No one wants to be alone in their process of recuperating and healing from something so traumatic as a car wreck. That’s why we’ve put together this ‘quick-start’ guide to follow after you’ve been in a car wreck. As a chiropractic practice that specializes in getting people ‘back on the horse’ again (or back in the car, as the case may be, we see a lot of car wreck injuries. We’ve fine tuned what we know and want to make it as painless as possible for you if you’re recovering from a North Carolina car crash.
Don’t speed in the first place. Did you know that one-third of North Carolina fatalities in car accidents are caused by speeding drivers? By following the speed limits, you’re not only staying legal, but also significantly decreasing your chances of a bad – and possibly fatal – wreck.
So you’ve been in a wreck. First things first: before assessing the damage of the auto, assess any damage that you’ve incurred. Were you wearing a seatbelt? If so, great! It may have saved your life. But what you probably don’t know is that seatbelts create even more torque in a crash, which can potentially cause great damage to your spine, even though it may not be apparent until long after the fact.
It’s hard to know what the culprit is with upper neck pain – is it your pillow, head rest, or swivel chair? Is it your posture or that bike injury you had a few years ago? Perhaps it’s whiplash from a minor car accident that you never thought could have such long lasting complications.
No matter what the influence – injury, exercise, posture, or another factor – neck pain is possible to beat. And one of the most promising, and absolutely non-invasive and drug-free, tools in the medical field is Atlas Orthogonal treatment, which works with your body to heal itself, not against it. Atlas Orthogonal works directly with the top bone of the neck to restore its proper alignment, building a bridge of health between the body and brain.
If there was one key to resolving upper neck pain, it lies in the gentle and specific adjustments that Dr. Nygaard performs to the top bone of the neck, the atlas. Deliberately manipulating the very first vertebrae in the neck allows your body’s natural healing defenses to kick in by restoring the organic flow of brain-body communication. Through this bone, the nerves of the brain stem run and disperse throughout the rest of the body.
When your atlas bone is out of line, however, a communication barrier is put up between the brain and the rest of the body and often, signals are missed or do not go through properly. Just like a perfectly oiled machine, when the atlas bone is aligned correctly, the whole spinal column is likely to be operating well. When it’s out of whack, due to injury, a lifetime of poor posture and sleep positions, vigorous exercise, or any one of numerous factors, there is a distortion at the brainstem that can cause everything from immune system depression to swelling and pain in the neck area.
After a professional atlas evaluation and the correction of misalignment – or subluxation, the chiropractic term – is resolved, patients find improvement from a multitude of angles. Physically, they feel less pain, inflammation and swelling. Mentally, because the communication lines between the body and brain are cleared, there is a lifting of brain fog. Emotionally, some patients feel that there is an easing and relaxing into a dramatically improved quality of life.
As the the only Atlas Orthogonal chiropractor in Western North Carolina, Dr. Nygaard specializes in helping people in pain heal by creating a treatment plan specific to them. Using state-of-the-art diagnostic technology, he will examine you to assess the alignment of your neck. Even a minor misalignment can cause people major pain, so he will determine with absolute precision what the best alignment action is for you. The X-rays that Dr. Nygaard takes are computer analyzed for 100% accuracy, and exact calculations are made that trigger a gentle instrument to adjust your atlas. There is no pain whatsoever, and in fact some patients immediately feel relaxed and relieved directly after the adjustment
For the future of your neck and a life free of pain, an Atlas Orthogonal adjustment might be the one thing you haven’t tried; it might be the one thing that works for you, for the long-term.
Dr. Nygaard has been serving the Asheville community for 18 years and wants to help you in your journey to wellbeing. Specializing in upper cervical and Atlas Orthogonal treatment, neuropathy, disc compression, migraines, auto accident recovery.
Dr. Nygaard is the only doctor in the Western North Carolina area with this area of expertise and care. He is happy to customize a safe and effective treatment plan for you, so your free initial pre-consultation today.
Getting over a car accident isn't quite the quick fix that we might hope it would be. Every year in North Carolina alone, there are around 110,000 people who are injured in a car wreck. Thousands of these crashes are related to speeding, and increasingly, more car accidents are related to distracted driving due to technology. You got it: texting while driving. But if you're in a wreck, it's likely that you’re going to suffer from a much worse injury than just 'text neck'. You ask how to get over a car accident? We answer: trust the experts.
