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Is It Safe to Manual An Impact Injury?

Suffering from an impact injury like a fall, strain, sprain, or collision? These acute injuries often are often sudden, sharp, and traumatic, and they can cause chronic pain and even limited mobility. Luckily—in many cases—manual therapy can help. By delivering oxygen and nutrients to soft tissues and organs, manual can play an important role in injury rehabilitation, increasing healing rates and shortening recovery times. Here’s what you need to know about using manual to heal from an impact injury.

How Manual Therapy Helps Impact Injuries Heal

Manual therapy is an effective method for treating impact injuries, but you have to get the timing right. You can use manual therapy effectively during the acute (initial) stage of the injury and even well after the injury if scar tissue has developed.

Addressing Acute Pain

The acute stage of an impact injury is generally 48-72 hours following the incident. This is often when your pain and discomfort are at their worst, as even slight movements can be painful to the affected area. During this period, manual therapy that targets muscle or joint healing can help patients get on the right track toward recovery.

Targeted manual therapy can promote muscle relaxation and faster healing by improving oxygen and blood flow to the injured area. It can also remove fluids and waste from the injury site. While manual won’t make the injury go away, it can help patients work through it much easier. When patients are able to move easier, it enhances the body’s ability to heal itself, in turn greatly shortening recovery times.

Relieving Tight Muscles

A person’s muscles can tighten after an injury, especially one that leads to restrictive movements. An impact injury can reduce a muscle’s optimum length, causing an increase in tightness that can cause discomfort and limit mobility. A professional manual can increase the temperature of soft tissues, loosening and stretching them. Many patients find that after a manual, the muscles function better, aiding in overall injury recovery.

Reducing Scarring

Affected areas of the body often scar after an impact injury—it’s simply the natural healing process of damaged tissues. As the body heals, it produces collagen fibers and sends them to repair the area around the injury site. While the process is natural and necessary, it also can restrict movement and aggravate pain.

A professional manual therapist can use special techniques to loosen, break down, and realign collagen fibers at the injury site. By reducing scar tissue, manual therapy can increase the normal function of soft tissues, reducing pain and tightness.

Manual Therapy Helps Patients Recover From Impact Injuries Quickly and Efficiently

Manual can help you recover from a range of impact injuries, including concussions, knee injuries, lower back pain, spinal cord injuries, whiplash, and more. The professional team at Impact Medical Group of St. Petersburg understands how to use manual therapy to help patients recover from impact injuries quickly. Call us at (727) 722-8103 to schedule your free consultation and start your journey to full recovery today!

Having Neck Pain After a Small Fender Bender? What You Should Do

Fender benders can happen to even the very best drivers. Unfortunately, even a minor accident can have a major impact on your overall health and well-being. If you’re in a fender bender and have no apparent injuries or feel no pain, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek medical treatment. Even if the accident is very minor, you should get checked out by your medical provider to ensure you don’t have injuries.

Cuts, bruises, and broken bones are obvious injuries, but internal ones often aren’t. Many fender bender accident victims experience injuries that can develop and worsen over time, including neck pain. If you’re suffering from neck pain following an accident, here’s what you should do.

Common Causes of Neck Pain After a Fender Bender

Even a minor impact like a fender bender involves a significant amount of force. Since the neck bends and rotates, it’s the most mobile portion of the spine, and the head’s weight can place high loads on the neck. The impact of any car accident can cause the following common injuries to the neck:

• Whiplash and Soft Tissue Injuries. Whiplash is the most common term for neck pain following a car accident. When the neck whips back and forth due to the impact of a collision, it can cause muscle tenderness, spasms, sprains, and strains. Stretching or tearing of tissues, tendons, or ligaments can cause neck pain that lingers if left untreated.

• Facet Joint Injuries. Facet joints enable movement of the neck and are highly susceptible to damage. If the neck is hyperextended due to the impact of an accident—especially a rear-end collision—these joints can easily be dislocated, resulting in neck pain that can radiate to the head and shoulders.

• If you feel headaches that radiate upward from the neck to the back of your head after a fender bender, it’s a clear indication your neck has been injured. You need to seek medical attention immediately to ensure your headaches aren’t caused by a concussion or traumatic brain injury.

Common Remedies for Fender Bender-Related Neck Pain

There are several approaches to relieving neck pain following a fender bender. Of course, consult your primary care physician for a comprehensive treatment plan. Here are some of the most effective remedies for alleviating neck pain:

• Chiropractic Care. You can treat both acute and subacute neck pain effectively with quality chiropractic care and spinal manipulation. A professional chiropractor can help realign the spine and restore normal movement, which also helps treat chronic headaches after a car accident.
• Manual Therapy. A quality manual relieves muscle tension and improves circulation, both of which can improve range of motion and reduce neck pain after a collision. Manual therapy is often even more effective when used in combination with chiropractic care.

• Physical Therapy. Physical therapy can improve neck pain after an accident by stretching and strengthening neck muscles and soft tissues. It’s a great option if you need to regain mobility and function in a structured, safe environment.

