Category: Uncategorized

Can A Car Accident Impact My Child’s Development?

We already know that adults can suffer many injuries after a car crash, but how are children affected by these incidents? Since their bodies are smaller and more fragile, they are unable to manage injuries as well which can actually lead to worse problems as they get older. The professionals at Impact Medical Brandon are here to teach you how car accidents can impact your child’s development and what you can do to help them.

What Can Happen to My Child After an Accident?

Physical damage and trauma are definitely concerning when it comes to a child, but they can also develop debilitating emotional problems. Either way, children have much to worry about when it comes to the sanctity of their growth after a car crash.

Dealing With Mental Trauma

Whiplash is a common car crash injury that involves the neck and, more indirectly, the spinal cord. Anything to do with the spine (which is where all your nerves are located) has the potential to induce brain damage and other mental disabilities that could make it difficult to perform ordinary tasks and daily routines. Oftentimes, it could even lead to sleep disorders. All these symptoms can have a tremendous effect on a child’s growth and development.

Needing Accommodations

For many disabilities, children may need the appropriate accommodations. Whether it be the need to rely on machinery in order to perform tasks or the inability to use public facilities without the needed hookups, these inconveniences can take a toll on both the child and the person (or people) taking care of the child.

How Does This Affect My Child’s Future?

The burden of not being able to use your body or brain as you used to in conjunction with being slowed down by relying on certain accommodations can prove a hindrance to any child’s growth, development, and overall life experience. Many opportunities that may have been an option before the accident could become out of the question, all over something that could have been avoided. You can’t go back to the past and avoid the accident, but you can bring your child to see people who can treat their injuries and lessen the impact that the damage can do on their body and their future.

Schedule An Appointment with Impact Medical Brandon!

The professionals at Impact Medical Brandon specialize in accident-related injuries, including those for children. If your child has recently been in a car crash, let us perform a thorough examination to pinpoint any issues that could pose a risk to their development. We’ll do everything we can to ensure that your child grows up happy and healthy with a bright future ahead! Call today at (813) 522-8885.

Selective Nerve Root Blocks May Be the Solution to Your Pain

Chronic pain takes a toll on your enjoyment of everyday life. Rather than resorting to prescription painkillers—or just simply living with the pain—there are some effective treatments that can not only discover the cause of your pain, but also help reduce it. Many patients enjoy relief from pain, especially back pain, with selective nerve root blocks. This minimally invasive procedure both diagnoses and treats pain.

Here’s what you need to know about selective nerve root blocks, and how you can determine if the procedure’s right for you.

What is a selective nerve root block?

The selective nerve root block procedure involves an injection of local anesthetic into a specific nerve root in the spine. The procedure pinpoints the source of a patient’s pain, while also providing therapeutic, long-lasting relief.

How do selective nerve root blocks treat pain? When a spinal nerve root is compressed, inflamed, or irritated, you’ll often experience severe back pain. You may even feel pain in your lower or upper extremities, depending on the location of the irritated nerves. For example, patients with cervical spinal irritation can feel numbness, pain, and tingling in the back, neck, shoulders, and arms.

Since nerves connect the entire body, it can be hard to find the actual source of your pain. Even a sophisticated MRI may fail to show which nerve ending is damaged. A selective nerve root block can effectively isolate the problem nerve root, so you and your medical team can determine if it’s what’s causing your pain.

Patients suffering from any of the following conditions may benefit from a selective nerve root block procedure:

• Arthritis
• Bulging intervertebral discs
• Cervical radiculopathy
• Failed back surgery syndrome
• Herniated disc
• Lumbar radiculopathy
• Spinal stenosis

What Is the Selective Nerve Root Block Procedure Like?

A selective nerve root block is minimally invasive and only takes between 30 to 60 minutes to perform. As you lay under a fluoroscopic X-ray, your medical team will clean the skin and then numb it with a local anesthetic. Using fluoroscopic guidance, your doctor will insert the needle into position within your spine. The doctor will inject contrast dye to ensure correct needle placement.

Your doctor will administer the selective nerve root block just above the targeted nerve root through the space between the vertebrae, injecting a local anesthetic (often lidocaine) and a steroid like dexamethasone.

If you experience relief from pain following the procedure, you can safely assume your doctor has discovered and neutralized the pain-generating nerve. While relief varies among patients, many people feel pain relief that lasts from several days to several months. Most patients can resume normal activities as soon as the day after the procedure.

Is Selective Nerve Root Block Right for You?

A selective nerve root block can provide immediate relief from pain. If you’re wondering whether this procedure is right for you, talk to the compassionate team at Impact Medical Group of Sarasota. We’ll get to know you and your symptoms, recommending the best course of treatment to get you back to living a pain-free life. Call us today at (941) 222-1157 to schedule your free consultation!

Can Physical Therapy Help with PTSD After a Car Accident?

