Important Post-Accident Care Information

Important Post-Accident Care Information

Car accidents are an unfortunate part of life. What you do afterwards is the difference between a quick recovery and chronic pain.

Posted Oct 24, 2016

In a perfect world, both our Qi and the roadways should flow smoothly and without much resistance. Car accidents are an unfortunate part of life and as the rainy season begins they only become more common. The aftermath can cause major congestion on the roadways as well as damage the flow of Qi in our bodies.

A disruption in the normal flow of Qi can reduce function in parts of our body, leading to poor health, and eventually dis-ease.

Qi can be described as the life energy that travels throughout the body. When Qi flows normally all parts of our body function properly, and we experience health and ease. However, just as car accidents can cause a block in the road, disrupt traffic, and slow down a city’s infrastructure, a disruption in the normal flow of Qi can reduce function in parts of our body, leading to poor health, and eventually dis-ease.

When Should I Seek Care?

Immediate care is vital to your recovery, and the severity of the car accident should not be a factor in whether or not you seek care. Small fender benders can also cause injuries such as pulled ligaments, micro-tears in your muscle tissue, and excessive release of stress hormones. Even for accidents where you walk away feeling fine, your body is still in need of healing support. The problems can hide in the body until the inflammation and damage to the tissue is severe enough to be noticed, leading to symptoms days or sometimes weeks later.

Just as you shouldn’t wait until a car completely stops working to fix it, you shouldn’t wait until you are debilitated to seek treatment.

So why do some injuries hide and get worse later? If you’re involved in a small car accident, you may get a few scrapes and bruises, but overall may feel fine. But imagine your body is like a car in an accident; it may get dented, get some painted scraped off, and lose a bumper, but it appears to be all superficial damage. However, damage could have been done to vital components that are not visible from the outside. Even though the car may still drive, overtime the internal problems can manifest as serious issues that render the car unusable.

For example: a few frayed wires can cause the headlamps to turn off without warning, a broken radiator can cause the engine to overheat and stall, and a weakened frame can make a non-life threatening accident into a fatal one. There are a myriad of possibilities, but without proper inspection and maintenance you would never know what could be wrong until something truly problematic happens. Just as you shouldn’t wait until a car completely stops working to fix it, you shouldn’t wait until you are debilitated to seek treatment.

The sooner the injuries are treated, the faster the recovery process, which lessens the chance of it becoming chronic.

Major automotive malfunctions often start as seemingly irrelevant annoyances. Similarly, chronic and debilitating pain can be an accumulation of smaller injuries that are left untreated. Get treatment as soon as possible after an accident no matter how minor it may seem. The sooner the injuries are treated, the faster the recovery process, which lessens the chance of it becoming chronic.

What Kind of Care Should I Get?

If you are suffering from live threatening injuries, always seek emergency care first. While acupuncture is excellent at treating many different conditions, severe trauma and life threatening conditions is not within the scope. After you have confirmed you have no life threatening injuries, it is then time to start thinking about recovery care.

Acupuncture is one of the best ways to heal many different accident injuries. It is effective for pain control, reducing inflammation, and promoting the body’s own natural healing response. Paired with other modalities such as therapeutic massage, cupping, heat lamps, and herbs, the results are amplified making treatments more effective and the recovery faster.

How Does Acupuncture Treat Pain?

  • Increase neurotransmitters that reduce pain
  • Promote an anti-inflammatory response
  • Increase blood flow to promote healing

Learn More About Pain Relief →

While accidents are unpredictable and the aftermath stressful and burdensome, it is important to be mindful of your own body and make time to give it the care it needs to properly recuperate. Treat your body like you would your own car: fix it properly when it is broken, take it in for maintenance to make sure it lasts, and always be aware of signs of things going wrong (no matter how small) and don’t ignore them.