Each year thousands of Martin County residents are involved in car accidents. Here are 3 reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident. Some car accidents cause minor damage while others cause major damage. The severity of the damage to vehicles and the severity of the injuries vary. Did you know that the vehicle […]
chronic pain
3 Reasons to Choose Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident
Each year thousands of Martin County residents are involved in car accidents. Here are 3 reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident.
Some car accidents cause minor damage while others cause major damage. The severity of the damage to vehicles and the severity of the injuries vary. Did you know that the vehicle crash damage does not directly correlate to the degree of occupant injury? It’s true. A study published in the Society of Automotive Engineers, 1 dispels this widely held myth. That means, even if your car accident was minor, your injuries could be serious, even life altering.
Unfortunately, it’s common for people to develop chronic issues as a result of a seemingly minor accident. What’s worse, you may not be aware that you’ve been injured immediately following the accident.
Chiropractic care is the best option for musculoskeletal injuries, including those suffered in car accidents. As a chiropractor, Dr. Danielle can treat many of these injuries without drugs or surgery. Fortunately, the injuries suffered in most minor auto accidents don’t require surgery and drugs. However, if prescription drugs and/or surgery are required to restore you to optimal functionality, Dr. Danielle will provide guidance in finding the right resources to help you achieve this goal.
Here are the top three reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident in Martin County, FL
#1: Imaging can’t catch micro-tears that are caused by a car accident.
Unfortunately, medical imaging such as X-rays or MRIs can’t detect the micro-tears in ligaments and muscles after a traumatic injury like those resulting from an auto accident. These microscopic tears in the muscle are why you may wake up with severe pain the day after an accident. Whiplash is a soft tissue neck injury that occurs when the neck snaps back and forth in a rapid motion. That rapid snapping back and forth causes microscopic tears in the neck muscles.
Soft-tissue injuries (a.k.a. micro-tears in ligaments and muscles) like whiplash can take a long time to heal. One study found that more than 70 percent of people who visited the emergency room after a car accident were still in pain six weeks later. Other researchers have noted that nearly half of whiplash sufferers continue to experience symptoms three months later, while 25 percent remain symptomatic for six months.2
Traumatic injuries such as those suffered in a car accident often include micro-tears and micro lesions. These cause inflammation which in turn causes pain. 3 Studies show that chiropractic adjustments help the body release anti-inflammatory Interleukin 6 (IL-6)4. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) plays an integral role in the body’s healing ability, including trauma, burns, cancers and infections.5
#2: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Helps Heal Internal Scar Tissues
When you hear the word “scar tissue” you might think of the scar from a nasty fall off your bike when you were young. Your body also forms this special type of tissue inside your body when your ligaments and muscles are injured. Just as the scar tissue you see on your skin doesn’t look or act like your undamaged skin, the scar tissue inside your body doesn’t have the same elasticity or mobility of uninjured soft tissue.
When scar tissue forms in the ligaments, especially those in your neck or back, it can lead to long term pain and reduced mobility. Scar tissue continues to grow and change throughout the recovery process which may take from twelve to eighteen months.6 Prompt chiropractic care after a car accident is very effective at remodeling scar tissue. Chiropractic treatment and stretching of scar tissue helps align the collagen fibers, allowing it tolerate daily activities. 7
Studies show that car accident victims treated within one week of their accident saw the best overall improvement. 8 Many chiropractors refer to this time period as the “golden week” because the inflammatory reaction which occurs during this period, if left unchecked, will produce scars and adhesions that make future management more difficult.
#3: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Releases Pain Relieving Hormones
Studies also show that chiropractic care helps release pain reducing hormones.9 These hormones provide natural pain relief from both acute and chronic pain. They will help relieve the pain from the acute injuries suffered in a car accident. Fortunately, they don’t stop there! They will also help any other areas that were causing pain before the accident.
