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PIP vs. Health Insurance – Which Is Best If You Have Been in An Auto Accident? post

If you’ve just endured an auto accident, you may be wondering if you should use your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or regular health insurance. What is the difference, and which one is better? The Impact Medical Cutler Bay team is here to compare the two for you and guide you on your next step toward receiving the best coverage.

What is PIP?

PIP is a “no-fault” insurance plan required by the state of Florida. Regardless of who is at fault, your immediate expenses will be covered depending on your limit. The minimum PIP requirement for Floridians is $10,000 with up to 80% coverage for medical expenses and up to 60% for lost wages.

PIP vs Traditional Health Insurance

One of the most common questions regarding insurance addresses the difference between PIP and regular health insurance and which one to use.

PIP Breakdown

While PIP will cover up to 80% of your medical expenses or until you reach your allowance, the type of services that qualify are somewhat limited. Since PIP is designed specifically for car crash injuries and damages, it will only cover services that directly or immediately help you in that situation. While your casual manuals will go uncovered, you’ll most likely receive aid for the following:

• Ambulance rides
• Hospital visits and overnight stays
• Surgical procedures
• Primary doctor examinations
• Scans and diagnostics
• Chiropractic care
• Physical therapy sessions
• Rehabilitation
• Prescribed medications

The only stipulation for receiving compensation from PIP after an auto accident is that you must seek medical care within 14 days of the incident. This is easy to do since chiropractors fall under qualifying medical evaluators. A licensed chiropractor will be able to give you a full-body examination and treat your injuries with a personalized regimen designed to restore your muscle strength, posture, and range of motion.

Health Insurance Breakdown

Some of the major downsides to traditional health insurance in comparison to PIP is the number of limitations regarding qualifying for compensation. First off, you’ll need to pay your deductibles before you actually see any benefits. Additionally, the party at fault can impact the amount of coverage you receive. For instance, you could see significantly less compensation if you are considered the one at fault for the accident.

One upside to health insurance is that the range of accepted services is much larger, with one of the main exceptions being loss of wages. While PIP is more for emergency services, your health insurance could take care of more casual expenses such as regular manuals and other preventative care.

Which Coverage is Better?

Between PIP and regular health insurance, it’s less a question of which is better and more about which one comes into play first. PIP coverage will always come first since it addresses emergency services. It also kicks in faster since there’s no need to wait for a courtroom hearing to determine who is at fault for the accident. Health insurance should always be used as a secondary measure to pick up the leftover expenses not covered by PIP.

Meet Your PIP Requirement with an Appointment!

Have you just recently endured an auto accident? Make use of your PIP coverage before it’s too late by making an appointment with our skilled chiropractors at Impact Medical Cutler Bay before the 14-day deadline! Give us a call at 305-748-6020 today to speak with our friendly team and receive the best care in Florida.

Tips For Preventing Back Pain While Working From Home

Everywhere you look these days, companies are taking their workforce virtual, which means less time standing and walking around the office and more time in front of the computer. And if you’re working from home, you know full well how tight and sore your back and neck can get from staring at your computer screen and paperwork all day. 

There’s nothing quite like rolling out of bed, staying in your pj’s, and working from the couch on your laptop every day and getting paid to do it. But the chiropractic specialists at Impact Medical Lutz understand that consequences can lead to bad posture and chronic pain in your neck and back if they go untreated. 

Here are some of our pro tips that will help prevent back pain while you’re working from home:

Keep Your Neck Straight

Be sure to put your screen at a comfortable viewing height when working from home. You don’t want to be looking down at your screen constantly and be sure not to angle your monitor so that you have to twist your neck to see it. Even the slight swiveling of your neck with your keyboard and mouse at an angle can cause long-term strain and pain in your neck and back. 

Use A Low Back Support

Whether you buy one online or roll up a bath towel or sweatshirt into a log, having lower back support makes an immense impact in reducing back pain. Why? Because it forces you to sit up straighter to keep the support in the proper place, and it naturally improves your posture. 

Keep Your Feet Flat When Working

While working from home, the couch may sound ideal, but it’s bad for your posture. You want to be sure that your feet are resting flat on either the floor or on a foot support when you’re sitting down. You don’t want to let your feet dangle in the air or pull them back underneath your chair because this puts undue pressure under your thighs, restricts blood flow to your lower legs, and can increase the risk of causing a deep vein thrombosis. 

Keep Your Keyboard and Mouse At A Comfortable, Natural Height In Front Of You.

It’s essential to ensure that your keyboard and mouse are centered on your monitor and at a comfortable, natural height for your arms in front of you. If you’ve had to raise your laptop screen using books or a laptop stand, you want to use a separate mouse and keyboard when working from home. Always keep your forearms and hands level and straight, and keep your arm close to your body when using your mouse. This is important because the nerves in your hand leave your neck and run down through your shoulder, into your elbow, and then your wrist. If your arm is at your side, your nerves aren’t being compressed. However, the more you stretch your arm out to the side, the higher the risk of straining your neck or shoulder. 

Don’t Sit or Stand Too Much.

You don’t want to over-sit when you’re working from home. It’s critical to get up and move around at least once an hour during your workday. This helps give your brain a break, and your legs and back can get a good stretch in, bringing fresh nutrients and oxygen to your extremities. And remember that standing too much puts undue pressure and strain on your legs, feet, and circulatory system. It’s essential to find the right balance between sitting and standing to prevent back pain while working from home. 

Get Adjusted at Impact Medical Lutz

At Impact Medical, we’re here to help you achieve better health and wellness. Whether you want to relieve your body of new aches or keep your back healthy while working from home, we have the treatments to keep your spine in proper alignment. We strive to help improve the overall health of every patient. Give us a call at (813)-536-0373 to make an appointment today!

