How to understand a car accident injuries
When the accident just happened
The majority of auto accident and injury victims are unaware of hidden injuries because at times medications are masking the pain. Pain-relief and anti-inflammatory medications provide excellent short-term pain-relief by blocking the production of pain-causing substances (prostaglandins). When an injury occurs, not only is tissue damaged, but also the injured area loses its integration with the rest of the body.
We remind you not to have strong physical exercise within one week after the accident, since you do not know if there is a hidden damage, such as linear bone broken, that you or your doctor do not realize in acute phase of accident (they cannot scan whole of your bone to detect it). In clinic, so many time we see people get pain in the body, where it is usually not the damaged place that have attracted the doctors’ attention in the acute stage.
The extent of your physical activity should match the healing process. Extensive physical exercise does not speed up your healing at all. In fact, it is opposite.
Do not use ice patch for more than half hour.
It is so common that people use ice patch on the damaged body surface with the hope to reduce pain. It is true that ice patch may work to reduce the blood supply and to reduce the signal transduction in the nerves, so to reduce the swelling and pain. However, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it will also cause the invasion of Cold Qi (Qi here means something that may cause disease if it comes into the body).
In TCM, the Cold Qi is one of the most common reasons for pain in muscle, joints and inside organs. It blocks the energy flow to the tissue. Pain is the result of the block of bio-energy in the tissues. If you never have concept of such Qi in the body, please check our website for more information.
It can also be understand that the ice patch reduces blood supply to the damaged tissue, so reduces the nutrition and oxygen supply to the cells, therefore to speed up the death of cells, resulting in a prolonged healing process and turning the acute damage to chronic.
When the car accident has happened for a long time
In TCM, we should know if the patient has any other disease along with the chronic pain due to car accident. If it is, we need to decide if we should pay attention to that disease first. If yes, the treatment of a car accident is only a part of the whole treatment program. For example, if a patient has Qi deficiency and/or blood deficiency, only work on the damaged part of body with acupuncture does not work well or the healing progress will be slow, or the pain is easy to come back later, if the doctor does not or have no ability to solve these deficient conditions. Similarly, if the patient has very strong emotional stress, such as anxiety or depression, or if the one is very sensitive, the healing has to target to the correction of the emotion disorder too.
Car Accident and work Injury Treatment
WHOLE BODY TREATMENT IS IMPORTANT
Whole body treatment helps restore the integrity of your system. Untreated and/or poorly treated cases of general injuries and auto injuries can result in life long problems and suffering. The treatments from Oriental Acupuncture Clinic will optimize your recovery while minimizing long-term problems that can occur. Treatment of the whole body can identify and address both major and minor injuries that may have been overlooked, but still need to be treated. When a major impact occurs such as in a fall or an auto accident, often many injuries occur simultaneously, both large and small. If ignored, the pain may go away for a while but left untreated as the tissue heals scar tissue develops the damage will not heal correctly. Some soft tissue symptoms include:
· Muscle Stiffness
· Neck Pain
· Numbness and Tingling
· Low Back Pain
· Fatigue
· Spasms
· Headaches
· Mid-Back Pain
· Difficulty Sleeping
· Sore and Achy Muscles
· Difficulty Concentrating
In our clinic, we use several remedies of TCM for the treatment. They are acupuncture, herbal oil,herbal tea, massage, cupping, moxibustion, etc. depending on the area of the pain and the body reaction of patients to each of the remedies.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is popularly used in treating car accident injuries.Acupuncture helps relieve pain by releasing endorphins in the brain that block the transmission of pain signals, reducing inflammation and calming the autonomic nervous system. This helps the body relax and stimulates the healing processes.
It should be performed at least twice a week during the first several weeks. The most important in the treatment is to let patient feel needle feeling (not the pain) in the acupuncture spot. To reach the healing effect, it is needed that the practitioner inserts each needle with high focus on what he is doing. In theory, the subtle hand feeling of the practitioner on the tip of needle is very important.
Herbal therapy
Herbal therapy is the main part of TCM. We also use it quite often. With the combination of acupuncture and herbs the healing is much faster.
The herbs work to improve blood circulation in the affected area, improve recovery of cells (including nerve cells), so to speed up the healing. In Chinese, we say that it improves bio-energy flow in that area, and removes “block” on the path of the bio-energy flow. The block can be dead blood, that we call it “stagnation of blood”, Cold, Phlegm (the phlegm you cough out is only a narrow concept in TCM), Wetness, or Dryness. Based on your feeling and others, each kind of “block” needs different herb or herb formula to work on it.