Chiropractors Specialize in Car Accident Recovery
Even more often than the obvious damage (open wounds and abrasions, for instance), individuals who have been in car accidents suffer from hidden damage to muscles, ligaments, joints, and nerves. These areas of the body are the sovereign domain of the chiropractor, who has specialized techniques to correct the damage rather than smothering it with pharmaceuticals.
Working through the aftermath of a car crash takes more than just determination and some pain pills, it takes commitment to a healing plan that recovers your internal balance...or you risk being dependent on prescription drugs for life and never fully becoming well again
You're At Risk for More than Just Injury
There's no 'just getting over' a car wreck. But chiropractic care attunes your body so that it is in the best possible position to heal itself. Human bodies are remarkably flexible and prone to recovery, but not if they're misaligned or inflamed due to whiplash or a fracture or break.
But what most people don\'t know is that car accident victims are up to 80{115649cd14c12cd94f0d147e1e5923e5cfd090a3a81f6b6da2d6b334a1994be8} more likely to develop osteoarthritis in their life time, simply by virtue of having been in a car accident at some point. Those who already have arthritis at the time of the event find that their condition progresses faster post-accident. Of course, if you've been unlucky enough to have been in multiple car crashes, the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis becomes even larger. Good prevention and chiropractic care is a must, in this situation.
The Waiting Game: Don't Play It
Did you know that over two-thirds of those who get into a car wreck experience pain later down the road? We're not talking about just a few weeks or months away. The majority of individuals who are in an accident and go untreated are in pain up to 10 years later!
Car accidents can shift the musculoskeletal alignment of your body for good, if you have internal injuries that go untreated. The impact of a crash can jar the delicate balance of your brain stem and your spine, resulting in tiredness, brain fog, immune system depletion, and a multitude of other symptoms that come with time. Atlas Orthogonal treatment is a specialized procedure that uses sonar waves to bring the top bone of the neck vertebrae back into its proper position, improving circulation and fluid movement and increasing brain and immune function systemically.
Dr. Nygaard has been serving the Asheville community for 18 years and wants to help you in your journey to wellbeing. Specializing in upper cervical and Atlas Orthogonal treatment.
Dr. Nygaard is the only doctor in the Western North Carolina area with this area of expertise and care. He is happy to customize a safe and effective treatment plan for you today.
Getting over a car accident isn't quite the quick fix that we might hope it would be. Every year in North Carolina alone, there are around 110,000 people who are injured in a car wreck. Thousands of these crashes are related to speeding, and increasingly, more car accidents are related to distracted driving due to technology. You got it: texting while driving. But if you're in a wreck, it’s likely that you’re going to suffer from a much worse injury than just 'text neck'. You ask how to get over a car accident? We answer: trust the experts.
Chiropractors Specialize in Car Accident Recovery
Even more often than the obvious damage (open wounds and abrasions, for instance), individuals who have been in car accidents suffer from hidden damage to muscles, ligaments, joints, and nerves. These areas of the body are the sovereign domain of the chiropractor, who has specialized techniques to correct the damage rather than smothering it with pharmaceuticals.
Working through the aftermath of a car crash takes more than just determination and some pain pills, it takes commitment to a healing plan that recovers your internal balance...or you risk being dependent on prescription drugs for life and never fully becoming well again.
You're At Risk for More than Just Injury
There's no 'just getting over' a car wreck. But chiropractic care attunes your body so that it is in the best possible position to heal itself. Human bodies are remarkably flexible and prone to recovery, but not if they're misaligned or inflamed due to whiplash or a fracture or break.
But what most people don't know is that car accident victims are up to 80{115649cd14c12cd94f0d147e1e5923e5cfd090a3a81f6b6da2d6b334a1994be8} more likely to develop osteoarthritis in their life time, simply by virtue of having been in a car accident at some point. Those who already have arthritis at the time of the event find that their condition progresses faster post-accident. Of course, if you've been unlucky enough to have been in multiple car crashes, the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis becomes even larger. Good prevention and chiropractic care is a must, in this situation.
The Waiting Game: Don't Play It
Did you know that over two-thirds of those who get into a car wreck experience pain later down the road? We\'re not talking about just a few weeks or months away. The majority of individuals who are in an accident and go untreated are in pain up to 10 years later!
