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Spinal Stabilization After a Car Accident

After a car accident, it is important to seek medical care as soon as possible in case of a spinal injury. Without spinal stability, the healing process will take longer or be ineffective.

Further, if you sustain a spine-related injury during a car accident, such as a slipped disc or ligament tear, these injuries are prone to degeneration at a rapid pace. Any spinal auto accident injury that becomes unstable will require spinal stabilization to protect the injured area so it can heal.

Your friends at Impact Med Sun City Center discuss spinal stabilization and what to expect during the healing process after a car accident.

Spinal Injuries After an Accident

The spine is the support system for your entire body and allows you to sit, stand, walk, bend, and twist. The spine is composed of:

33 small vertebrae bones that form the spinal canal, an opening that contains the spinal cord and protects it from injury.

Intervertebral discs are flat round cushions that separate each vertebra and act as shock absorbers. A disc can tear or herniate causing some of the gel inside the discs to leak out. These herniated discs can be quite painful and will limit your movement.

Nerves run through the spinal canal to the skull from the lower back.

What is Spinal Stabilization?

Spinal stabilization is also known as spinal immobilization and is necessary for patients who are suffering from instability in their spine due to a car accident. The degree of spinal stabilization will depend on the severity of the injury and the patient’s pain level.

Spinal stabilization or fusion may be used in instances of fractured vertebrae or herniated discs. Spinal stabilization permanently connects two or more vertebrae, thus eliminating the discs and ending their motion.

For car accident victims, this can improve the spine’s stability and decrease pain. However, it must be noted that it can put more stress on other parts of your back and can cause long-lasting problems there.

What Does Stabilization Involve?

Stabilization is called immobilization for good reason. Spinal stabilization involves installing hardware and bone grafts to fuse segments of the spine. This can be done to treat injuries sustained in a car accident such as herniated discs.

Spine injury requiring stabilization can include:

Blunt force trauma from a car accident
Trauma sustained during a fall, leading to spinal fractures or spinal compression
Spinal fractures due to bone loss
Trauma sustained from a gunshot

How is Stabilization Achieved?

There are several ways that a spine can be stabilized, and all of them require surgery, though less invasive treatments are also available including laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery combines the use of noninvasive techniques and tools which allow the surgeon to make smaller incisions, resulting in a quicker recovery time and less pain.

When done laparoscopically, spinal stabilization enters the spine and removes any debris from the injury site. Nerves are repositioned to allow for decompression, and then the surgeon will graft donor bone to the vertebra where healing is needed.

To secure the donor bone during the healing process, the surgeon will use hardware such as rods or wires, hooks, or screws.

What is Interventional Pain Management?

If you’d like to forgo getting spinal surgery, interventional pain management can be an option depending on your injuries to reduce pain and improve your mobility. These treatments are minimally invasive and can be used by patients who have tried other unsuccessful therapies.

These treatments can include:

Cervical/thoracic/lumbar discography
Cervical/thoracic/lumbar epidural steroid injections
Cervical/thoracic/lumbar facet injections
Cervical/thoracic/lumbar radiofrequency ablations
Percutaneous discectomy
Selective root nerve blocks
And more!

Healing After a Car Accident

If you are suffering from spinal pain and mobility problems following a car accident, our team at Impact Med Sun City Center can help. From interventional pain management to chiropractic care and physical therapy, we can help you heal and regain mobility in your spine, perhaps avoiding spinal stabilization surgery altogether.

Move forward after a car accident with compassionate care from Impact Medical Group in Sun City Center. Call us today to schedule an appointment; 813-938-5195!

Common Shoulder Injuries Caused by Car Accidents

When you are involved in a car accident, your body is put under significant physical stress, even in minor fender benders. Even if you think you haven’t been hurt, you might find that a few days later you are experiencing pain.

This often happens with shoulder injuries. With three key bones and joints coming together, the shoulder is a complex area of the body. The range of movement in this area means that an accident can cause torn tendons and ligaments, and even broken bones.

Learn more about common accident-caused shoulder injuries and what to do if you have been in an accident from our team at Impact Med Wesley Chapel.

