It’s funny how becoming a parent changes your life. For example, suddenly everything in the world becomes more hazardous, and every activity another opportunity for your kids to get hurt somehow. Halloween, for example, is a holiday that makes a lot of parents nervous. And while most kids are (and should be) monitored carefully, statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show an increase in auto accidents on Halloween. Even worse, these numbers are even higher in years when the holiday falls on a weekend—as it does this year.
Halloween presents a sort of perfect storm for auto accidents in Monmouth County. As anybody who lives in New Jersey (or has ever driven through Red Bank during rush hour) knows, our state is very densely populated, our culture very car-centric. With the days getting shorter and shorter, trick-or-treating will naturally extend past daylight hours. And kids, especially teenagers, don’t always use the best judgement.
Even the most minor auto accident can have serious after-effects, for both adults and kids. At Monmouth Pain and Rehabilitation Center, we have an on-staff Medical Doctor specializing in the non-surgical treatment of the types of musculoskeletal injuries often incurred during auto accidents. These typically include back pain, neck pain, disc problems, or arm and leg pain. We also treat knee and other joint injuries as well as ankle sprains, whiplash, etc.
Our Medical Director is a pain management specialist that heads up a team of practioners in creating treatment programs designed to help patients reduce pain and restore functioning with the healthiest methods possible—inlcuding physical therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic care.
Let’s take a look at how this works, using hypothetical injuries for each type of care:
Auto-Accident Related Whiplash and Chiropractic Care: Generally speaking, whiplash occurs when one car is hit from behind by another. It can also be the result of a sudden stop, as when abruptly braking to avoid hitting something (or someone). In such cases, the neck experiences a sudden and traumatic distortion, which can lead to both pain and a change in the normal curvature of the neck. Chiropractic care works to correct the cause of pain by realigning the neck to a normal, healthy position.
Physical Therapy for Bulged or Herniated Discs: For auto-accident related disc injuries, physical therapy programs often incorporate Spinal Decompression. This practice relieves pain and inflammation by specifically targeting problematic discs and removing pressure on the nerves. In addition to addressing pain, Spinal Decompression also reduces herniations by creating negative pressure (a vacuum-like effect) that pulls bulging disc material back into the shell of the disc. This allows the healing process to begin.
Other physical therapy techniques might include passive therapies such as ice and heat, ultrasound, electrotherapy, and low level laser therapy. Active rehabilitation, or exercise, can help to minimize pain while increasing both movement and strength.
Acupuncture for Back Pain After an Auto Accident: This ancient Chinese practice stimulates the nervous system, thus helping the body to release chemicals that ease pain. For auto accidents that cause back pain or other painful conditions, acupuncture prompts the release of endorphins, which have both calming properties as well as natural pain-killing effects.
Steroid Injections for Auto Accident Injury Pain Management: Injections of a long-lasting steroid (corticosteroid) are sometimes used to treat inflammation and pain associated with a number of auto accident-related conditions, including back pain, herniated or bulging discs, or abnormal alignment of the vertebrae. These are used only when pain is severe enough to restrict movement or rehabilitation.
Auto Accident Injuries in Monmouth County: Staying Safe This Holiday Season
There are some things in life against which we can’t always safeguard ourselves or our families. For pain management and rehabilitation following an auto accident, please visit our Red Bank, NJ office. We offer non-surgical medical care, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic care for auto accident injuries in Monmouth County.
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