Short North Accident Injury Care

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Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

How long has it been since you were involved in an auto accident?

If so, did you get evaluated by a chiropractor?  If not, you should have.  It is never too late.

My Columbus Chiropractic Office treats many individuals for neck pain, back pain and headaches that are related to auto accidents.  While many of our patients are treating for accidents that occurred recently, in many cases the auto accidents in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously.

I have always found it a bit odd that in general people don’t take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed.

I don’t know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes.  In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the headaches or the low back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important.  This is flawed thinking.  Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.

The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex.  Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur.  These injuries can lead to a number of different symptoms that can cause neck pain or back pain that ranges in intensity from a slight irritation all the way to severe disability.  Back pain and neck pain are bad enough in the short term and much worse in a long-term chronic situation.

While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well-established path.  Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated.  This irritation leads to inflammation.  Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.

Statistically, 25% of auto injury victims will continue to suffer from ongoing symptoms related to their accident.  I see this statistic play out in my Columbus chiropractic office on a regular basis.

Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of neck pain, back pain and headaches that occur as a result of auto accidents.  The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% that never fully recover from their auto accident injuries is to get an examination and treatment as recommended by your chiropractor.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio

Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

In my Short North, Columbus office during this time of year, we start getting calls from both established and new patients regarding aches and pains related to auto accidents. During a rainy commute, the number of auto accidents can be 4 to 5 times the number that occurs on dry roads. My Chiropractic office in Columbus has seen hundreds of auto accident / personal injury victims over the last 15 years.

The most common injury resulting from auto accidents is the classic neck injury termed whiplash.

Whiplash is a traumatic neck injury that results from a sudden, forceful backward / forward snapping movement of the head. The head is heavy compared to the size of the muscles that help turn and tilt your head. Because of the violent acceleration and deceleration of the head, the soft tissues of the neck are overwhelmed with the stresses of the gravitational forces. Ligament damage, pinched nerves, muscle tearing, spasm and spinal misalignment are typical results of whiplash.

Whiplash can become a nagging, intolerable condition if left untreated. Many people make the mistake of judging the amount of injury to their body’s based on the force of impact or the amount of damage to the car. This is poor judgment. There are many factors that determine how a person is rear-ended by a second vehicle traveling 60 mph walks away unhurt while an apparently light tap on the bumper in a parking lot can cause enough pain to ruin your summer. Factors including the angle of the impact, speed of the impact, occupant awareness of the impending impact, head tilt or rotation, use of seatbelts and area of impact all play a role in why some people are injured in accidents and some are not.

Many people do believe that only high speed impacts can cause injury, however even a low-speed impact in an auto accident can cause serious whiplash injuries. Whiplash symptoms can occur instantly but typically take days, weeks, or even months to develop.

Neck pain is by far the most common whiplash symptom, along with headaches, muscle spasms, shoulder pain, dizziness, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), arm pain and tingling, and insomnia. The constant presence of symptoms can make whiplash a debilitating problem, even resulting in clinical depression.

A common problem associated with whiplash is the misalignment of the vertebrae in the neck. If left untreated, these vertebrae will remain misaligned, causing chronic neck problems in the future, including loss of range of motion, chronic headaches and arthritis.

A 1998 Canadian study on whiplash examined more than 10,000 cases of neck injuries and concluded that chiropractic adjustments are one of the only proven treatments for whiplash injuries. This study also concluded that “accepted’ treatments such as neck collars, muscle relaxers, immobilization, and rest were not helpful for whiplash victims.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio

Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Back Pain Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

I see many types of injuries as a Chiropractor in Short North, Columbus, Ohio.  Some of the common injuries can result in neck pain, back pain, chronic headaches, sciatica etc.

Causes of these injuries range from auto accidents and work related injuries to injuries caused by domestic chores, house work and sometimes things as simple as sleeping in an awkward position.

Of these injured patients, I would say that at least 50% of them, for the moment, while they are in pain they ask “what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?”  This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.

To begin with, pain is a great motivator.

When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health.  People often inquire about what kind of stretch or exercising that they can start right away.  Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest.

Over my 15 plus years in practice I have seen a large percentage of enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions a major set back.  The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when it is out of its acute stage of pain.

My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits.  Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain.

After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously – almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing.  If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance which allows you to build confidence and strength at the same time.

Remember to follow a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury.  Be sure to exercise and stretch under the advise of a health care professional.  Strong and flexible muscles add strength and support to your spine and will provide much needed stability.

Back Pain Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call

614 299 9797

to make an appointment.

Pain from Car Accidents Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call

614 299 9797

to make an appointment.