Car accidents can shift the musculoskeletal alignment of your body for good, if you have internal injuries that go untreated. The impact of a crash can jar the delicate balance of your brain stem and your spine, resulting in tiredness, brain fog, immune system depletion, and a multitude of other symptoms that come with time. Atlas Orthogonal treatment is a specialized procedure that uses sonar waves to bring the top bone of the neck vertebrae back into its proper position, improving circulation and fluid movement and increasing brain and immune function systemically
Dr. Nygaard has been serving the Asheville community for 18 years and wants to help you in your journey to wellbeing. Specializing in upper cervical and Atlas Orthogonal treatment.
Regardless of the safety ratings of your vehicle, a body being tossed and jerked around within a massive metal cage of a car is not something that we humans are built to withstand. If you’re driving and encounter another vehicle or object in a head-on collision, chances are that your bodily trauma will be best addressed by a medical doctor, a chiropractor, or both.
Absorbing the Shock of an Accident
An auto bumper might be able to deal with a crash speed of up to 5 miles per hour, but a human head and neck simply cannot. Studies show that even collisions under 20 miles per hour result in injuries that range from negligible to severe. It all depends on the position of your head and neck during the crash, the nature of the impact, and how your body handled the alien range of motion that it was likely thrown into.
According to the laws of energy, kinetic ‘shock’ or energy can never be destroyed. Therefore, whatever shock of the accident is not absorbed by the vehicle is absorbed by the human body. Often, your neck, head, and spine bear the brunt of this impact. But because our bodies cleverly go into fight-or-flight mode to deal with the trauma of the crash, we can become numb to the pain and believe ourselves to have suffered no internal injury – when in reality, our spinal discs have come out of place, our neck and spine have become misaligned, and we will experience this pain weeks or months later.
Leave Post Whiplash Complications Up to Us
The latest research shows that whiplash occurs a lot more often that you might think, and can be blamed for much of the minor back pain that is so common today. Did you know that changes in speed of only 2.5 miles per hour can result in whiplash effects? You better think twice about your treatment plan if you’ve been in a low-impact collision and find yourself with minor back aches or nerve pinches – small occurrences like these can lead to major, expanding pain down the road.
Although the medical community as a whole can let you down when it comes to addressing your post-accident pain complaints, we at Atlas Brain and Body will not leave you in a state of chronic pain. We specialize in soft tissue injury recovery and spinal rehabilitation, disc and nerve pain, and muscle, joint, and spine conditions.
And if we’re not the absolute best caretakers for your situation, we are happy to refer to someone who is better suited to your needs. We have established referral relationships with highly recommended primary care physicians, pain management specialists, physical therapists and other licensed medical professionals in the Asheville area. No matter what your situation, we will assemble a team of caretakers and a treatment plan just for you.
In that moment when the car accident that you’ve just been in is over, the potential for injury has, unfortunately, just begun. Take a deep breath. Know that caring chiropractors and holistic solutions are here to help you. Know, also, that many chronic issues that don’t rear their ugly heads until much further down the road begin with a car accident, even a minor one.
Isn’t the stress of being a car accident enough, without dealing with the possibility of even more severe injury complications later down the road? Those who choose to take their healthcare into their own hands and visit a chiropractor after an auto accident know that the answer to this is ‘yes’.
Warning Signs That Your Upper Cervical Spine is Injured
As a result of an auto accident, your spine and head may have become disconnected at that critical juncture where they meet at the atlas, the top vertebra. Neurovascular conditions that result from this misalignment are so often experienced but less often recognized as what they are.
Since your injury, have you experienced:
Even if your injury seems so inconsequential in couldn’t possibly result in something more serious, it’s in your best interest to get an assessment to make sure that everything is in its right place. Ultimately, injury of this type is cumulative. The longer you live with it, and the longer it goes unnoticed, the worse it can become. In the words of Dr. David Nygaard, “Injury does not need to be a serious whiplash or closed head injury in order to insult and compromise the upper cervical spine.”
Resolve Whiplash and More Before It Worsens
The time to catch these warning signs is as early as possible, before they lengthen into symptoms you have for a lifetime. The systemic bodily imbalance that is felt as a result of upper cervical spine injury spreads throughout the body, into every nerve and every cell. It affects the overall health of your body, not just your back pain or neck soreness where it may be focused. Whiplash has been known to appear up to 15 years after an accident, so when they say the time is now, the time is now. Not once the symptoms of chronic pain are already ruling your life.