Unfortunately, turning to pain pills can actually make pain worse in the long run. Contrary to marketing messages that imply otherwise, pain medications do not speed up the healing process. Pain medications (both OTC and prescription) can be very beneficial for the first 7 – 10 days after a traumatic injury. Used in the short term, these can provide symptomatic relief while chiropractic care breaks up scar tissue and adhesions, relieving stiffness, pain and the discomfort it causes.
We’re learning that you won’t find the solution to pain – even chronic pain – in a pill. Not only are opioid medications dangerous and addictive, they can actually cause your pain to worsen. Studies show that when you use an opioid, it sets off a chain of immune signals in the spinal cord that amplify pain rather than dulling it, even after the drug leaves the body. 10
Prompt Chiropractic Care is Key
The key to optimal recovery after an auto accident is prompt chiropractic care. Chiropractic care will allow you to continue to stay active after your car accident.
If you or someone you know has been in a car accident and you need chiropractic treatment, call 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
Looking for Effective Gentle Chiropractic Care?
Residents of Martin County FL and the surrounding areas may not be aware that they have the option of choosing gentle chiropractic care. Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC at Advanced Wellness Solutions in Stuart, Florida provides effective yet gentle chiropractic care.
WHAT IS GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC?
A gentle chiropractic spinal manipulation is performed with a gentle touch targeting a specific area. There’s no vigorous twisting involved. Dr. Danielle uses different techniques and patient positioning to deliver gentle chiropractic care. She achieves the same benefits with gentle chiropractic care that can be seen from traditional spinal adjustments.
This approach allows patients to get the maximum benefit from a minimal number of visits.
Dr. Danielle has actually had patients who were initially disappointed with her gentle chiropractic approach. These patients thought they couldn’t feel better without the twisting, popping and sometimes initial pain they experienced elsewhere. Her patients are delighted to learn that gentle chiropractic care allows them to get the maximum benefit from a minimal number of visits.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL CHIROPRACTIC CARE AND GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC CARE?
For example, let’s look at how spinal adjustments of the neck are performed. In traditional chiropractic care, you’ll lie face up on a table. The chiropractor will take your neck and pull it while twisting your head. This vigorous adjustment is effective but is often the reason some fear seeking chiropractic care.
When Dr. Danielle adjusts your neck, you’ll begin by lying face down on the table. She will then have you position your head and then deliver a gentle, downward force. You may hear a pop – but you won’t have your neck twisted and snapped. For those patients who prefer the traditional vigorous neck adjustment, Dr. Danielle is happy to oblige. However, most of her patients prefer her gentle prone approach to neck adjustments.
GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC FOR EFFECTIVE DRUG FREE PAIN RELIEF
If are in pain, you probably don’t need to be sold on the benefits of gentle chiropractic care. Many people who’ve been seriously injured in an auto accident are anxious at their first visit. They’re afraid she’s going to twist and contort them when they’re already experiencing extreme pain. They are relieved to learn that she practices gentle chiropractic care.
The Activator Method is one of the effective, gentle chiropractic care techniques used at Advanced Wellness Solutions. a small, hand-held instrument Dr. Danielle uses a small, hand-held instrument to deliver a gentle impulse force to the spine with the goal of restoring motion to the targeted spinal vertebra or joint. The patient is either seated comfortably or lying face down on the chiropractic table while this device is used. There’s no twisting or popping with this gentle modality which makes it ideal for anyone suffering from severe acute or chronic pain.
WHY GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC CARE?
Dr. Danielle provides gentle chiropractic care because knows what it’s like to be injured in a serious car crash. She was involved in a near head-on collision on while traveling on State Road 60 on her way to USF’s Tampa campus. While she was extremely fortunate to have walked away from the accident, she was still seriously injured. Her injuries caused her to have trigeminal neuralgia.
Trigeminal neuralgia is characterized by excruciating pain in the distribution of one or more branches of the fifth cranial nerve. In fact, it is considered to be the worst pain known to medicine.1 The pain caused by this condition is so severe, it’s been given the nickname, “the suicide disease.”
