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Can Physical Therapy Treat Old Auto Accident Injuries?

Is the pain from an old car accident still nagging at you? You should do something about it! Old injuries that are left untreated can cause chronic issues that can last a lifetime. 

But which injuries are the most important to focus on and can a physical therapist from Impact Medical Sun City Center help treat these old accident injuries? Keep reading to find out! 

Physical Therapy for Old Injuries 

If you are dealing with pain or discomfort from an old car accident injury, there is a good chance that physical therapy can help. 

Old injuries often respond to physical therapy because oftentimes, the initial injury left a specific area of your body weakened, and it never fully recovered. Let’s say that your ankle was sprained from the force of the accident, and there was damage to the lateral ankle ligaments that support the ankle joint. If that injury never fully heals, you may experience weakness and pain in your ankle, and it might not be able to support as much weight without giving out. This puts you at greater risk of another injury. 

Another issue with leaving an old injury unaddressed is that other body parts must make up for the deficit. If your ankle is weak, your foot, calf, and leg muscles will have to handle more stress to help stabilize your injured ankle. Therefore, it is so important to treat these old injuries with physical therapy. 

Physical therapy can be beneficial for old muscle and soft tissue injuries because even though they have been unaddressed for a long time, the ligaments and tendons still tend to respond well to targeted care. In fact, it is never too late to strengthen your ligaments or supportive tendons. Once treated, odds are that your chronic pain and discomfort will begin to decrease. 

The Importance of Physical Therapy 

Ideally, you should seek physical therapy for car accident injuries immediately. Doing so helps ensure that your injuries are properly diagnosed and then treated appropriately. Seeking early treatment allows your body to heal, preventing unwanted complications or chronic pain in the future. 

Physical therapy helps to:

  • Maintain your range of motion and structural integrity of your body
  • Strengthen the tissues around the injury
  • Enhance and speed up recovery time
  • Decrease the risk of re-injury, chronic pain, and arthritis

Remember, if you failed to receive treatment for pain from an old auto accident and it has developed into chronic pain, it is not too late to seek treatment. 

Research shows that seeking physical therapy for old injuries can decrease the severity of symptoms. Strength training, flexibility work, and endurance training can all reduce chronic pain. 

Preventing Long-Term Damage

Unfortunately, as you may have discovered, car accidents can cause lingering pain if injuries are not treated right away. If you begin physical therapy immediately following your accident, you are much more likely to live without chronic pain. In fact, a study found that patients who did not receive care in a timely manner after a car accident are far more likely to suffer from degenerative disc disease, than those who received immediate care. 

Car Accident Treatment Done Right

Physical therapy is an excellent form of injury treatment. If you are suffering from chronic pain or discomfort from an old car accident injury, it’s time to get relief! At Impact Medical Sun City Center, our physical therapists can help you regain mobility, strength, and endurance and treat the old injury so you can move forward pain-free. 

Say goodbye to chronic pain and hello to relief! Call Impact Medical Sun City Center to schedule a physical therapy consultation today; (813) 938-5195

Relationship Between Hormones & Weight Loss Explained

Did you know that hormones and weight gain are intricately linked? Both men and women can suffer from hormonal weight gain that can often be difficult to shed. To lose weight in a sustainable, healthy way, it’s important to understand the inner workings of hormones and how they can affect weight loss. Impact Medical Group of Tampa shares signs and symptoms of the most common hormones that may disrupt your weight loss journey if found unbalanced.

Generally, men can gain this type of weight from increased stress or cortisol levels in the body. Heightened cortisol activates survival mode and often slows down metabolism. For women, estrogen hormones like estradiol help regulate body weight and metabolism. Lowered levels of this hormone may cause weight gain in the hips and thighs area. Additional hormones that should be monitored include the following:

Insulin

One of the most important hormones in your body is insulin. It is made by the pancreas and is responsible for storing and utilizing blood sugar when your body needs it. For example, after eating a large meal, a surge of insulin will enter the bloodstream to ensure blood sugar levels stay stable. Another key function of this hormone is to store fat. Insulin decides how much fat to store and how much to convert to energy. An imbalance in this hormone can lead to weight gain and/or Type 2 Diabetes.

Leptin

Another hormone that is essential to maintaining a healthy weight is leptin. It acts as an appetite suppressant hormone made within your fat cells. When you eat a well-balanced meal, leptin is what makes you feel satiated. It tells your brain whether to feel hungry or full.

There are several additional factors like genetics and a sedentary lifestyle that can cause an increased risk of hormonal weight gain. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with regular physical activity and a balanced diet can help reverse hormonal weight gain. But to get a more robust picture of your health and create a strategic plan, speak to our experienced team of health professionals. At Impact Medical of Tampa, we are dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of every patient we treat. Call us at (813) 283-1910 to make an appointment today!

