Automotive Accident Occurrence

Every year, car accidents cause more injuries and deaths than any other type of personal injury incident. With millions of vehicles on the road, the odds of getting into a collision in your lifetime are extremely high. Even the most focused drivers can’t always avoid crashes with distracted and reckless drivers. Identifying exactly how many accidents occur per year takes an analysis of annual data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  Upon averaging the car accident data from 2005 to 2016, one can estimate that 5,338,000 car accidents occur every year in the U.S. This amounts to around 15,913 accidents per day.  We can only expect now in 2020 that these statistics have grown even more.  Data from NHTSH shows that not everyone involved in car accidents gets injured but out of 5.3 million, 4.6 million obtain injuries.

What to Expect from a Whiplash Injury

We treat hundreds of automobile accidents each year at our clinic, I find that back and neck pain are leading the trend.  Whiplash is generally the mechanism of injury during an automobile accident.  When the vehicle abruptly changes motion or stops, this action causes a whip-like motion for the neck and spine.  The whiplash injury generally leads to sprain, strain, and muscle spasm.   These whiplash injuries can range from mild to severe, here is what to expect.

●Mild Whiplash Injury- Four to eight weeks of mild discomfort  (3-5 on the pain scale ) and mild loss of range of motion

●Moderate Whiplash Injury – Eight to twelve weeks of moderate discomfort (5-8 on the pain scale ) symptoms of sharp pain in most motion.  Sleep disturbance due to discomfort. 

●Severe Whiplash Injury – Twelve to twenty weeks or more of pain on the scale of 8 to 10 with possible extreme loss of range of motion and sleep due to pain. 

How to Increase Healing

At Norville Chiropractic we use a few ways to aid the healing process in the clinical setting.  In the clinic, we break down treatments into two different categories, active and passive.  Passive modalities are normally used to increased blood flow and decrease pain.  Passive therapies are utilized in the beginning and throughout the treatment cycle.  After the pain has been reducing active modalities are used.  Active modalities generally are used to stabilize and strengthen the injured area through motion or exercise.

• Passive therapies include  – Heat, ice, electric stimulation, cold laser, soft tissue release, manipulation and bracing
• Active therapies include – Corrective exercise, muscular re-education  (physical therapy).

Most whiplash injuries will take weeks or possibly months to heal based on severity.  When you have been in an automobile accident it is important to know you don’t have to deal with it alone.  Contact your attorney and find relief from the professionals that have the experience and knowledge to help you on all fronts.  WE HAVE YOUR BACK!

By: Dr. Clayton Pitts

Dr. Pitts has a Bachelors’s degree in Exercise Science and is a former personal trainer and amateur bodybuilder. He is competitive in Crossfit and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a strength and conditioning coach on the weekends.

Owner/operator of Prehab LLC and Norville Chiropractic

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