Dr. Danielle was fortunate to find a female chiropractor who used effective, gentle chiropractic care to treat her injuries. She was able to relieve her trigeminal neuralgia by effectively treating the injuries she suffered in her automobile accident.
While Dr. Danielle’s injuries forced her to drop out of college for a semester, they helped her choose her career. It’s why after she graduated from Palmer, she worked in two high volume personal injury clinics prior to opening her own practice. Her goal has always been to provide gentle, effective pain relief to people who have been seriously injured like she was. Today she offers that gentle chiropractic care at her Kanner Highway, Stuart Florida location.
You Should Know: Sleep Helps You Heal
Pain can keep you from getting healthy sleep. Sleep is critically important to healing from injuries as well as maintaining good health.
If you’re not getting a good night’s sleep, you’re not alone. The American Sleep Association estimates that 50-70 million adults in the US have a sleep disorder.
Though the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, the current research suggests that individuals with a sleep disorder may be more likely to develop chronic pain and people with chronic pain are more likely to have trouble sleeping.1
A growing body of evidence suggests that sleep problems pose an important risk for the development of musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. A large cross-sectional study involving 6986 adolescents found short sleep time to be a risk factor associated with regional musculoskeletal pain, particularly chronic regional pain and chronic widespread pain.2
Why Sleep is Important
When you crawl into bed to go to sleep, you might think your body is shutting down and resting. We now know nothing could be further from the truth. Sleepy time is when your body performs many “heavy lifting” tasks that repair, restore and maintain your mind, body and health.. These processes are so intensive that the body waits until you’re asleep to perform them. This is why getting proper sleep following surgery or an injury is an important part of the healing process.
If you been injured in a car wreck or suffer from chronic pain, getting that healthy sleep is easier said than done.
The Role of Sleep in Injury Recovery
Sleep plays a surprisingly important role in injury recovery . Whether you’ve been in a car accident or you’ve hurt yourself at work or play, you need to get healthy sleep so you body can repair damage to muscles, ligaments and tendon, and even bones.3
According to John DeLucchi, Physical Therapy Manager for OrthoCarolina, “If you want to upgrade your athleticism, decrease your risk of injury, decrease persistent pain, recover faster, boost your immune system, have more energy and perform better, sleep is critical.” 4
Your immune system relies on sleep to be able to fight harmful substances. When you don’t get enough sleep, your immune system can’t properly protect your body from infection. Your body makes white blood cells while you sleep. These white blood cells attack viruses and bacteria that can slow the healing process as well as make you sick.
Sleep is when the body manufactures hormones. During healthy sleep cycles, the brain triggers the release of hormones that encourage tissue growth to repair blood vessels. This helps wounds to heal faster and restores sore or damaged muscles. Some of the hormones your body makes and releases during sleep slow breathing and relax muscles. This process can reduce inflammation and assist with healing. Other hormones your body releases are the ones that make you feel hungry or full. When you don’t get enough sleep, the hormone levels of ghrelin go up. Ghrelin is called the ‘hunger hormone’ because it stimulates appetite, increases food intake and promotes fat storage. 5 At the same time the hormones that tell your body that you’re full (leptin) go down. 4 This is why poor sleep patterns often lead to overeating and obesity.
So – to recap – healthy sleep helps you
- heal and recover after surgery or injury
- relax muscles
- repair blood vessels
- fight infection
- restore sore and damaged muscles
- maintain a healthy weight
In a cruel catch-22, chronic pain sufferers find it difficult to get healthy sleep. Chronic pain can lead to sleep disturbances, depression and a heightened risk of suicide.5 Healthy sleep plays a vital role in battling chronic pain, but chronic pain often prevents healthy sleep patterns.
Good Sleep Hygiene
Here are some things to try to help you get a healthy night’s sleep.
