After a car accident, most people are just grateful to be able to walk away from a car accident relatively unharmed–often deciding airbag injuries are no big deal. But even if you walk away with minor scrapes and bruises, you should take your car accident injuries seriously. You may only notice minor pain now, but a little pain can turn to a lot of pain down the road if you don’t get the proper treatment. Whether you’re looking for a way to relieve pain from past injuries, or you’ve recently been in an accident where your airbag deployed, here’s what you need to know about preventing and relieving the pain:
Steps to take immediately after the car accident:
Although airbags are designed to minimize fatalities and reduce injury, the force of the airbag can leave you with serious injuries. Scrapes and bruises are often seen on the surface, but beneath all of that, airbag injuries can cause cardiac problems, temporomandibular joint injury (TMJ), cervical spine fractures, bony neck injuries, soft tissue injuries, and more.
Many times, airbags will leave you with hidden injuries. This means even if you’re feeling fine and not presenting any strange feelings or symptoms, there can be serious underlying issues. Always play it safe and let a chiropractic doctor determine if such injuries have occurred. Of course this should be done after life threatening injuries, like cardiac injuries, broken bones, or dislocations are ruled out in a hospital or ER.
Even if you don’t go to the hospital directly after your car accident, be sure to see a healthcare provider or chiropractor within 2 weeks of the date of your car accident. If you don’t, Florida’s No Fault law dictates that you have forfeited your right to receive insurance coverage to treat the injuries related to the accident. Even if you do not have pain, see someone within this 14 day window so that if any issues arise weeks, months, or even years later–you’ll be covered.
How to relieve your airbag injury pain:
If you go to the hospital or your primary care physician after your car accident, your doctor will likely prescribe you medication for your pain. However, pain medication won’t treat the underlying cause of your neck, back, jaw, head, or body pain. If you have pain after your car accident weeks, months, or even years later as a result of your airbag injuries, your next visit should be to the chiropractor.
Chiropractors are trained at detecting air bag injuries that the hospital may have missed. They often will notice soft tissue injuries and other injuries associated with your pain that emergency room technicians may not. Detecting these injuries is the first step toward correcting them and alleviating stress on your body.
You can also prevent airbag injury pain from arising by seeing your chiropractor soon after your accident–before your symptoms have a chance to emerge. You can have airbag injuries without symptoms. In some cases, symptoms like pain, numbness, tingling, tension, headaches, radiating pains, and more may not be felt until years later. These sensations may not even occur at the site of injury (like the neck, spine, or head). Your spine controls your central nervous system, and because of the way our nerves create a widespread network throughout the body, your symptoms can affect nearly any part of your anatomy.
If you’re suffering pain from your airbag injuries, don’t wait to seek treatment. See your chiropractor right away so that you can start heading down the path to your recovery. Click here to schedule an appointment with our experienced chiropractors.