Car Accident Injury-Cabot Chiropractor

Grace Chiropractic Center treats auto accidents in Cabot Arkansas. Most people in Cabot and central Arkansas have either been in a auto accident at some point or will be in one during their life. The range of injuries that can happen is extensive from mild soreness to being disabled or death. More than not, most accidents in the city are mild to moderate fender benders and low speed impact that can still cause a life time of issues and pain. The term whiplash is a old term that is often used but isn’t a very accurate description of what happens. Most patients we see have been rear-ended while sitting still in traffic or a stop light. This type of injury compresses the back of the spine slamming the facet joints together and can cause disc issues. The person’s head accelerates rearward into the head rest and then is thrown forward in a rebound motion. A head on collision causes the cervical spine to flex forward toward the steering wheel and over stretches the soft tissues on the back of the spine. If the air bags deploy, then the cervical spine is shot backwards again into the head rest, slamming the back of the spine together. All of this occurs in a fraction of a second. The soft tissues injuries can be extensive on the back, sides and front of the neck. The tractioning affect of your 9lb head slinging around back and forth can cause trauma to the vertebra, ligaments and muscles.

Now that we have discussed some of the neck injuries that happen during car accidents, there are other body parts that can be affected in mild and moderate auto accidents also. Some of these depend on if you are the driver or not, in the front or back seat and if air bags deploy or not. It is common to have wrist injury, shoulder involvement, mid and lower back symptoms following auto injuries. Knees can strike the dash or the door during head-on accidents or rear-end accidents. Side impacts and off center impacts have their own common injuries as well.

One of the first items we collect from a auto case is a medical history, what problems did you have or not have before the accident, to establish new symptoms vs old ones. Then we evaluate the involved areas from balance, head trauma, arms/hands, hips/legs, cervical, thoracic, lumbar, pelvic, cranial nerves, sensory test, muscle test, dermatome test, reflexes and symmetry in strength and posture. Next we evaluate function,  ranges of motion, gait and coordination. In some of the more mild fender benders x-rays may not always be needed depending on that particular case. Most often x-rays are performed following a auto accident. For some neurological symptoms a MRI, CT maybe done for soft tissue imaging. In the next series of articles we will discuss the treatment and rehab for some of these types of injuries at Grace Chiropractic Center in Cabot, Arkansas.