expenses. But an insurance adjuster isn't going to write you a check just because you say you have a sore neck. There has to be proof. The kind of proof that shows a direct link between your injuries and the accident. We deal with this part of the claim process here in Rome on a regular, weekly basis and we are familiar with what adjusters look for when reviewing a claim.

From your initial visit, we begin a document trail that will stand up. Your records from every visit we see you will include:

• The date and mechanism of the injury
• Objective exam results, such as loss of range of motion and where spasms exist
• Imaging reports when indicated
• Your treatment plan with goals and expected timeline
• Progress notes that report on your response to treatment at every visit

Nearly all the claims that get denied or minimized lack one of those elements. It may be that a person didn't go to the doctor until three weeks after the accident. It could be that they visited an urgent care clinic just once and never returned. The insurance company can point to this gap and argue that the person wasn't injured. We are not going to let that happen to our patients.

Also, if you are using a personal injury attorney, they will likely tell you that regular chiropractic records maintained by a licensed chiropractic provider are strong evidence in any motor vehicle collision case.

We coordinate with other providers when we think your situation would benefit from imaging or referral to a specialist. Sometimes folks near the West Rome area will need MRIs, X-rays or other tests prior to some treatments. We will expedite those referrals so that your care is not delayed and your documentation timeline is maintained. Your records matter, as they provide the documentation needed to tell a complete and compelling story, protecting your right to fair compensation.

Recovery Timeline and What to Expect with Your Progress

This is our most commonly asked question. Every day in our Rome office someone asks us how long it will be until you feel good again.

Our honest answer is: it all depends on your accident, your condition and your ability to follow treatment, but we are happy to give you the timeline based on what we see every day with Rome area patients. Most soft tissue injuries — which most auto accident injuries are — follow a similar course, beginning with the initial two to four weeks of decreasing pain and stiffness, restoring mobility, and eliminating a pain cycle. You may see significant improvements early on in your treatment, such as being able to rotate your head and look around your environment or sleeping through the night for the first time since the car crash.

The real rebuilding of your condition will begin between weeks four and eight.

During this phase, we focus on tissue regeneration and we often modify visit times depending on your progress. For example, some patients near the West Rome area come in three times a week during the first few weeks and then drop to once a week as things improve. Your treatment will be based on a variety of different factors including:

• Pain level with functional movements, such as sitting, driving, and working
• Range of motion measurements for both your neck and low back
• Sleep and quality of life factors at home
• Muscle strength and stability for your neck and back

By the eight to twelve week mark, most patients notice significant improvement. Some patients, however, are not at their baseline twelve weeks following an accident, which is normal given the severity of some accidents. For example, a patient with a herniated disc, severe whiplash, or nerve injury may take four to six months to recover. The end goal is not to treat your condition as quickly as possible, but to help you get back to the point where you were prior to your accident.

An additional thing that patients are sometimes surprised by is that healing is not always linear. It is possible to have several good days and then feel worse, only to see more significant gains the week after. This is not a sign that we are not making progress, and patients are always told this so they know why that might be occurring.

We also utilize other treatments to assist your recovery, such as spinal traction therapy and cold laser therapy. Your body must be ready, however, for any of these treatments to be successful. We are not trying to treat you as quickly as we can; in fact, patients who have tried "toughing it out" often end up re-injuring themselves because they pushed too hard too quickly. Connect with a chiropractor from Rome, GA, today.