What to Do After a Car Accident to Ensure Your Wellbeing
The windy mountain roads of Western North Carolina can be daunting for even the most seasoned drivers, no matter what the weather. Many of those who experience an auto accident here find that there is no prescribed routine of steps to take to ensure their health and safety after the glass is swept away and the insurance companies notified. If you find yourself in a car crash, whether it’s a minor collision or a totaling wreck, rest assured knowing that you can take your care into your own hands by following a few simple protocols.
While concussions, open wounds, breaks and fractures, and lacerations will require urgent medical care, the majority of car accident victims suffer from internal injury that is non-obvious. The effects of such a major impact on the body may not appear until months or even years later. After the musculoskeletal system has had time to settle back into place and recover from immediate sustained trauma, many people find that it may have not settled back into quite the right place, causing stiffness, chronic pain, a limited range of motion, and debilitation.
The soft tissues of the neck are the most vulnerable area of a body that was held securely in place by a seatbelt during the accident. The joints of the upper body, vertebrae of the neck, and the delicate discs of your spinal area are also likely to have been affected during the crash. Our bodies are not meant to have the false range of motion that they are forced into during a car wreck, and whether the impact came from the front, rear, or side, it’s possible that for a split-second, the alignment of your head, neck, and back was disturbed enough to put you in a lifetime of pain. According to The Journal of Whiplash and Related Disorders, over half of car accident sufferers experience long-term symptoms, many of which are corrected by re-aligning the neck via an Atlas Orthogonal treatment that properly re-balances the spine.
48-72 hours of stability and stillness, plus nourishing yourself with anti-inflammatory ingredients and nutrient-dense whole foods, is a great recipe for beginning the post-accident healing process. Don’t forget that the body’s natural and powerful way of healing itself is by swelling, inflaming, and sensitizing the areas that have been affected. You may experience muscle spasms around the sites of injury, alternated with throbbing or subtle pain. In the interim, before you can get to our office for a post-accident checkup, try using ice to cool the tender hot spots and ease the nerve and muscle pain you may be experiencing.
Going to get a chiropractic consultation, regardless of whether you feel immediate pain or swelling or feel nothing, is the best way that you can practice preventative medicine after a car wreck.
Nearly half of the 8 million auto accidents that occur in the United States each year leave the victim suffering from whiplash, a debilitating misalignment of the neck and spine that can plague you with chronic pain and abnormal neurological function even decades after the fact. In your post-car-crash haze, don’t get conned by the popular misconceptions about whiplash. Learning the truth about the delicate construction of your neck and how traumatic movements affect it is the first step in becoming empowered about your long-term health after an injury.
It is known and normal that symptoms of a car crash may arrive up to fifteen years after the event. In one study, nearly half of patients who experienced a whiplash injury that corresponded with a motor vehicle impact found themselves unable to work and operate at their normal level for up to two years post-accident. Although the body does an incredible job of healing itself by bringing blood and nutrition to an area, it can’t readjust itself or bring its own brain and spine back into appropriate alignment. And because of the silent nature of much nerve pain, it may be years before you begin to realize the deterioration of your injured nervous system.
Because whiplash involves inflammation of the capsular ligaments and often sustains chronic swelling and tenderness, it takes a major toll on the surrounding nerves. Years after a traumatic accident, whiplash can cause new nerve damage after the inflammation to the immediate area is long gone. Because of the ability of nerve damage to create numbness and lessened sensitivity in the tissues, a nervous system in this wounded state is unable to alert the brain of troubling signs and symptoms. This leads to even more significant problems than simple pain, such as long-term loss of sensation, hormonal and immune system imbalance, and permanent tissue injury.
According to the work of Dr. Randolph, author of Some Observations on Whiplash Injuries, “There is only a minimal association of a poor prognosis with the speed or severity of the collision and the extent of vehicle damage.” Let’s be clear: vehicles aren’t bodies, and just because an auto manifests barely a scratch doesn’t mean that its passenger won’t suffer with whiplash, migraines, or jaw problems as a result of the crash. Conversely, a totaled car doesn’t necessitate an incredibly physically damaged patient. In reality, there are much more complicated factors at work here, including the speed and nature of the crash, the position and physical condition of the victim, and the movement of the vertebrae and musculoskeletal system during the impact.
Joints, muscles, ligaments, and nerves are the components of your body system most susceptible to injury from a car accident, and the neck is often the most vulnerable of all. Protect your neck by getting it checked out by Dr. Nygaard as soon as you feel comfortable after your car wreck, because the longer you wait, the more nerve damage you may be saving up for yourself in the long run.
