This month, we would like to share a success story of a patient we will call Jenny.  We were approached by Jenny to care for her injuries sustained in a not-at-fault motor vehicle accident (MVA), where she was hit from the left side while traveling in her car.  She was the passenger and saw the accident coming.  After the collision, her injuries consisted of right greater than left neck pain, headaches, right shoulder pain, mid back and low back pain and aching in the left hip that was constant, and daily affecting her ability to work and perform necessary activities.

While she was slowly improving on her own, she didn’t feel that she was improving well enough to say she felt back to 100%.  After our initial assessment, it was clear she had suffered neck, mid back and low back sprain/strain injuries that are consistent with MVA’s.  We started treating her several times a week and two times a week massage for a month to start.  A lot of people ask at this point, why so much care?

When your body is injured in an MVA, your brain can’t keep up with stabilizing the spine, which is whipped and jarred in a manner that your body can’t control.  Ligaments, tendons, muscles are stretched and damaged.  So what is the after effect?  Spasm, tightness, unrelenting discomfort of the muscles that are being told to hold on tight, and don’t let the spine become unstable again.  Our job as the chiropractor is to get the joints moving again, repetitively, so that brain can relax, and see that normal motion is ok.  When the brain senses natural movement, it allows tissues to recover, and symptoms begin to resolve.  As the adjustments continue, and the massage is helping the tight muscles relax, we then begin to implement exercises and postural awareness to promote the restoration of healthy muscle and joint function.  Our last step is to get people back to normal, daily activities, and to function without pain or discomfort.

Jenny immediately started to have fewer headaches, and within 3-4 weeks, they were down to 2-3 per week, instead of daily and constant.  Her low back pain and mid back pain, within two months, were all but gone, and we only had her right neck and occasional headaches to deal with.  As she progressed with her symptoms, we didn’t need to do as much care, so we backed off to 1-2 times per week chiropractic and once a week massage.  Over this next month of care of this pattern, her headaches are non-existent, and having very mild right sided neck stiffness and discomfort, still aggravated with certain movements.

Within three months, we have helped Jenny get back to near pre-injury status from this MVA.  She has learned tools to manage her daily body positions to alleviate stress through her neck and mid back, and she is back to being more active and healthy!

Motor vehicle accidents and symptoms from them are commonly ignored, but the changes to your body, your brain and how your body continues to function can last a lifetime if left untreated.  You only get one body to live in, and we can help you or anyone you know that has suffered from an MVA, get back to a better, healthier, functional life.  Don’t settle for living in pain or discomfort, see if chiropractic care with us can help you live a more healthy, pain-free life!!