An Auto Accident Could Ruin Your Health
What Happens When You Get Injured
If You Have Already Had an Accident
Be Prepared for any Future Accident

When you think of auto accidents, you may visualize mangled vehicles, broken bones, and a rush to the hospital to save your life.

Actually, the most common accidents (over 1,000,000 per year) are "fender-benders" that result in a "whiplash" injury. Often, people don't seek professional help because there is no visible injury and the initial pain is not severe. This is a big mistake.

An Auto Accident Could Ruin Your Health.

If you don't get appropriate treatment immediately, you could have long-term health problems.

Example: in a study of 100 people who were rear-ended, 14% still had significant pain after 8 years! Besides neck and back pain, you may experience headaches, dizziness, numbness, vision problems, and difficulty concentrating. You also have a much higher risk of degenerative disc disease later on in your life. To top it off, you could become disabled and not be able to work.

Medical treatment for the typical auto injury is usually painkillers and a neck brace. However, this approach does little to repair the underlying injury. If your treatment is unsuccessful, you may be offered surgery - which can have a failure rate as high as 45%.

If you are in an accident, call our clinic or see your health practitioner immediately so that you can stop the injury process and prevent permanent damage.

What Happens When You Get Injured.

Before you are injured, your tissues are elastic and flexible. They are hydrated, nourished with good blood circulation, and your nervous tissue is in a balanced state. But all that changes after an accident. As soon as you are injured, your body goes into a trauma response in an attempt to protect itself.

1. Reaction Phase (24-72 hours immediately after injury).

The body goes into a sympathetic nervous reaction, causing a disruption in blood and nerve flow. This results in swelling and muscle spasms. People usually take pain killers and immobilize the injured area. It is vital in this phase to bring the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems back into balance so that oxygen and blood nutrients can more quickly reach the damaged area. This will reduce pain and swelling, and lessen muscle spasms.

What to do:
• Follow your physician's instructions.
• Come in to New Heights for an evaluation as soon as you can - a physician's referral is not always necessary to initiate care.

We have the experience and education to evaluate your skeletal tissue and start an individualized program to reduce pain, improve circulation, and immediately increase your mobility. If you start care promptly, less treatment is needed and chronic injury can be avoided.

2. Regeneration phase (usually within 6-8 weeks of injury).

The body begins to lay down new tissue and repair nerve connections to the damaged tissue. Scar tissue, similar to gristle, is formed but it has a poor blood supply and is less elastic and flexible. Your goal is to restore healthy tissue with minimal scar formation. Once scar tissue is formed, it is difficult to get rid of.

Physical therapy is the primary method for repair and strengthening of damaged tissue, and for avoiding excessive scar tissue growth. Regardless of the severity of the accident or injury, you will benefit from a physical therapy program. Often the first phase includes gentle exercise to promote circulation and thus prevent further inflammation, scar tissue, and immobility.

What to do:
• Follow your recommended physical therapy program.

After our initial evaluation, you will receive a highly customized therapy program designed specifically to accelerate the healing of your damaged tissue.

3. Remodeling phase (usually up to one year after injury).

This phase of healing is ignored by many people because, by this time, much of the pain has gone away. "Remodeling" means the retraining of nerves and connective tissue to perform optimally, as they did before the injury. This process is known medically as "neuromuscular re-education." Also, if all goes well, scar tissue is reabsorbed, and pliability and elasticity are re-established. Remodeling occurs only with optimal connective tissue nutrition, corrective exercises, and physical therapy.

What to do:
• Continue with your physical therapy beyond the point where most of the pain is gone.

The absence of pain does not automatically mean that your tissues are back to a healthy state. Medical studies have shown that it can take six months to one year for connective tissue to repair itself.

If you want to heal completely from your accident, you may need to continue your program for up to a year so that optimal tissue repair will occur. In most cases, this program can be easily learned and conveniently done at home. We periodically adjust your exercise program as you progress so that it may be customized for your individual needs throughout your healing.

If You Have Already Had an Accident.

If you have been in an auto accident within the past two months, you are probably in the Regeneration Phase of recovery. This is a time when you need physical therapy. If you are not already receiving therapy, please call New Heights today for an evaluation to determine your needs.

If your accident occurred between two and twelve months ago, you are probably in the Remodeling Phase of your recovery. Most connective tissue injuries are quite slow to heal. There's no question that physical therapy is beneficial in helping you to successfully complete the Remodeling Phase and return yourself to full function. So if you are not on a therapy program, we recommend that you get an evaluation to see how therapy can support your healing process.

Be Prepared for any Future Accident.

We hope you have never had an accident and will never have one in the future. But statistics suggest that you are likely to have an auto accident at some point during your lifetime. So, it's best to be prepared beforehand.

1. Have the name and phone number of your insurance company and doctor with you at all times.

2. Keep a pen and Vehicle Accident form in the glove compartment of every car in your household. When an accident occurs, use this form to gather important information.

3. Buy an inexpensive disposable camera (with flash) for each car in your household and keep it in the glove compartment. In the event of an accident, take photos of the accident scene. A picture is worth a thousand words - photos could be very useful if you have a medical claim or lawsuit that occurs later.