A special issue in the TCM treatment of car accident is that the affected people usually have stress or anxiety. Such emotion makes the connective tissue, including tendons, spasm so to increase the pain and make the pain in chronic. A herbalist must also work to solve the disorders in the emotion to ensure the recovery of whole body function.
Herb oil or herb patch
Commonly we also use herbal oil or herbal patch on the affected skin or joint area. They work from outside and herbal tea works from inside. They work to release pain and reduce swelling. The weakness of the patch is that it may cause skin reaction (skin rash and itch) in some people. If you have it, simply stop to use it. The skin reaction is normally not a big problem.
Cupping
Cupping is another common way in TCM for treatment. In old times, Chinese family uses it for treatment by themselves without need to go to a doctor. It is still used these days since it is good to relax muscle, improve blood circulation, stimulates the body healing processes, so to relieve pain.
The weakness of the cupping therapy is the dark mark on the skin after cupping. But it is only on the skin for a short time, it never is a permanent problem. If you have dark mark, it means that you have problems in your body. If you are healthy, there is no dark mark at all after cupping. So, from the skin mark we can diagnose or address you health problems.
We recommend that you keep a cupping set in your hands so you can have treatment at home by yourself without come to us. It is easy to learn how to use it. We can help you.
How effective
In our experience, the healing of a car accident injuries takes longer time, usually takes 3 months to 2 years. It really needs several times of treatments to reduce swelling and pain, then needs a maintenance program to really “fix” it. So often, we found that the pain returns because the patients stop the treatment when their pain have gone and they turned to normal physical action too early. A maintenance program is needed usually.
Our staff in clinic can help to submit the treatment plan and direct billing process with the auto insurance companies or WSIB so that you can focus on your treatments and the process of getting better.
With our Therapist's 30+ years clinical experience,
Our staff in clinic can help to submit the treatment plan and direct billing process with the auto insurance companies or WSIB so that you can focus on your treatments and the process of getting better.
Healing from the root, beyond treating symptoms.
So you can experience greater health and well-being!
With our Therapist's 30+ years clinical experience,
you will feel the difference.
Do I need to seek treatment?
If you answer YES to any of the questions below, you may be suffering from a misalignment or dislocation due to an auto accident or injury.
1. Are you experiencing headaches, head and neck pains, stiff neck, muscle spasms?
2. Do you have restricted head motion?
3. Do you have equilibrium problems, loss of hearing, ringing in the ears?
4. Are you experiencing eyestrain, increased sensitivity to light?
5. Have you felt light-headed, excessively tired, or blacked out?
6. Have you had any neuralgia (nerve pain) or neuritis (nerve inflammation)?
7. Do you have cold hands or feet, or numbness of arms, hands, shoulders, feet, legs?
8. Are you experiencing periods of unexplained depression, anxiety, irritability?
9. Are you unable to concentrate, have poor memory?
10. Do you have pains between the shoulders, low-back pains, tremors, rapid heartbeat?
2. Do you have restricted head motion?
3. Do you have equilibrium problems, loss of hearing, ringing in the ears?
4. Are you experiencing eyestrain, increased sensitivity to light?
5. Have you felt light-headed, excessively tired, or blacked out?
6. Have you had any neuralgia (nerve pain) or neuritis (nerve inflammation)?
7. Do you have cold hands or feet, or numbness of arms, hands, shoulders, feet, legs?
8. Are you experiencing periods of unexplained depression, anxiety, irritability?
9. Are you unable to concentrate, have poor memory?
10. Do you have pains between the shoulders, low-back pains, tremors, rapid heartbeat?
Symptoms of Whiplash
People who experience whiplash may report experiencing one or more symptoms. Symptoms can occur immediately after the accident, or may appear several days or even weeks later:
People who experience whiplash may report experiencing one or more symptoms. Symptoms can occur immediately after the accident, or may appear several days or even weeks later:
· Neck / Shoulder pain and stiffness
· Headaches
· Low back pain
· Sensations such as burning or "pins and needles"
· Irritability
· Poor sleep
· Fatigue
· Difficulty with concentration or memory
· Depression
· Dizziness / Light-headedness
· Pain or numbness in the arm and/or hand
· Ringing in the ears
· Blurred vision
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