The use of orthopedic supports, such as a cervical collar, during the acute states of the injury, is a common clinical practice in both the medical and chiropractic communities.It is, however, a double-edged sword.

The most reasonable approach would entail use of these supports during the functional instability phase of injury, followed by removal as prolonged use can lead to dependency.

Typically, the support is most beneficial during the ten days following the trauma. Prolonged use would support the need for additional investigation, which must include consideration of a psychological component.

X-rays

The initial use of x-rays in the well managed soft tissue injury is well supported in the scientific literature. The use of “follow-up” series of x-rays is, however, debated. We have found the use of serial x-ray studies is usually unwarranted, absent the clinical management of clear osseous injuries or delayed instability. The prudent use of x-rays should always consider the potential harm from radiation exposure. This is especially true in patients of child bearing years.

The use of repeat plain film radiographs will often bring the case under immediate scrutiny, thus, complicating the settlement process.

Pain from Car Accidents Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call

614 299 9797

to make an appointment.

make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Why do I have back pain?

Being a chiropractor in my Short North, Columbus, I hear this question all the time. Back pain and neck pain are the two most common complaints that my patients have. The fact that my practice is in Columbus probably decreases the frequency of these complaints. People in Columbus tend to be more active which actually lowers the incidence of low back and neck pain.

Over fifteen years ago when I first started practicing chiropractic care in Columbus, most of my low back pain patients and neck pain patients for that matter were not related to office work. Most of the cases that I had when I first started practicing were do to injuries like car accidents and falls or heavy work.

In the mid to late nineteen nineties, I started to see a trend in injury mechanisms among my patients. They were starting to attribute their pain to long hours of sitting at the computer.

Sitting all day at the computer not only causes back pain but it also causes neck pain, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome and various arm problems.

Lower back pain is primarily due to poor sitting posture. When we are standing up with good posture, our lower backs have a sweeping forward bowing curve that resembles a stretched out letter “c”. This shape distributes our bodies weight evenly throughout the spine. When we sit, this curve reverses, greatly increasing the stress on the joints and discs in the spine.

With time, this postural stress results in irritation and inflammation resulting in pain and muscle spasms.

Once the low back has reached a point of pain and spasms, chiropractic care is necessary to relieve the pain, improve the bio-mechanics of the spine and relax the muscles.

In addition to chiropractic care for back pain, the patient must seek out an ergonomic chair and have it adjusted properly for their body. In many cases, I suggest a complete workstation analysis to help prevent future problems with other computer related stresses.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

In My Short North, Columbus, Chiropractic Office I treats many individuals for neck pain, back pain and headaches.  In many cases, the causes of these symptoms are related to auto accidents or other types of personal injury.  More often than not, the auto accidents in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously by the patient.

Most people don’t take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed.  This thought process extends into other scenarios as well.  I ounce had an acquaintance who smoked but proudly proclaimed that she didn’t smoke inside her car because she didn’t want to ruin it!

I don’t know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes.  In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the headaches or the low back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important.  This is flawed thinking.  Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.

The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex.  Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, intervertebral discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur.  These injuries can lead to a vast number of symptoms that can cause neck pain or back pain that ranges in intensity from a slight irritation all the way to severe disability.  Back pain and neck pain are bad enough in the short term and much worse in a long term chronic situation.

While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well established path.  Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated.  This irritation leads to inflammation.  Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.

Statistically, approximately 25% of auto injury victims will suffer from some ongoing symptom related to their accident.  I see this statistic come to life in my Columbus chiropractic office.  Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of neck pain, back pain and headaches that occur as a result of auto accidents.  The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% that never fully recover from their auto accident injuries is to get an examination and possibly treatment, if recommended by your chiropractor.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio

Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

In my  Short North, Columbus Office, “When the rains begin to fall, we know to expect calls from our regular patients and new referrals to address pain stemming from car accident injuries. When roads are slick and slippery, it is around 4 to 5 times more likely for an accident to occur when compared to calm weather. In the last decade and a half, my Chiropractic office in Columbus has seen hundreds of car accident and personal injury victims.

Whiplash is the classic neck injury that is most commonly caused by automobile accident”

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio
Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North. Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

In my  Short North, Columbus clinic, I provide treatment for many types of injuries. Typical injuries that result in neck pain, back pain, chronic headaches, sciatica etc., include auto accidents, work related injuries, injuries caused by domestic chores and sometimes things as simple as sleeping in an awkward position.

Of these patients suffering from neck pain, back pain and other injuries, I would say that at least 50% of them ask, “what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?” This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.

To begin with, neck pain and back pain are great motivators.

