Whiplash is the most commonly caused injury in rear-end collisions. The amount of force that another vehicle applies to your own whips your head forward and back as your whole body tenses up and braces for impact. Even if you do not go to a doctor or the emergency room for other injuries, you should not ignore the fact that you will have whiplash. There are several repercussions of not seeing a doctor immediately after an accident and getting treatment for this painful injury.
Injuries You Do Not See
Most people in a car accident may walk away from it with just bruises, abrasions and small cuts. However, the less obvious injuries may take hours to develop. Whiplash is one of those injuries. Additionally, you could sustain a concussion or a brain bleed if your head hit the steering wheel or bounced off your side window. Avoiding medical treatment after an accident because you do not immediately feel the effects of any of these injuries allows the injuries time to get worse. Once you finally feel them and decide to seek medical help, you may need to be hospitalized, require surgery, or, at the very least, have a much longer recovery time than you intended.
Whiplash Swelling Leads to Weeks or Months of Physical Therapy
If you avoid medical treatment after a car accident, your whiplash can cause intense swelling in and around your cervical vertebrae, your carotid artery to the brain, and your jugular vein which takes deoxygenated blood away from the brain. The swelling clamps down on the major blood vessels, causing you to feel dizzy and tired, while your neck is unable to turn in any direction. This combination of symptoms normally results in several weeks of physical therapy and chiropractic care, but avoiding treatment extends your therapy from weeks into several months.
The Most Severe Cases Need Surgery
Usually, if you are one the minority who will need surgery to remove a vertebral disc and/or treat torn ligaments and muscles from the neck to the shoulders, you will be in excruciating pain right after the accident. If your case is severe enough to warrant surgery, your doctor will see it on the x-rays. Unfortunately, if the only thing that can help is removing a disc from your neck, you may also have to have that area of your spine fused with device that allows limited mobility. Regardless of whether you feel pain in your neck after an accident or not, seek medical attention right away. Contact a clinic like Rosser Chiropractic Center for more information.
Share25 February 2015
One day I was playing a game of basketball with a friend, and the friend I was playing ball with tripped and took a hard fall to the ground. He hit his head hard, but he insisted he was okay and just wanted to go home and take a nap. I knew in my heart that he was not thinking clearly, and I didn't feel right letting him go home. I talked him into letting me take him to the hospital, and after some tests, it was determined he had a bad concussion. The doctors told me that if I had let him go home and sleep, things could have taken a turn for the worse. I created this blog to remind everyone to look out for each other after injuries. Not everyone thinks clearly after a head injury, and just being a good friend could save a life.