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- Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary. Reserve the bedroom for sleep, intimacy, and other restful activities.
- Keep your bedroom cool. Between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal sleep.6
- Banish electronics from your bedroom.
- Be careful about napping. Taking a nap at the peak of sleepiness in the afternoon can help to supplement hours missed at night. However, daytime naps can also interfere with your ability to sleep at night.
- Instead of napping, try taking a brisk walk. Exercising – especially when you’re having trouble sleeping – is tough but worth the efforts. Make sure to avoid exercising within three hours of bedtime.
- Avoid caffeine after noon.
- Alcohol is not a sleep aid. While many people think drinking alcohol helps you sleep, studies show the opposite is true. 7 While alcohol will make you fall asleep faster, the quality of sleep you get is greatly diminished. The more you drink, and the closer your drinking is to bedtime, the more it will negatively impact the quality of your sleep.
If you’re logging in 8 hours of sleep at night but don’t feel refreshed in the morning, it’s time to schedule an appointment with Advanced Wellness Solutions. There are many medical conditions – including chronic neck and back pain – that could be responsible.
You Should Know: Pain Pills Can Make Pain Worse
Pain is one of the body’s vital defense mechanisms. Pain lets the brain know that damage or death has occurred to the cells in the affected area. It’s also the way our body tells us not to use the affected area. Pain lets us know what to do and not do with an injury. Persisting in activities that cause pain often causes more damage and slows healing.
If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you may have refused treatment at the scene only to wake up the next morning feeling intense pain. The reason is your body’s incredible ability to keep you alive. When your car accident happened, your body released an adrenaline rush. An adrenaline rush, like pain, is another of the body’s vital defense mechanisms. An adrenaline rush triggers specific processes in the body to help you survive. It decreases your ability to feel pain, increases your strength temporarily and sharpens your mental focus. If you were being mauled by a tiger, an adrenaline rush is a good thing. It allows you to ignore your injuries and escape becoming a meal for a hungry tiger. However, the rush of adrenaline only decreases pain temporarily. After the effects wear off, you may be desperate to get your hands on immediate pain relief.
It’s understandable that you want to avoid pain. It’s understandable that you want to get back to doing everything you were doing before the injury. However, don’t be fooled by the clever marketing that’s been done to give you the impression that pain relief medications help the body heal faster. Of course, the ads never come right out and say that. There’s a reason for that – they can’t because it’s not true.
Pain medications do not speed up the healing process. However, pain medications can be very beneficial for the first 7 – 10 days after a traumatic injury. Pain medications – used in the short term – can provide symptomatic relief while chiropractic care breaks up scar tissue and adhesions, relieving stiffness, pain and the discomfort it causes.
We’re learning that you won’t find the solution to pain – even chronic pain – in a pill. Not only are opioid medications dangerous and addictive, they can actually cause your pain to worsen.
Prescription painkillers cause the pain you feel to increase over time.
New studies are painting an especially grim picture pointing to the long term effects of using opioids for chronic pain. It’s call Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia or OIH. OIH is the increased perception of pain leads to needing higher doses to achieve the desired effect.
Studies show that when you use an opioid, it sets off a chain of immune signals in the spinal cord that amplify pain rather than dulling it, even after the drug leaves the body.1
Peter Grace, a neuroscientist at the University of Colorado Boulder is trying to trace hyperalgesia to the way opioids affect the immune system. His team injured rats to mimic the nerve pain humans feel. Ten days after the injury, half the rats received a 5-day treatment of morphine. Over the next 12 weeks, the researchers periodically measured the rodents’ threshold of pain. After 6 weeks, the injured rats that had received no morphine returned to the same sensitivity as uninjured control rats. Meanwhile, it took morphine-treated rats 12 weeks – twice as long – to return to the same pain sensitivity as the control rats. 2, 3
The higher the dose, more risk of overdose all the while with the patient experiencing increasing pain levels. Some studies suggest that it makes the pain even worse than when the patient began treatment.
