Each year over 2 million people get into car accidents. Some injuries from these accidents resolve naturally. Many more need medical treatment.
It is estimated that 80% of all car accident injuries are soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue injuries are injuries to the “soft” tissues of the body namely: discs, ligaments, muscles, tendons, nerves and other connective tissue types. These injuries can be to the head, neck, back, shoulders, arms or legs. The most common symptoms from these types of injuries include: headaches, concussion, stiffness, sharp, dull or burning pain, dizziness, numbness, blurred vision, sleepiness, difficulty concentrating and even sleep and mood changes. These symptoms can occur right after the accident but in many cases symptoms are not visible right away and may take several days or weeks before showing up.
This is why it is important to be checked out by a medical professional right away after an accident. Long-term injuries to the spine can result in an accelerated degeneration of the spine.
Why Chiropractic?
If you have been in a car accident, chiropractic care is considered one of the best choices for treating your injury. Studies have shown that chiropractic has demonstrated best results in healing as well as patient satisfaction.
Why Relief Chiropractic?
Dr. Paolini has been treating injuries from motor vehicle accidents for over 25 years.
Dr. Paolini has specialized certifications in:
- Accident Reconstruction for Low Speed Rear Impact Collisions (LOSRIC); Spine Research Institute of San Diego.
- Whiplash and Brain Injury Traumatology; Spine Research Institute of San Diego.
- Accident Reconstruction for the Medical Practitioner; Texas A&M University
About Whiplash
Most soft tissue injuries resulting from a motor vehicle accident, due to the mechanism of the sitting in the car, are to the neck and shoulder area. These injuries are best known as whiplash.
There are estimated 3 million whiplash injuries per year. 45% of people with chronic neck pain attribute the pain to a past motored vehicle crash injury.
The medical term for whiplash is “whiplash associated disorders” (WAD) or “cervical acceleration/deceleration syndrome” (CADS) and can occur at changes in speed (delta-V) as low as 5 MPH. Seems odd at first, but the reason is because crashes are more elastic at low speeds. With elastic collisions momentum and speed are conserved. This means all the kinetic energy that is produced continues until it reaches the driver. The kinetic energy stops when it comes to the seat occupant due to the tissues are soft and absorb the impact. This results in injuries to the muscles, facets, discs, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues In this video you can see the effects of this in action:
Trauma to neck and back at only 6 Mph
The change in velocity between the two vehicles was only 6 MPH and yet the impact created neck acceleration forces of 13 MPH.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Treatment for My Car Accident Covered by Insurance?
In the state of Pennsylvania, injuries from car accidents are considered “no-fault”. This means you are covered even if you cause the accident. PA requires Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance for all drivers of no less than $5000 per occupant per incident. This means that you, and everyone else in the car, has at least $5000 in medical expenses that will be covered at 100%.
Why Was There a Delay in Onset of My Pain and Numbness?
Why this happens is not fully understood. One of the theories on why this occurs is that the structures usually injured in whiplash accidents, facet joints, discs, endplates, capsules and surrounding area are not supplied with a great deal of sensory nerves without the sensory nerve to send the message of damage ( a.k.a pain signals), you don’t get immediate pain. Also, inflammation pathways also play a large role in pain generation. Inflammation pathways create pain signals through prostaglandins and other chemical agents. The creation of these chemical pain agents, known as cascades, take 12-72 hours to reach the peak level required for you to feel pain. A third reason is the creating of adrenaline that occurs when you have an accident or stressful situation. Adrenaline triggered by our fight or flight response will cause an noticeable increase in strength and performance but also reduces the body’s ability to feel pain. Any on or a combination of all three is the reason you don’t feel immediate pain
There is No Damage to My Car Why Do I Feel Pain?
That is because there is NO correlation between vehicle damage and outcome. Injuries begin at changes in velocity (delta V) as low as 5 miles an hour.
Car manufacturers create bumpers to not have any damage below 12 miles an hour. This is good to keep car repair costs down; it is bad for occupants of the car. If the bumper was to crush it would absorb the kinetic energy created by the impact. For example, Volvo’s famous crush zones absorb the kinetic energy and total the car but protect the occupants. One must also realize that low speed accidents are more elastic in nature. This means all the energy created is kept in its pathway and does not disperse. Since the energy is maintained through its trajectory and the car is built not to absorb it, it travels until it finds material that does. This usually is your neck.
A 5 mph crash typically produces about 10-12G of acceleration of the occupant’s head.
To see a video explanation of this along with the injuries sustained click here. The link will take you from our website.