8 Reasons Chiropractic Care for Babies Is Very Beneficial

You have just given birth to a beautiful little angel. You’ve worked hard and done everything you could to make sure your bundle of joy comes out completely happy and healthy for the best life they could possibly have. But as you know, giving your newborn child a better life is an ongoing journey. So, what’s the next step? The caring professionals at Impact Medical Port Richey are here to show you how chiropractic care can benefit your child with results that will alter the course of their health from a very early age.

A Newborn’s Trauma

Have you ever wondered why newborns have crying fits as soon as they leave the womb? Although we don’t remember it ourselves, being birthed is actually a very traumatic experience. Leaving the comfort of the womb while being forcefully pulled in various directions can be rough for a new life not used to the outside world. Because of this stress, many infants are at risk of developing symptoms that could be damaging to their growing bodies by the time they leave the hospital. This is why it’s important to bring your newborn to a chiropractor to ensure that they have a fighting chance against these potential dangers.

How Chiropractic Care Helps Babies

Being fragile and new to the world, babies are very susceptible to the many underlying hazards that threaten their bodies. Chiropractic care is the best, most gentle way to combat symptoms that could affect their ability to grow up completely healthy. A few of the ways that a pediatric chiropractor can help your newborn involves:

Colic Prevention

If your child seems to cry for hours or days on end for what seems like no apparent reason, you could be facing a case of colic. Aside from affecting your mental health, these episodes put stress on the child’s body from the nonstop tensing of the limbs and stomach. Chiropractic care can loosen the muscles for noticeable relief and less crying.

Vertebral Correction

Because the doctor sometimes has to twist and turn the baby’s body during childbirth, the body can suffer from spinal misalignment. However slight, this misalignment can cause your child to grow up with bad posture or back problems. A skilled chiropractor can set your child’s spine back into its rightful place.

Growing Pain Management

By assisting your child’s posture, they are more likely to grow up with a straighter back by being able to adjust to the changes in the body as time passes. A well-adjusted and healthy spinal cord will be able to better handle a growing body thus eliminating or lessening the unpleasantness of growing pains.

Allergy and Asthma Relief

Now is the time when children start to show signs of various allergies and even asthma. If your child is showing symptoms, chiropractic work on the spine boosts the nervous system’s ability to bring out the best in the body’s healing capabilities.

Righting Harmful Crawling Habits

Believe it or not, it’s possible for children to crawl in a way that’s harmful to their bodies and posture. A skilled chiropractor is able to examine the way that your child crawls and adjusts the body accordingly to prevent further damage.

Coaxing Sleep

Since the body of a newborn baby is extremely flexible, it’s much easier to perform various manuals without causing a fuss. These relaxing movements with little to no resistance will help bring your baby to a nice, peaceful sleep.

Ear Infection Avoidance

Many ear infections are actually related to the nervous system. Because chiropractic care involves the spinal cord which houses the nervous system, regular sessions can prevent any infections from cementing and causing further issues.

Organ Functionality

It goes without saying that a body can function to its fullest potential when properly aligned. By seeing a chiropractor to ensure that everything is where it should be, your child will be less likely to encounter troublesome symptoms such as interference in the stomach and intestines thus leading to constipation or diarrhea.

Is It Really Safe for Infants?

Chiropractic care in babies has been a controversial topic for a while, but health care professionals have proven time and time again that newborns who regularly undergo sessions are more likely to grow up much healthier than the average child. Skilled practitioners are trained in handling babies with the utmost care and there are even tools designed to treat the delicate bodies of newborns. You can trust licensed doctors to only want the best for your child’s wellbeing.

Pediatric Chiropractors Near Me

Looking for the best pediatric chiropractor in Florida to treat your newborn child? Come visit the trained professionals at Impact Medical Port Richey! Call us today at 727-848-3377 to schedule your appointment and let us handle the rest. We’ll make sure your newborn baby grows up with a healthy body and strengthened immune system for a happy and carefree life.

Here’s How a Leg Length Imbalance May Be Causing You Back Pain

The weather is still cool which means neighborhood walks are on the rise. Nothing more relaxing than a walk around the block unless you are experiencing a leg length discrepancy. For those that suffer from two different lengths of legs, this imbalance can have a profound impact on your feet, hips, pelvis, and spine. Impact Medical of Tampa can help you identify those pain points and understand why this may be causing you back pain.

Generally, there are two types of leg length discrepancies. The first is called Functional Short Leg and is the most common type. This condition develops because of misalignments between two bones around the ilia area. As one ilium rotates forward, the other will rotate backward to compensate. A backward rotation causes the femur to contract and appear shorter. The other type of leg length discrepancy is called anatomical short leg and is less common. This condition occurs when there is an actual size difference in the femur. Most people that experience this were born with it, but it can also be caused by severe situations like an infection.

The most common symptom of a varied leg length is back pain. Because the spine has to adjust its alignment to compensate for the differences between the legs, it’s important to identify the root of the problem immediately. Delayed care may lead to more severe symptoms like patellar tendonitis, lateral knee pain, or plantar fasciitis. Before surgery is needed, a chiropractor may be able to use several techniques to ease the pain of these conditions.

When you work with the Impact Medical Group of Tampa team, a chiropractor will help you address the various misalignments throughout your legs, hips, pelvis, and spine through specific chiropractic adjustments. Orthotics is another resource that may be prescribed to help your condition. These can supplement chiropractic care by supporting fallen arches, knocked knees, or pelvic and hip rotation.

Don’t suffer through your leg pain – let us help you! At Impact Medical Group of Tampa, we’re committed to improving the lives of every patient we treat. Call us at (813) 283-1910 to schedule your appointment today.