Shoulders Are Easily Injured

Injuries to the shoulder are one of the most prevalent injuries that occur in car accidents. They are also particularly common for those involved in motorcycle accidents where riders hit the hard road surface and often land on their collarbone or one of their shoulders.

The shoulder joint is complex and vulnerable to injury. Three major bones make up the shoulder joint including:

The scapula (shoulder blade)
The clavicle (collar bone)
The humerus (upper arm bone)

Other easily damaged areas of the shoulder include:

The rotator cuff: a group of tendons and muscles that surround a shoulder joint
The acromioclavicular joint: joins the collar bone and shoulder blade
The glenohumeral joint: the ball and socket that connects your arm to your shoulder blade
The shoulder joint capsule: ligaments that surround the ball and socket of your shoulder

Most Common Shoulder Injuries

Since the shoulder area is complicated, there are many shoulder-related injuries that you could suffer from during a car accident including:

Labral tears
Shoulder joint tears
Rotator cuff injuries
Fractures to the collar bone, humerus, or shoulder blade
Shoulder dislocations
And more!

If you notice any pain when reaching or lifting your arm above your head, or you notice a loss of strength in your shoulder following an accident, seek medical care at our Wesley Chapel clinic as soon as possible. Trying to move through the pain can only cause more pain and make the injury worse.

Whiplash and Shoulder Pain

Whiplash often occurs in rear-end accidents and while we typically associate whiplash with neck pain, it can also cause radiating shoulder pain. The force of the impact during a car accident forces your head forward and backward, overextending and tearing the sensitive muscles around your neck and shoulders.

The inflammation caused by whiplash can also cause painful stabbing sensations to shoot into your shoulder and down your arm.

Treating Shoulder Injuries After a Car Accident

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body. That’s why it is so important to visit a car accident clinic like Impact Med Wesley Chapel that understands the complexity of the shoulder joint and how to relieve the pain that you are experiencing.

Before resorting to surgical procedures, we will start with non-invasive approaches to pain management and tissue recovery such as ice and heat therapies, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and manual.

In severe cases of a shoulder injury, surgery may be required to realign the shoulder joint or reconnect torn soft tissues. But with proper treatment, rest, and physical therapy, most car accidents can regain full range of motion following a car accident.

Regain Shoulder Mobility

After a car accident, it is crucial to take the necessary steps and receive medical care to ensure that your shoulder heals properly from an injury. Our team of doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, and pain management specialists at Impact Med Wesley Chapel will work together to provide comprehensive care and treatment plans so you can find relief and recover.

Don’t wait. If you are experiencing shoulder pain call Impact Med Wesley Chapel today; 813-953-1002!

Common Knee Problems Caused by Car Crashes

When your body is impacted in the event of a car crash, your knees are incredibly susceptible to injuries as much as the rest of your body. Damage to your knees can limit your movement and ability to walk, so it’s crucial to be cared for right away. The kind professionals at Impact Medical Sarasota want to inform you on the different knee problems that can occur during an accident and what you can do to treat them.

Dashboard Knee

Medically referred to as posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury, dashboard knee is the most common type of knee injury that can happen during a car crash. As the name suggests, damage is inflicted by your kneecap (or patella) slamming against the dashboard. This can induce fractures, bruising, and dislocation which produces symptoms such as intense pain and swelling. For less severe cases, manual therapy can help relieve the pain and expedite the healing process.

Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) Injury

Very similar to dashboard knee, MCL injuries involve a different set of ligaments that are also connected to the shinbone and thighbone (or tibia and femur, respectively). Like with PCL, manual therapy is also recommended for lessening symptoms and to help with healing.

Torn Meniscus

The meniscus is the cartilage between the tibia and femur located on the sides of the knee. Its purpose is to prevent any friction between the knee bones as well as to absorb shock during an impact. If your kneecap twists during a car crash, the meniscus can tear and cause an entire slew of problems. In this case, physical therapy is the best choice for strengthening the muscles back to full health.

