Accidents & Injuries

Sometimes our world can be a pretty dangerous place. Many of us have experienced a traumatic brush (or collision) with reality. Although accidents may be unavoidable, much of the pain and suffering resulting from traumatic injuries may in many cases, can be avoided with chiropractic care.

Traumas Cause Subluxations

Every trauma has the potential to cause vertebral subluxations--an area of abnormal stress in your spine that upsets body balance, impinges, "pinches," stretches or compresses your nerves, and affects the health of your muscles, internal organs, discs, bones and brain. A subluxation can cause pain, organ or system malfunction and dis-ease(body malfunction).1

What Is Chiropractic?

Chiropractic is a system of healthcare that specializes in correcting vertebral subluxations. Your chiropractor corrects the subluxations using safe, gentle, spinal "adjustment" techniques.

Minor Accidents

Too often, severe health problems can begin as a little fall, whiplash, bump or shake-up that caused a subluxation. Many times chiropractic patients have discovered that the cause of their present complaints was a childhood fall or even birth trauma. There may have been no broken bones or serious bleeding but there was spinal damage that was never corrected. The medical doctor may have said they were fine, but MDs do not know how to analyze the spinal column for subluxations nor do they know how to correct them.

Millions of people leave emergency rooms unaware that they are carrying around hidden spinal distortions that can cause severe health problems at a later date. Many people leave the emergency room with as much spinal damage as when they entered it. For that reason chiropractors belong in every emergency room in the country.

Serious Accidents

It must be emphasized that chiropractic is not against necessary medical care. In emergencies, all must be done to save life and limb. But after the medical doctors have done their work there is a pause. In that pause everyone sits back and waits for the real healing to begin. That's the scene in the movies when they say, "We've done all we could do, now he's in God's hands." In that pause the real healing occurs. True healing is not done by doctors, stitches, gauze, drugs and injections--it is performed by the wisdom of our miraculous bodies. It is as miraculous and mysterious as the miracle of birth where life is created and recreated. It is the goal of all doctors to remove that which interferes with the normal expression of life and to create an environment that nurtures healing. That is why, when it it safe to do so, the body should receive the chiropractic care that it desperately needs.

Post-Accident Physical And Mental Health Problems

Accident victims often continue to suffer from pain, weakness and disability for months, years or decades. Even after the best medical care they may continue to take painkillers or muscle relaxants, use various therapies or have repeated surgeries. "I feel like a walking medicine cabinet," is too often the lament of the post-accident victim. Sometimes they have flare-ups every so often that they may debilitate them for days, weeks or months. Being drugged up all the time may deaden the pain, but does precious little or nothing towards healing.

Post-accident conditions may include pain or spasms in the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, legs, back and face.2 There have even been reports of scoliosis (sideways twisting of the spine) occurring after a trauma.3 Also, it is not unusual to hear of relatives or friends noticing a loved one's personality change after an accident or trauma. This is sometimes referred to as "post-traumatic stress disorder" and may include insomnia, mental dullness, nervousness, anxiety, memory problems, depression, constipation, diarrhea, headache, hearing, vision problems4-6 and even epilepsy, allergies and dizziness.7 Other post-accident problems, undoubtedly caused by subluxations, include asthma, bed-wetting,8 vomiting, loss of energy,9 incontinence,10 urinary tract infections,11 vision problems,12 blindness13 and even hyperactivity in children. All have been reported after traumatic events and have completely corrected following chiropractic care.14

"You'll Have To Live With It"

It is an unfortunate fact that over half of the victims of auto accidents never fully recover under medical(including orthopedic) care. There are still pain, disability and other constant reminders that they have been hurt and haven't fully healed. They need to know that in many cases chiropractic care may totally eliminate or greatly reduce their problems safely, quickly and without drugs or surgery.

In Conclusion

Anyone who has been in an accident or trauma, whether mild or serious and no matter how long ago, should see a chiropractor to have their spinal column checked for nerve pressure caused by vertebral subluxations. A chiropractic adjustment can make the difference between life and death, between life with pain, disability and sickness and life with full recovery, activity and health.

References

1. Hadley LA. Intervertebral joint subluxation, bony impingement and foramen encroachment with nerve root change. Am J Roentgenology and Radiological Therapeutics. 1951;65:337-402

2. Bracker MD, Ralph LP. The numb arm and hand. Am Family Phys.1995;51(1):103-116.

3. Fortinopoulos V. Scoliosisand subluxation. Int'l Chiro Ped Assn. July/August 1999.

4. Braaf MM, Rosner S, Gukelberger M. Trauma of cervical spine as cause of shronic headache. J Trauma. 1975; 15:441-446.

5. Gukelberger M. The uncomplicated post-traumatic cervical syndrome. Scand J Rehabilitative Med. 1972;4:150-153

6. Di Stefano G, Radanov BP. Course of attention and memory after common whiplash.Acta Neurol Scand. 1995; 91:346-352.

7. Woods RH. Structural normalization in infants and children with particular reference to disturbances of the CNS. JAOA. 1973;72:903-908.

8. Bachman TR, Lantz CA. Management of pediatric asthma and enuresis with probable traumatic etiology. Proc National Conference on Chiropractic and Pediatrics (ICA). 1991:14-22.

9. Araghi HJ. Post-traumatic evaluation and treatment of the pediatric patient with head injury: a case report. Proc National Conference on Chiropractic and Pediatrics.1992:1-8

10. Stude DE, Bergmann TF, Finer BA. A conservative approach for a patient with traumatically induced urinary incontinence. JMPT. 1998;21:363-367.

11. Vallone SA. Chiropractic management of a 7-year-old female with recurrent urinary tract infections. Chiropractic Techniques 1998;10:113-117

12. Stephens S, Pollard H, Bilton D, et al. Bilateral simultaneous optic nerve dysfunction following paraorbital trauma: recovery of vision in association with chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy. JMPT. 1999;22(9).

13. Gorman RF. Monocular visual loss after closed head trauma: immediate resolution associated with spinal manipulation. JMPT. 1995;18(3).

14. Ressel OJ. Disc regeneration: reversibility is possible in spinal osteoarthritis. ICA Review. March/April 1989;39-61.

All information provided by: 1997(tm)Tedd Koren, D.C.,All Rights Reserved. Koren Publications