In A Car Accident And Hurt Your Neck? How A Chiropractor Can Help You

If you were in a car accident and you are having pain in your neck, this can be difficult to deal with. You have a choice of going to a doctor but you may want to go to a chiropractor first.  A chiropractor has many techniques they can use to help your pain go away. Below is some more information about this so you can decide if you would like to try this.

Your First Visit

When you first see the chiropractor, they will do a physical exam on you to help them locate where your pain is coming from in your neck. They will want to know information such as when you noticed the pain first started and what you have done to help relieve the pain, such as taking medications or exercises.

The chiropractor will observe the range of motion in your neck and your posture, as well as ask you about your physical condition. They will ask you to move your neck to see the movement that is causing the pain. Once the chiropractor is done evaluating you, they may want to take an x-ray of your neck or a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan. This will show them exactly what is going on, such as if you have any kind of nerve damage in your neck.

A chiropractor does not perform surgery or prescribe any kind of medications. If they find a problem that is out of their scope of expertise, such as if you have a fracture in your neck, they will refer you to a doctor.

What a Chiropractor Can Do

The chiropractor will perform cervical manipulation, also known as a neck adjustment, to help you with pain. They use their hands to apply pressure to the joints of your neck. This helps improve your neck's mobility and help restore the range of motion.  The neck adjustment can also help increase the movement of adjoining muscles. The chiropractor may use massage or do other type of rehabilitative exercises depending on the problem you are having.

Other types of treatments they may use are ice packs to help reduce muscle spasms, pain, and inflammation, electrotherapy, or ultrasound treatment. Your chiropractor can go over all of this with you in detail so you can understand how this therapy works.

You will likely have to see the chiropractor for a few weeks to completely remove the pain you are feeling. Your chiropractor can help you determine this and set up a plan with you. 

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