Symptoms:

Severe pain
Limited range of motion
Inability to bend or straighten the knee
Swelling around the patella
Locking of the knee
Instability when standing or walking

Dislocated Patella

When your kneecap is dislocated, it only needs to be repositioned back into place. Although not as serious as a fracture, you can still experience a limited range of mobility when attempting to extend or flex the joint. The best you can do to nurse your knee back to normal is by light exercises after it’s been repositioned. Physical therapy sessions are a great way to get in your exercise while rebuilding muscle strength, and manual therapy can relax those muscles for faster healing.

Knee Fractures

If a direct blow to the knee is powerful enough, it can cause fractures. These fractures can occur at any part of the knee whether it be above, below, to the sides, or directly in the center. In worse cases, the knee can crack in multiple areas. No matter how severe, you can experience swelling, bruising, and a difficult time walking or straightening your leg. Sometimes surgery is required, but for less intense cases you may only need to undergo some physical therapy.

Enduring knee problems can be very debilitating in your day-to-day life. Physical and manual therapy can hasten the healing process depending on the type of injury, and the caring staff at Impact Medical Sarasota are eager to give you the treatment you need so you can feel like yourself again. If you have a knee injury that needs to be remedied, give us a call at (941) 269-2183 to schedule an appointment.

How to Communicate Pain to Your Doctor

After a car accident, one of the most crucial things that you can do is accurately describe the pain that you are feeling to your doctor. But pain can be hard to describe, especially if you are experiencing other symptoms.

But it’s clear, accurately communicating the nature of your pain (throbbing, stabbing, dull, etc.) can help your doctor come up with the best plan to treat your unique injuries.

Our team at Impact Med Sun City Center describes how you can accurately communicate your pain to your doctor so you can get the best care possible.

What Causes Your Pain?

Being able to properly communicate the pain that you are feeling to your doctor allows them to understand the extent of your injuries following a car accident. Other things to keep in mind include:

Does anything make the pain feel better?
What makes it worse?
Are you able to complete your daily living activities, or is the pain interfering?
When you feel the pain, is it constant or does it come and go?

During the first few days and weeks following your accident you may feel a change in the type and frequency of your pain, so you might want to keep a journal of how you are feeling and where the pain is located so you can discuss it with your doctor.

Describing Your Pain

Pain can mean different things, and there are several ways to describe it. Is it dull, sharp, stabbing, burning, throbbing, shooting, twisting, stretching, or even nauseating? Do you have more than one of these sensations, or are they exhibited in other places in your body? Make sure to tell your doctor.

Ensure that you are communicating all the symptoms that you are experiencing and the location of them so that your doctor can come up with a treatment plan that will be right for you.

Where is the Pain Located?

Not only is it important to tell your doctor where the pain is located, but you also need to explain whether it radiates, or moves around, as this can be an important piece of information that can help your physician build a treatment plan.

Also, make sure your doctor knows if your pain started in one place, but is now somewhere else.

How Severe is Your Pain?

Your doctor will likely ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 0-10. Zero denotes no pain at all, and 10 is the most severe pain that you have ever felt. Also, make sure to mention if your pain interferes with your daily activities or if the intensity of the pain changes based on what you are doing.

Put a number on your pain when it is at its worst and make a note to tell your doctor.

Timing

Does your pain come and go? Does it interfere with your sleep? Does it worsen as the day goes on? Or does it hurt more when you wake up, or after you have been sitting for a long time? Does your pain lead to additional pain elsewhere?

Timing is important to a diagnosis, so ensure that you tell your doctor.

Pain is Subjective

Discuss all pain that you are feeling after an accident, so your physician can diagnose your symptoms appropriately and order the necessary tests to get to the bottom of what is wrong.

Pain is subjective, and the cause cannot always be determined by tests, so it’s crucial to illustrate an accurate picture of your pain for your doctor. This not only helps with a diagnosis but will help your doctor monitor your progress for future visits.

Staying on track of your pain and following up with your doctor regularly, will help ensure that you recover well from your accident injuries.

Get to the Bottom of Your Pain

If you are experiencing any pain following a car accident, our caring team at Impact Med Sun City Center is here to help you heal and recover.

Come visit us in Sun City Center for a consultation or call for an appointment today; 813-938-5195!