Based on what has been learned from animal and human studies, the following may be true:4,5
- The treatment of pain with high doses of opiates may increase the chance of greater levels of pain at later times.
- Taking high doses of opiates for chronic pain may increase levels of postoperative pain, even when their opiate doses are increased.
- People who use or who have used opiates in the past, may have increased pain responses to such procedures as having their blood drawn.
The key takeaway here is that your pain can keep increasing not because of an injury, but due to the action of the opioids themselves.
According to Dr. Al Clavel who specializes in pain medicine, there’s another reason opioids can make pain worse. He writes:
Our bodies have natural opioids called endorphins. If your body becomes used to opioid pain medication, its ability to create and use natural endorphins will decrease. This makes you lose the ability to reduce pain on your own.
Using prescription painkillers to manage pain is a lot like blowing your nose with a tissue filled with sneezing powder!
There are many safer, proven ways to help relieve chronic pain. One is by using over the counter (OTC) painkillers. OTC painkillers include NSAIDs (non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs) and acetaminophen relieve (brand name Tylenol). NSAIDS relieve pain by reducing the production of prostaglandins, which are hormone-like substances that cause pain. Acetaminophen works on the parts of the brain that receive the pain messages.
These are easily available, aren’t habit-forming, and won’t leave you groggy, dizzy, or even constipated. However, these OTC painkillers can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. They have also been known to cause stomach ulcers and bleeding as well as liver and kidney problems. These risks increase with sustained use. If you’ve been using OTC pain relievers for more than 14 days straight, you should probably talk to your health care provider about the risks. Just because its sold without a prescription doesn’t mean that OTC pain relievers are “safe” for long term use.
Topical pain relievers or liniments are also available without a doctor’s prescription. These products include creams, lotions, or sprays that are applied to the skin in order to relieve pain from sore muscles and arthritis.
Chiropractors specialize in treating the musculoskeletal injuries that cause acute and chronic pain. Chiropractic care includes a variety of pill free/drug free treatment modalities that allow your body to heal naturally.
Chiropractic care is proven effective. A study that compared the effectiveness of prescribed medications to spinal manipulation found that 94% of patients who underwent chiropractic treatment saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks. In comparison only 56% of patients who used regular medical care saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks.5
At Advanced Wellness Solutions, we would love to help you get back to living the life you love pain free! Call us at 855-509-5400 or contact us to schedule an appointment today.
Five Ways Chronic Pain Affects You
There are two types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain is the pain you feel immediately after an injury. Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts beyond the expected period of healing for an illness or injury.
We’re learning that even low grade chronic pain can affect every aspect of your life. Patients suffering from chronic pain are often at risk for developing further complications, including altered mental states and physical dysfunctions. Studies show the brain reacts differently to short-term acute pain than it does to long-term chronic pain.Science Daily
The constant assault of chronic pain can affect your life in a number of ways. According Perry G. Fine, MD of the Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Pain Research Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in the Long-Term Consequences of Chronic Pain include:
- sleep disturbances
- cognitive processes and brain function
- mood/mental health
- cardiovascular health
- sexual function
Chronic pain can influence your thoughts, feelings, sleep patterns, memory, concentration, and relationships.
Chronic pain causes sleep disturbances
Your skeletal muscles possess the amazing ability to completely regenerate following injury. Muscles and tissues repair during sleep.Science Direct However, pain disturbs your sleep. This sets up a catch-22. Sleep helps your body heal. You need good quality sleep so your body can heal, but because you’re in pain, you can’t sleep.
According to SleepFoundation.org,
We know that pain triggers poor sleep. For instance, someone experiencing lower back pain may experience several intense microarousals (a change in the sleep state to a lighter stage of sleep) per each hour of sleep, which lead to awakenings. However, microarousals are innocuous for a person not experiencing chronic pain. Pain is a serious intrusion to sleep. Pain is frequently associated with insomnia and these coexisting problems can be difficult to treat. One problem can exacerbate the other.
