8 Reasons Chiropractic Is The Best Treatment For Auto Injuries

People are injured in car crashes every year in the US, and even the minor collisions result in long-term symptoms and disability. Research shows that a significant number of people have pain from a crash even 10-15 years later.
Chiropractic is one of the best ways to treat and heal from these types of injuries, as it works by restoring the normal function of your spine, allowing the tissues to heal becoming pain-free.

If You’ve Suffered An Auto Injury Chiropractic can help:

1. Reduces Inflammation

During an accident, ligaments & muscles in your spine can become stretched creating micro-tears. X-rays or MRI scans usually aren’t sophisticated enough to diagnose these kinds of injuries, but this tissue damage causes the area to become inflamed. Many times, an auto injury patient won’t feel much discomfort immediately after the crash, but they wake up the next morning to a stiff and painful neck. This is caused by the body’s inflammation response to these micro-lesions.
A study found chiropractic treatment helps the body release anti-inflammatory Interleukin 6 (IL-6). This is an important substance created by your body that is used to help heal injuries.

2. Restores Motion

Inflammation is when the tissues become immobile, which slows the healing process. Ligaments of the spine don’t get many nutrients or blood supply normally, and this becomes even more difficult when inflamed and injured.
A chiropractic adjustment allows the joints of your spine to mobilize and increase blood flow and healing nutrients to the area.

3. Reduces Scar Tissue

Your body heals injuries by creating scar tissue. Scar tissue in an injured area is made up of the same kind of cells as the original tissue, but it’s laid down rapidly and randomly as a temporary “patch” on top of the damaged area.
Scar tissue on a large muscle, can be uncomfortable unless you stretch it out. However, it shouldn’t cause any long-term problems. Scar tissue in the ligaments of your neck or back, however, can be much more debilitating, since we can’t stretch it out ourselves. Your chiropractor focuses the adjustments on these specific vertebral joints that are fixated, effectively stretching them and breaking up the scar tissue in the joint.

4. Relieve Localized Pain

In 20 years, studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments are safe and effective in reducing pain. In fact, a 2013 study found that 94% of patients experienced neck pain relief with manipulation!

5. Reduces Pain in Your Whole Body

Auto injury patients develop widespread pain after a crash, especially if the original injury wasn’t treated promptly. A 2014 study reported that people who received a chiropractic adjustment had increased levels of pain-reducing hormones in their bloodstream.

6. Relieves Stress

A auto accident can be very stressful. When your body is exposed to trauma, it goes into a flight or fight response, which can result in anxiety, depression, and stress. A 2011 study used PET scans to look at the brains of people who received chiropractic adjustments for neck pain. They found that those patients had reduced brain activity in the parts of the brain responsible for pain processing and stress reactions. They also had significantly lower levels of cortisol, indicating reduced stress. Participants also reported lower pain scores and a better quality of life after treatment. Reducing your overall level of stress is important, because, left untreated, stress can also slow recovery time and increase your risk of developing chronic pain.

7. Chiropractic Care Is Bona Fide

Researchers realize chiropractic helps people recover from auto injuries. In 1996, British researchers found that 93% of auto injury patients with neck pain experienced dramatic improvement with chiropractic care.
In 2015, an Ontario, Canada government group agreed that spinal manipulation, combined with staying active and continuing to work, are the most important factors in recovering quickly from car crash injuries.

8. Chiropractic Care Can Prevent Chronic Pain

From 2000 and 2003 studies found auto injury patients who received early care recovered faster and had fewer residual symptoms from the crash. Chiropractic does this: a chiropractic adjustment gets the joints in your spine moving the way they’re supposed to, helping to prevent chronic pain.

If you’ve been injured in a car crash, you don’t have to suffer from chronic pain. Chiropractic is a great way to help your body heal from all kinds of injuries.

By Dr. Alex Jimenez