Did you get in a fender bender, or worse? Even in a minor accident like being rear-ended can make you feel sore & stiff; even the next morning. A bruise on your neck/chest from the seatbelt, some pulled or torn muscles and a sharp pain in your back; they’re all psychical injuries that can be sustained from a car accident.
Often times the injuries are not major such as broken bones, so it might seem like there is no cure for such ailments other than taking it easy and icing. However physiotherapy has been universally accepted by the medical community as an effective treatment for muscle strains and joint dislocations caused by an automobile collision.
Physiotherapy following a car accident uses range of motion exercises and muscle specific weight training exercises to strengthen the damaged muscles and joints. Such equipment might be elastic bands for resistance, body-weight, which is using the weight of your body to weight train muscle groups; various low impact cardiovascular machines like a hand bike, or elliptical for leg injuries.
Coming from a personal standpoint after I separated my shoulder in a car accident, I went to my general practitioner who referred me to a physiotherapy clinic. I met with the physiotherapist and he asked me some questions about my accident, where the pain was and if it was more of a dull, muscular pain or a sharp, shooting pain generally associated with skeletal injuries; whether it hurts to move or not, then had me run through a range of special tests to help determine what treatment approaches to take.
The second day arrived and he had a list of exercises to do and although lifting a soup can might not sound so strenuous, with a separated shoulder it was difficult to say the least and agonizing at the worst.
The approach may seem raw, however, after a month of range of motion & strengthening exercises, I felt like I was back to normal and maybe even better.
Unlike most forms of treatment like healing a cut, physiotherapy can actually take an area of your body that might be underdeveloped and weak, and then transform it into something that is of perfect or better working condition.
A simple referral to a specialist like a physiotherapist can make all the difference after a car accident leaving your body in shambles from the jarring forces experienced during the collision.