When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health. People often inquire about what kind of stretch or exercising that they can start right away. Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest.

Over my 16 plus years in practice I have seen a large percentage of enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions a major set back. The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when it is out of its acute stage of pain.

My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits. Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain.

After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously – almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing. If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance, allowing you to build confidence and strength at the same time.

You have to remember to incorporate a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury. Be sure to exercise and stretch under the advise of a health care professional. Strong and flexible muscles add strength and support to your spine and will provide much needed stability.

I have always tried to help the patients of my Columbus Chiropractic office with their neck pain and back with stretches and exercises. The combination of chiropractic care with stretches and exercise allows for quicker, more complete healing.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North, Columbus, Ohio Call

614 299 9797

to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio

Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

In my  Short North, Columbus, based Chiropractic Clinic we provide treatment for those patients involved in auto accidents on a regular basis.  The most common injury resulting from car accidents is whiplash.

Whiplash is most frequently associated with rear-end auto accidents in which the heads of those in the front car are suddenly snapped backward and forward by the acceleration caused by the impact.  The more descriptive medical phrase used to convey this type of injury is cervical acceleration/deceleration (CAD) trauma or syndrome.  CAD accurately describes the rapid movements that can injure the vertebrae of the neck and the muscles and ligaments that support them.

Anyone can be subjected to whiplash at almost any speed, even in a minimal-force auto accident at speeds as low as 5mph.   Incidents that cause whiplash can also be related to other incidents or mishaps in which the head is pushed or jerked beyond its normal range of motion.  Whiplash commonly causes serious and chronic neck pain, as well as back pain, headaches blurred vision, ringing in the ears, nausea, numbness and dizziness. More serious injuries such as bruising of the brain can sometimes occur in auto accidents.

The sudden accident that caused the initial whiplash injury may fade into memory, but the physical and psychological damage of whiplash can become chronic, severely eroding the victim’s quality of life.

Chiropractic techniques are particularly well-suited to relieving the neck pain and other debilitating effects of whiplash because they can
• restore movement lost after the accident,
• overcome muscle weakness and enhance muscle tone,
• speed recovery, and
• diminish chronic symptoms that can persist or recur over many years.

Chiropractic adjustments and supportive treatment have proved successful for many thousands of patients. Chiropractic care significantly reduce patients’ distress and allow them to return to their normal activities.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio

Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.
________________________________________
Mark van Hemert, DC, DACS

Short North, Columbus Chiropractor explains:
IME was originally an acronym for independent medical examination, but the IME doctor is now chosen by and paid by the insurance industry. The acronym now stands for insurance medical examination.

The most recent development in the insurance medical examination has been the multidisciplinary examination, where a chiropractor and a medical doctor, both with higher credentials than the average clinician, examine the patient simultaneously.

This creates an appearance of a high level of specialization and expertise. The opinion in a majority of these reviews is that care beyond two months is not needed. The rational is that the laying down of scar tissue is completed by the eighth week and therefore further treatment in not medically necessary or therapeutic.

They state that the patient is at maximum improvement and no further treatment is necessary. This rational does not consider the remodeling and strengthening of scar tissue, nor the need to restore maximum joint function.

However, without an attending physician who is knowledgeable about the guidelines and who has accumulated objective data of improvement, the professional response to this rational will be based solely on opinion and not fact.

Mercy specifically does not give a limit for reasonable care, but observations, assessments and the definitions of care based on scientific evidence.

It states that these guidelines are not designed to be a cookbook. The listed time for acute stage of care ranges from 8-16 weeks, depending on which of three cited references you go by.

In reviewing those references, I believe that the eight weeks refer to the acute healing cycle of the injury, and the 16 weeks to the acute physiology or rehabilitative healing time.

The healing and rehabilitative acute stages are followed by the subacute stage, before the unresponsive chronic phase of function and pain begin. Rebuttals of IME opinions using the Mercy guidelines increase your credibility when justifying your clinical rational to claims adjudicators.

The insurance industry recognizes the Mercy document as the authority in the chiropractic profession. The parameter of clinical practice that Mercy most fully addresses is the trauma induced patient.

Perhaps if “Acute Traumatic Cases” had been added to the title of the guidelines the criticism of the document would have been muted. Mercy creates a solid, well thought out guideline for the traumatic personal injury and workers’ compensation case.

Mercy very effectively deals with narrow minded, nonflexible professional rational and makes the third-party payers conform to a set of standards which is fair to the patient and respectful of.

Whiplash Accidents Injuries Treated, Short North Columbus, Ohio Call 614 299 9797 to make an appointment.