What do I do after I have been in a car accident?
1. Get other parties insurance information, license plate number and all contact information, including place of employment.
2. If your injuries are severe, allow the ambulance to take you to the hospital for an evaluation.
3. Follow up with your personal chiropractor for further evaluation and assessment.
It is important when initiating treatment following an accident or injury, that treatment start as close as possible to the occurrence of the injury. Treatment is broken down in to three phases starting with acute or intensive care, followed by subacute care, and rehabilitative care.
Remember to apply ice to the injured area as soon as possible following an injury. This will start reducing the inflammation and accelerate the healing process.
Rules for Ice
Ice should never be applied directly to the skin. (Exception: Unless the the ice is being moved around as in an ice massage. In that case, stop icing once the area is numb.)
Ice for 15-20 minutes maximum out of each hour for adults and 10-15 minutes for children.
If ice increases the pain, you may be experiencing muscle spasms. If that is the case, alternate hot and cold. 10 minutes of moist heat followed by 10 minutes of ice.
Intensive Care
This first phase of care is designed to eliminate or reduce the majority of the pain and stabilize the condition in the shortest amount of time. During this stage, visits will be frequent, often several times per week or more depending on the severity of the injury. This phase of care usually lasts approximately two to four weeks depending on several factors including severity of the injury, age of the patient etc.
Subacute Care
This phase of care is designed to correct the structural causes of the pain. e.g. eliminate subluxation patterns in the injured area. During this phase, the patient will also be given a home program to start stretching and moving the injured body parts. This phase of care typically lasts from two to four weeks depending on the severity of the condition, pre-existing factors, age etc.
Rehabilitative Care
Upon completion of the first two phases of care, this phase is designed to strengthen muscles, improve flexibility and restore the function to the injured area so that the patient can return to their lifestyle. During this phase, the frequency of adjusting decreases as the rehabilitative sessions increase. The length of this phase is typically also four weeks but varies with the patient age and conditioning level prior to the injury.
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