Chronic pain affects cognitive processes and brain function
If you’re in chronic pain, you’re not operating at your cognitive best. Cognitive processes such as memory and attention have been shown to be impaired in up to two thirds of patients with chronic pain.Oxford Academic A comparative study assessed the cognitive functions in adults with chronic pain. Forty participants had chronic pain and 29 were pain-free. The chronic pain participants performed significantly worse than the pain-free participants on the cognitive measures of long-term memory, selective attention, processing speed, and executive functioning. Significant differences between groups were evident in all cognitive domains. NCBI: Chronic Pain
Chronic pain affects mood/mental health
The emotional effects of chronic pain include:
- Depression
- Anger
- Anxiety, and
- Fear of re-injury
Chronic pain can influence your thoughts, feelings, memory, concentration, and even connections with others. Living with chronic pain can affect your mood, making you more susceptible to depression, anxiety, and fear. Chronic pain can has been demonstrated to sleep disturbances, depression, and a heightened risk of suicide.NBCI Such mood disorders can also promote a dependence upon prescription medications designed to treat the pain, such as opioids. The more scared, alone or sad you feel, the more likely you are to depend upon medications which temporarily mask the pain by providing a “euphoric” feeling. However, when the effects of the medication wear off, the negative feelings return. If you’re suffering from chronic pain, this is yet another catch-22 cycle you can find yourself in.
Chronic pain affects cardiovascular health
Chronic pain can lead to a chronic stress reaction that causes an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. This stress reaction can lead to harmful health effects, such as a reduced ability to fight off illnesses and diseases. It also can increase the risk for conditions such as heart disease.Cleveland Clinic
Chronic pain affects sexual function
Chronic pain may interfere with your sexuality because of the pain itself. However, other factors associated with your chronic pain, including mood disorders, decreased sex drive (libido), medications or stress, can also affect your sexual function Mayo Clinic.
You may not have to suffer with chronic pain.
Let’s be honest, there is no “one size fits all” solution to chronic pain. (This type of thinking has lead to the opioid crisis.) However, there are many drug free therapies and modalities which can dramatically reduce and even eliminate chronic pain. There are even things you can do at home to help relieve your chronic pain. If you live in or near Stuart, Florida, contact Dr. Danielle at Advanced Wellness Solutions to see how she can help relieve your chronic pain.
Can chronic pain harm your overall health?
No one likes living with chronic pain, but many of us push through rather than address the underlying issue. Did you know that chronic pain can harm your health even if it’s not limiting your activities?
If you’re living with (and ignoring) chronic pain, university medical school studies reveal that you may be doing long term damage to your overall health.
According to a University of Utah School of Medicine report published at NCBI, chronic pain can significantly impact your overall health.
One of the ways chronic pain can affect your health is by disrupting your sleep. According to a study released by the American Psychological Association, healthy sleep has been proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity!
Another negative health effect of chronic pain is it impairs your cognitive processes, brain function – even your your mood and your mental health. 1 2 3
As if that laundry list weren’t enough, the University of Utah study shows that chronic pain can even impact your cardiovascular health, not to mention your sexual function.
The Good New is: Chronic pain can often be successfully managed without drugs, injections or surgery.
Modern chiropractic care addresses so much more than just neck and back pain. Modern chiropractors treat the whole person – not just a specific body part.
Dr. Danielle has helped hundreds of people suffering from chronic pain return to the activities they love while enjoying pain free living.
If you’re dealing with chronic pain – don’t delay! Chronic pain can have a domino effect on your overall health!
Don’t suffer another day with pain! If you live in or near Stuart, Florida or Palm City, Florida, you owe it to yourself to schedule an appointment with Advanced Wellness Solutions. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment today.