Written by CrashMD staff
Unfortunately car accidents are a common occurrence. Not only is it a terrifying situation to be in a car accident, but then you’re left with dealing with destruction to your car and potential personal injuries. Even if you don’t feel any pain immediately following the accident, that doesn’t mean that injuries didn’t occur. This is what makes it so crucial to seek help from a pain management specialist. The best case scenario is that nothing is wrong or very little damage was done to your body, which is the ideal situation. The worst case scenario is that you didn’t seek help and minor injuries turn into chronic pain that require more invasive treatment.
If you have recently been in a car accident, it’s essential to see a pain doctor so they can help with pain management after a car crash. The CrashMD team has helped their patients reduce their feelings of post-car accident pain, as well as minimize their long-term effects from the crash, allowing their patients to enjoy their ideal quality of life with less, if any, complications.
How a Pain Specialist Helps After a Car Accident
So you’ve been in a car accident. You’re scared, your car is damaged, and you’re thinking about just how much everything is going to cost and how much time it’s going to take to get back to normal. But, what you might not be focusing on is your health. You have to remember that health is wealth, and that even the slightest bit of pain now could turn into worse pain in the weeks and months after the accident if not treated properly. This is why seeing a pain doctor for car accident pain is so crucial. They can help to ensure that you get back to your best health now, as well as avoid any additional complications.
There are a myriad of reasons why it’s important for a person to seek help from a pain management specialist after a car accident, but the most important reasons include:
- Addressing pain immediately: Any discomfort or pain that you feel after a car accident should be assessed by a medical professional. All too often people who have experienced a car accident are stressed out and tired, and just opt to go home. Our bodies are strong and capable, however, they were not built to withstand colliding with a car or a wall or pole at 50 miles per hour. Even if you don’t recognize pain immediately, that doesn’t mean that something isn’t wrong that requires professional help. In fact, many people who don’t realize they are in pain right after the accident end up feeling pain symptoms in the following hours or days after the crash. At this point during your body’s healing process, a pain management specialist will be able to address any lingering pain, injuries or discomfort. Additionally, they will also be able to notice any additional injuries that you might not have noticed right away, which could lead to chronic pain symptoms. While you might want to put your car accident behind you, you won’t be able to if your quality of life suffers because you didn’t address and treat your injuries from the accident itself, which is something that a pain management specialist is an expert at doing.
- Avoiding chronic pain: There are times when at-home remedies, such as RICE and over-the-counter pain medications, can help to resolve pain symptoms. Or, a person could not recognize the pain symptoms in the first place, brushing off an occasional headache or sore back. But when the light headache persists, or the sore shoulder turns into an ability to lift your arm, you’ve put yourself at risk for developing chronic pain. Long-term pain is a result of improper care, or a lack of care, at the time of the incident, which generally results in additional complications down the line. Common symptoms of chronic pain that could result from a car accident include constant headaches, ongoing neck and back pain, and numbness/tingling/weakness in arms or legs. The best way to avoid chronic pain symptoms is to partner with a pain management specialist right away after a car accident so they can properly diagnose and treat your current pain symptoms, as well as recognize and address any additional symptoms that could lead to future complications.
- Addressing any mental health symptoms: On top of the physical stress placed on a person who has experienced a car accident, there are also emotional and mental health issues that could arise. The most common include anxiety, depression, insomnia, PTSD or anxiety. In this case, it’s important to not self treat. Partnering with a pain management specialist who is skilled in both recognizing and treating mental health disorders will help to both alleviate your symptoms as quickly as possible and prevent the symptoms from getting worse.
- Pain management providers have specialized treatment: Patients who seek no treatment after an accident, or those who seek help from a general practitioner, aren’t doing the best they can do for themselves. The benefit of having a pain management specialist review your injuries after a car accident is that they are expertly trained to recognize, diagnose and treat each specific injury. While general practitioners might utilize basic treatment methods, such as physical therapy and pain medications, pain management specialists provide a comprehensive and customized approach because they have expertise in the treatment of pain. This means that unlike general practitioners, pain management specialists can recommend specialized treatments that target each specific area of pain, instead of just a general approach to pain. It’s important to trust the specialists who have years of experience and training so you have the best pain-free result possible. This helps to not only get you out of pain as quickly and comfortably as possible, but also to avoid chronic pain issues from arising.
- Managing insurance claims: there’s a very good chance that after you’re involved in a car accident that you’re going to make a claim for your auto insurance because the damage to your car is evident and needs repair. If the damage to your body isn’t evident right away, but eventually needs repair, it might be more difficult for you to make a claim to your health insurance for injuries related to the accident. However, if you seek care for a pain management specialist right away, they will be able to document and directly correlate any injuries from the accident to the accident, which will make filing claims with your health insurance easier. The last headache you want when you’re trying to recover is to not have financial coverage for your medical bills and possibly be denied short-term or long-term disability.
It’s essential to partner with a pain management specialist if you’ve been involved in a car accident because injuries, even if not noticeable right away, can quickly escalate. Making an appointment for an evaluation is the best way to determine if your injuries require minor or more involved treatment, as well as to ensure that they don’t become worse over time.
What Treatments are Available for Car Accident Victims?
There are a wide range of treatments available for those who have been in a car accident and need pain management after the car accident. The best way to determine what treatment options you need is to schedule an appointment with a pain management specialist who can provide an exam and determine any and all recommended treatment to help get you out of pain.
The most common treatment methods include:
- Physical therapy: partnering with a physical therapist who is trained in the body’s mechanics will help to not only reduce pain, but also strengthen muscles and improve mobility
- Alternative therapy: massage, chiropractic care and acupuncture help to reduce stress both in the mind and the body, as well as reduce pressure on the nerves and alleviate pain
- Treatments for whiplash: one of the most common pain symptoms of a car accident can be successfully treated with injections and spinal cord-based treatments
- Back pain treatments: low back pain is a common complaint among car accident victims, but targeted injections, ablations and stimulations have proven helpful (versus pain medications that target the entire body)
A pain management specialist will be able to recommend the best treatment method for each patient, which includes utilizing the most minimally-invasive options first so that the patient can comfortably find pain relief.
If you have recently been in a car accident, it’s imperative that you seek help from a pain management specialist. Even if you don’t feel like you are in any pain, there is a chance that there is an underlying issue that needs addressing. Or, best case scenario, you just need to get checked to make sure you don’t have an issue! The CrashMD team is dedicated to helping their patients find pain relief in the most comfortable and manageable way possible with the goal to help them enjoy their ideal quality of life. There is no reason to delay an exam and/or treatment! Please schedule an appointment today so that our team of highly-skilled doctors can help to remedy any minor pain symptoms as well as help to avoid any long-term pain symptoms from arising.