Summer Skincare Tips for Anti-Aging

Long gone are the days of sunbathing until crispy. Yes, everyone loves (and needs!) some Vitamin D but it’s important to protect the largest organ you have, your skin. Impact Medical of Clearwater shares some summer skincare tips that can prevent premature aging.

Sunscreen

Did you know that skin can be damaged in just 15 minutes of direct sun exposure? Any prolonged exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can also increase signs of aging and even the risk of skin cancer. A great first step to protect yourself is to apply sunscreen daily, ideally, year-round, but especially in the summer. We recommend using a broad-spectrum sunscreen that offers 30 SPF or higher. If you will be swimming or sweating, make sure it’s water-resistant and reapply every 2 hours.

Apparel

It’s critical to protect your skin but don’t forget about other parts of your body too! Because eyes can experience sun damage to the delicate skin tissue around them, wear sunglasses to safeguard the eyes, eyelids, and the surrounding areas. Your sunglasses should have both UVA and UVB protection to guard against harsh sun rays and prevent macular degeneration. Wearing sunglasses and hats can also offer protection against fine lines, wrinkles, and more. Impact Medical Group of Clearwater offers innovative treatments that can help patients look and feel their best.

Medicines

Did you know common medications can exacerbate sun damage? Some of these popular medicines can have a sun-sensitizing effect that can cause skin reactions when taken topically or orally. When this happens, the combination of drug and UV rays can change the structure of the drug and/or intensify the UV light, damaging the skin. Frequent symptoms include rashes, burns, and increased sun damage. Make sure to check labels and speak with a doctor before using medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), tetracyclines, and others if you anticipate prolonged sun exposure.

The arrival of summer should be exciting! It’s a time to enjoy long, sunny days filled with plenty of outdoor activities. Whether you visit the beach, a pool party, or even just a visit to a new park, remember to protect your skin from the summer sun. Call Impact Medical Group of Clearwater at (727) 292-0200 to learn more about our rejuvenation treatments. Long live summer!

How Chiropractic Adjustments Can Help After an Accident

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, you don’t have to live with chronic pain or discomfort. Receiving care from a chiropractor can help bring the spine back into alignment after whiplash or other accident-related injuries. Read on to discover just some of the benefits of chiropractic adjustments after a car accident.

Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation goes hand in hand with any type of physical injury, and while some inflammation is normal and natural, too much can be harmful to the tissues, causing discomfort. When you visit your chiropractor for an adjustment, the chiropractor realigns the spinal cord, which can cut back on the body’s inflammatory cytokine production. In short, it lowers your body’s inflammatory response, instantly relieving pain.

If your back pain is due to inflammation, you’ll notice stiffness and pain that increases after periods of inactivity. Most people who experience back pain due to inflammation feel the most pain when waking in the morning, so tell your chiropractor about your symptoms so she can treat them accordingly.

Minimize pain

Chiropractic adjustments not only provide relief for specific areas of injury following a car accident, but also relieve pain throughout the body. During a chiropractic adjustment, your chiropractor performs spinal manipulations that tell the body to naturally release pain-relieving hormones. After spinal manipulation, oxytocin, neurotensin, and cortisol levels increase in the bloodstream, providing full-body pain relief.

In many cases, the pain-relieving benefits of chiropractic adjustments decrease the need for prescription pain medication. By seeking out chiropractic care immediately after a car accident, you can get relief from pain without resorting to addictive drugs that only mask pain without treating it.

Restore Range of Motion

Many people who are injured in a car accident lose flexibility in the neck or back. This loss of flexibility is often due to misalignment of the joints in the spine, inflammation, or the development of scar tissue. Chiropractic adjustments mobilize the spin and bring the joints back into proper alignment, restoring flexibility and range of motion.

Reduce Scar Tissue

It’s common for people to develop scar tissue after being injured in a car accident. The body forms scar tissue from collagen in an attempt to heal damaged muscles or tendons. While the development of scar tissue is natural, it can cause long-term pain and stiffness. Scar tissue often heals on its own and eventually functions like normal tissue, but if scar tissue is causing you discomfort, reach out to your chiropractor right away. She can use specific techniques to break up scar tissue, helping the area heal faster while reducing pain.

Chiropractic Adjustments Provide Relief from Car Accident Injuries

If you’re suffering from chronic pain or discomfort after a car accident, chiropractic adjustments can help. Reach out to the team at Impact Medical Group in Lutz today at (813) 536-0373 and schedule your adjustment. We’ll set you on the road to recovery, so you can live a pain-free life.