Whiplash is one of the most common and best-known injuries, but it’s not the only type of auto injury we treat at iMed Regeneration Center.
We help you find pain relief and support your recovery from all the common car accident injuries in this list by creating multimodal treatment plans that draw from chiropractic care, physical rehabilitation, and regenerative medicine.
Concussion
Statistics show that 14% of all traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur when your head strikes the windshield or dashboard. You may have a concussion, which is a mild traumatic brain injury, or suffer a severe impact that causes nerve damage, bleeding, and bruising in the brain.
TBIs often cause immediate symptoms. But problems such as dizziness, memory loss, confusion, and headaches can be delayed for several days or weeks if you sustain a mild concussion.
Fractures
Car accident fractures may affect any bone in your body, depending on whether the impact was from the front, back, or side, and if you were wearing a seatbelt.
Legs, ribs, shoulders, and arms are frequently fractured during a car accident. But pelvic fractures are one of the most common types of injuries.
Pelvic fractures occur when your knee and/or femur (thighbone) are forced into the dashboard or other parts of the car. The force pushes the femur into the hip socket, which in turn fractures the socket, pelvis, and/or top of the femur.
Back pain
Though your neck is susceptible to whiplash, that sudden, jarring, head-snapping motion causes pressure and trauma down the full length of your spine.
High velocity auto accidents may result in spinal fractures, but it’s more common to develop back pain when you damage the soft tissues.
Following a car accident, you may develop muscular strains, ligament sprains, and damage to vertebral discs or spinal nerves. Depending on the extent of your injury, you may have immediate and severe pain, or you may not start to feel the pain for hours or days.
Delayed pain occurs for several possible reasons. For starters, acute trauma triggers the release of adrenaline and endorphins.
Adrenalin raises your tolerance to pain. Endorphins, your body’s natural painkillers, activate the same pain-relief sensors as opioids. You may not start to feel serious pain until their levels decline.
Additionally, it takes time for inflammation, bruising, and muscle stiffness to reach maximum levels and trigger pain.
Crush injuries
Crush injuries occur when your body sustains strong pressure or force, such as the steering wheel or dashboard pushing against your chest. Though you may suffer a mild crush injury, this type of car accident injury causes a range of potentially severe problems, including:
- Internal bleeding
- Organ damage
- Fractures
- Lacerations
- Nerve injuries
- Tendon injuries
- Secondary infections
- Compartment syndrome
Compartment syndrome develops when pressure inside the muscles increases to dangerous levels. As a result, blood flow is inhibited, leading to the death of tissues such as muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.
Whether you need pain relief or rehabilitation, iMed Regeneration Center offers exceptional care and customized treatment. If you need help following a car accident, call our office in Colorado Springs, Colorado, or book an appointment using our online tool.