Seek Relief From Neck Pain Today

Suffering from neck pain after a minor fender bender? The team at Impact Medical Group of Clearwater can help! We’ll create a customized treatment plan to address your symptoms and condition, so you can live a pain-free life and regain full mobility. Call us today at (727) 292-0200 to schedule your free consultation.

How Quickly Do Injections for Pain Begin Working?

Chronic pain impacts your overall health, well-being, and quality of life. Fortunately, there are nonsurgical remedies that address a wide variety of pain symptoms, whether the source of your pain is in your neck, back, or other areas of the body. Here’s a guide to some of the most common, effective injections that can provide the pain relief you need to live a better life.

Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections

If you’re suffering from symptoms like pain, numbness, or loss of mobility, your doctor may recommend an epidural steroid injection. These injections treat conditions like spinal disc herniation and spinal stenosis. A medical professional injects a local anesthetic and corticosteroid medication into the epidural space, or outermost area, of the spinal cord.

While the local anesthetic works immediately to provide pain relief, the corticosteroids work within a couple of days to a week, reducing inflammation in the surrounding area. Recovery time is often reduced in patients who start a physical therapy program shortly after the corticosteroid kicks in.

Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar Facet Injections

Facet joints provide stability at each segment of the spine, guiding motion. They can become inflamed for a variety of reasons, including arthritis, stress, or any injury to the back. During a facet joint injection, your medical professional injects a local anesthetic and steroid medication into the facet joints. While patients experience immediate relief from the local anesthetic, it typically takes between two and 7 days for the steroid medication to take effect.

Selective Nerve Root Blocks

If you’re looking for long-lasting relief from back pain, a selective nerve root block may be the solution. Many people live with back pain due to compressed, inflamed, or irritated spinal nerve roots. Since they connect to the entire body, it’s often difficult to pinpoint the actual source of the pain.

During a selective nerve root block, a medical professional can isolate the problem nerve root under a fluoroscopic X-ray. When the doctor has determined the correct needle placement, she will administer the selective nerve root block just above the target area, injecting a local anesthetic (usually lidocaine) and a steroid like dexamethasone.

Most patients experience pain relief after the third to the seventh day following the procedure. Pain relief lasts from several days to several months, and most patients can resume normal activities the day after the procedure.

Pain Relief Is Just a Phone Call Away

No matter the cause of your pain—whether you’ve been in a car accident, suffered a sports injury, or anything else—the team at Impact Medical Group of Lutz is ready to help. We offer a wide range of non-surgical solutions for pain relief, including the effective injections described above. Call us today at (813) 536-0373 to schedule your free consultation and start your journey toward long-lasting pain relief.

Why Do I Have Lower Back Pain After Being Rear-Ended?

Suffering from back pain after a rear-end collision? Rear-end collisions are some of the most common automobile accidents. Even at low speeds, these accidents often lead to significant injuries, including back injuries. Read on to learn why you may have lower back pain after a rear-end collision, as well as how long you can expect to recover from your symptoms.

Common Lower Back Injuries After Rear-End Collisions

There are several lower back injuries that can affect drivers or passengers of vehicles that have been rear-ended. Some of the most common include:

• Arguably the most prevalent of all automobile accident injuries, whiplash occurs due to sharp, sudden movements of the neck and spine. The violent, sudden movements can injure muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the neck and lower back. Symptoms can include loss of range of motion, headaches, pain, fatigue, and more.

• Herniated Disc. Rear-end collisions can damage the discs that cushion the vertebrae in the spine. Even a low-speed impact can cause a disc to move out of place, tear, or even rupture.

• Back Sprain/Strain. Any car accident can lead to sprains and strains. Back sprains from rear-end collisions occur when soft tissue and ligaments in the pack are damaged, while a back strain involves injuries to tendons or muscles in the back.

• Spinal Fracture. When rear-end collisions occur at high speeds, occupants in the rear-ended vehicle can suffer from a spinal fracture. This serious injury involves a break in at least one of the vertebrae in the spine.

How Long Will I Feel Lower Back Pain After a Rear-End Collision?

The length of time you can expect to feel symptoms of lower back pain following a rear-end collision depends on the type of injury you have and how quickly you seek treatment. It’s important to visit a medical provider immediately after you experience a rear-end collision—even if you don’t feel any symptoms.

While a spinal fracture will be immediately apparent and involve several steps and intervention by various medical teams, other conditions like whiplash, herniated discs, sprains, and strains can be addressed with a variety of non-surgical treatments. Even an injury that’s as seemingly simple as whiplash can cause back pain that lasts for days, weeks, months, or longer in severe cases. The faster you seek treatment, the quicker you’ll experience relief from your pain, not to mention a restored range of motion.

Suffering From Lower Back Pain? The Team at Impact Medical Group of Port Richey Can Help!

If you’re living with lower back pain after a rear-end collision, your quality of life and range of motion can be hindered. The team at Impact Medical Group – Port Richey is ready to create a customized treatment plan that addresses your specific injuries and concerns, so you can fully recover after a car accident. Call us today at (727) 848-3377 to schedule your free consultation!