When it comes to a car accident, often there is more than just physical trauma that is felt. To achieve a full recovery, it’s important to heal the emotional trauma that was endured as well. Impact Medical Group of St. Petersburg shares how physical therapy after a car accident can provide car accident victims with holistic healing.

After a consultation with a physical therapist, patients can begin to understand the scope of their injuries and what the healing journey looks like. Sometimes even simple tasks like getting dressed or bending down may be more time-intensive because of injuries. These new obstacles can cause frustration or anger that may challenge mental health. Generally, the most common reaction presents as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Symptoms can show as anxiety when driving, depression, or even withdrawal from social interactions. Using physical therapy to repair may help return you to your pre-accident lifestyle.

A physical therapist can also help identify injuries that may be unseen. Combining this identification with correct body postures that manage pain and exercises to restore strength can bolster mental health. Additionally, physical therapists use manual therapy to reduce discomfort and promote independence. These exercises aim to rehabilitate patients so they can regain normal activities and routines.

As Elle Woods once explained, “exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.” The physical therapy team at Impact Medical Group of St. Petersburg can build a personalized program that can alleviate mental and physical pain after a car accident. All plans are fluid and make room for changes and adjustments, as necessary. Visit the Impact Medical Group of St. Petersburg website for more or call us at (727) 722-8103 to speak with our team.

What Is a Lumbar Discography & Can It Treat Accident Pain?

If your current treatment for chronic pain isn’t working anymore, a lumbar discography could provide insight into the source of your pain.

Discography is an outpatient procedure that is used to locate back pain that is caused by spinal lesions, which enables doctors to design a treatment plan that targets the problem.

Keep reading to learn more from our pain management team at Impact Medical Sun City Center.

What Does Discography Mean?

Damaged or herniated spinal discs can lead to degenerative disc disease. This is a condition that occurs due to aging or injury and can cause back pain that may extend to the thighs and buttocks. This pain is like the discomfort that stems from facet syndrome or sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

Unfortunately, diagnosing and treating these conditions is difficult, even with an MRI, physical examination, and comprehensive medical history.

Discography is a diagnostic imaging test that evaluates back pain to determine if its source is spinal disc damage. Considered an invasive procedure, it is not the first test that doctors rely on to evaluate back pain and is only suggested as a last resort after trying physical therapy.

Do I Need Lumbar Discography?

It is important to note, lumbar discography is not a treatment. Rather, it is a diagnostic tool that is used to aid doctors in designing a treatment plan for chronic back pain where the cause is hard to diagnose.

In many cases, you may undergo lumbar discography after you experience 4-6 months of chronic back pain that is not related to an injury or underlying disease. An Impact Medical doctor may recommend a lumbar discography to help them create a plan to treat your pain more effectively or to help them determine if surgery is necessary.

The Stages of Lumbar Discography

Here is what you can expect if you undergo lumbar discography:

#1. Physical Assessment

The first stage in a lumbar discography is the physical exam and medical history phase. In this stage, your doctor will interview you and review your medical history to assess your state of health.

The stage ensures that your doctor has the correct information to provide you with the best care. Your doctor will also give you essential details outlining the procedure during this phase.

#2. Preparation

If you agree to undergo lumbar discography, your discographer might administer a sedative to keep you relaxed during the procedure. This is not compulsory, and some doctors may not use sedatives to avoid interfering with any sensations that you may feel that can help diagnose your back pain. You may also receive antibiotics to reduce the risk of infection.

Before the procedure, you will lie on your side or abdomen on a specialized table. The doctor will use a fluoroscopic (X-ray) unit to mark your back with an ink pen. These markings indicated the disc spaces that will be examined.

#3. The Procedure

To begin, your doctor will administer a numbing injection to reduce your pain from the discogram needle. The discogram needle will enter your body safely and precisely through the fluoroscope.

Next, your doctor will inject a contrast dye into the disc and check to see if it spreads using an x-ray or CT scan. The dye will stay in the center of a normal disc but will spread outside the center of a worn-out disc, which could be the reason for chronic back pain after an accident.

During the procedure, you may feel pressure, pain, or even nothing. If you feel any pain that is similar to the backache that you already have, it indicates that the disc that is being examined is likely the source of your lumbar pain. A normal disc will produce little to no pain when examined.

#4. Post-Procedure

After the procedure is complete, you will remain under observation for about an hour. Then you will be free to leave, barring any complications. Driving yourself is unwise, so make sure you have someone to take you home.

You may feel pain at the injection site for a few hours after the procedure. This is normal and can be relieved with ibuprofen or acetaminophen. You can also apply ice packs to the injection site every 20 minutes to relieve pain.

Now that the procedure is complete, your doctor will assess your medical history and images. This will give them an idea of how to properly treat your condition.

Relief from Chronic Pain

Though lumbar discography itself will not treat your chronic back pain after an accident, it is a tool that can be used by our pain management team at Impact Medical Sun City Center to create a treatment plan to relieve your pain.

Say goodbye to chronic back pain. Call Impact Medical Sun City Center to schedule an appointment today at (813) 938-5195!