How Long After My Auto Accident Should I Wait To Start Physical Therapy?

If you have been involved in a car accident, you might be referred to a physical therapist for treatment depending on your injuries. Proper physical therapy can help alleviate pain and help patients recover from their injuries more quickly; but the question is, how long should you wait to start physical therapy after an accident? Does it matter?

The answer may surprise you and our physical therapy team at Impact Medical Sun City Center explores what you need to know in the guide below.

The Importance of Physical Therapy

So, let’s answer that question. You may be surprised, but we recommend that you should start physical therapy as soon as possible following an accident. We’ve found that many patients who begin physical therapy within three days of a car collision, have an easier time recovering from their injuries and getting back to their daily lives faster.

While you might be thinking that sounds too soon, there are many benefits to starting physical therapy immediately.

Here are some reasons:

#1. Faster Recovery

At its heart, physical therapy is all about helping people heal and recover from physical trauma and injuries. By working with a physical therapist right after you are injured, you can drastically shorten your recovery time. This means that you’ll get back to your daily routine much more quickly than if you tried to recover on your own.

Don’t let injuries hold you back for days, weeks, months, or even years. Seek treatment as soon as possible after you are injured.

#2. Avoid Chronic Issues

When injured, the blood flow to the injured area increases causing inflammation and swelling in the area of the injury. While this is your body’s way of promoting healing, it can be quite painful.

If your injury doesn’t heal properly, this inflammation will continue, leading to chronic pain. Fortunately, you can avoid this chronic pain with, you guessed it—physical therapy.

Your physical therapist at Impact Medical Sun City Center will help you recover with targeted exercises and stretches designed to help reduce pain and inflammation.

#3. Prevent Secondary Injuries

If left untreated, injuries often cause others. Let’s assume that you sprained your ankle in a car accident but you decide to forgo treatment. The soft tissues around your ankle have to work overtime to make up for the loss of stability in your ankle, and then you end up with soft tissue strains and aches that could have been avoided if you had gone to a physical therapist.

Your therapist will help you strengthen your ankle and the muscles around it, making it less likely that you suffer from any secondary injuries.

#4. Reduces the Likelihood of Surgery

Let’s get real. If you fail to treat an injury, let’s say a back injury, after a car accident your pain and injuries could continue to get worse. That could mean that you eventually need surgery.

Surgery is rarely ideal. You have to consider the side effects, recovery, and the fact that invasive surgeries rarely restore your body to how it was before you were injured.

That’s where physical therapy is beneficial. It has been proven as an effective way to avoid surgery for all kinds of car accident injuries. But remember, the sooner you go to physical therapy, the less likely surgery becomes.

Don’t wait to see if you’ll eventually feel better, begin a physical therapy regimen immediately after an accident to see amazing results.

Restore & Rejuvenate

When you’ve been in a car accident, your body has been through a lot of trauma. And right now, it is working hard to help you recover. But instead of lounging on the couch and hoping to feel better, you can give your recovery a boost with help from our physical therapists at Impact Medical Sun City Center.

Even if your accident was weeks or months ago, we can still help you begin to recover. Contact us at (813) 938-5195 to schedule a consultation today.