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Why Are Rib Injuries Common in Truck Accidents & How Can You Heal From Them?

You’re cruising down the highway, enjoying the open road, when suddenly you’re jolted by a massive impact. A semi-truck has collided with your vehicle, leaving you shaken and in pain. While you might escape with scrapes and bruises, there’s one injury that’s all too common in truck accidents: rib injuries.

Why Ribs? Understanding the Impact

Your ribs are designed to protect your vital organs like your heart and lungs. But in a collision with a massive semi-truck, even the sturdiest ribcage can be compromised. The sheer force of impact can cause anything from minor bruising to severe fractures, potentially leading to complications like punctured lungs or internal bleeding.

Why Truck Accidents Are Particularly Risky for Ribs

Several factors make rib injuries more common in truck accidents:

• Size and Weight Disparity. Semi-trucks are behemoths compared to passenger vehicles. The immense weight and momentum of a truck can inflict significant damage on your smaller vehicle, putting your ribs at risk.
• Impact Angle.Side-impact collisions are particularly dangerous for ribs. The direct force on the side of your vehicle can easily compress or fracture your ribs.
• Seatbelt and Airbag Deployment.While seatbelts and airbags are designed to save lives, they can also contribute to rib injuries. The sudden force of a seatbelt restraining you or an airbag deploying can cause bruising or even fractures.

Healing from Rib Injuries: A Step-by-Step Guide

The good news is that most rib injuries, even fractures, can heal on their own with time and proper care. Here’s what you can expect on your road to recovery:

1. Pain Management. Rib injuries are notoriously painful. Your doctor may prescribe pain medication or recommend over-the-counter options to help you manage your discomfort.
2. Rest and Activity Modification. It’s important to give your ribs time to heal, which means avoiding strenuous activity and lifting heavy objects. Your doctor may recommend wearing a rib belt for added support and pain relief.
3. Breathing Exercises. Breathing deeply can be difficult with rib injuries, but it’s important to prevent pneumonia and other complications. Your doctor may recommend specific breathing exercises to help expand your lungs and promote healing.
4. Physical Therapy. Once the initial pain subsides, physical therapy can help you regain strength, flexibility, and range of motion. This can be especially helpful if your injury has affected your posture or breathing.
5. Follow-Up Care. Regular checkups with your doctor are essential to monitor your healing progress and adjust your treatment plan as needed.

Dealing With Rib Injuries? There’s Hope at Impact Medical Group

Recovering from a truck accident can be a long and challenging process, but with the right care, you can get back to feeling your best. Impact Medical Group of St. Petersburg specializes in treating a wide range of injuries, including those caused by truck accidents. We’ll create a personalized treatment plan to address your specific needs and help you get back on track as quickly as possible. Don’t wait to reach out to us at (727) 722-8103 for a free consultation. We’re here to support you every step of the way on your journey to recovery!

Most Effective Treatments For Pinched Nerves After An Accident, Ranked

After an accident, most people can expect to feel some soreness. But when do you know when the pain you’re experiencing is just some soreness vs. a pinched nerve? A pinched nerve, or nerve compression, can occur during or after an accident from blunt-force trauma, swelling, or herniated disks, and the symptoms of a pinched nerve are not to be ignored.

When To See A Doctor For Your Pinched Nerve

After any accident, it is always considered a best practice to get yourself over to Impact Medical to get checked out for any brain or body injuries. Even if you feel okay, be mindful of symptoms, like:

1. Sharp or aching pain in a specific area
2. Numbness or loss of sensation
3. A tingling pins and needles sensation
4. Weakness is a limb or addicted area
5. Pain that seems to travel down the arms or legs

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, alone or in combination with other pain or discomfort, please seek medical attention immediately. These symptoms mean there is a high likelihood you have a pinched nerve and need medical intervention.

How Does My Doctor Diagnose Me For A Pinched Nerve?

There are a few ways your doctor can know if you are suffering from a pinched nerve after an accident. The first and most common way is to perform a Physical Evaluation. This is why it is important to tell your doctor of any symptoms you may be feeling, or have felt since the accident occurred, if the symptom may have seemed to subside. Next is Imaging Tests such as an MRI or CT scan to identify the location and potential cause of nerve compression. Lastly, a nerve Conduction Study can be performed in order to get answers by studying the electrical activity of both the nerves intact, and damaged nerves.

Related > How Do I Know If I Have A Restricted Joint After Having An Accident?

So, I have a pinched Nerve. Now What?

There are a few treatments that can help heal your pinched nerves, but, pinched nerves can bring a lot of discomfort and pain, so we want to ensure that you are feeling your best as quickly as possible. This means that we try first, the most effective treatments that we offer at Impact Medical. But what are the most effective treatments for pinched nerves?

1. Physical Therapy: Depending on where the pinched nerve is, there is a high chance that it is affecting mobility. Physical therapy is a great place to get personalized therapy plans to help target the affected area by strengthening muscles and relieving pressure on nerves. Your physical therapist can work with you on finding the best exercises to help heal your pinched nerve as quickly as possible.
2. Chiropractic Care: Chiropractic adjustments can reduce nerve compression by realigning the spine and fixing posture. This can especially help when pinched nerves occur in the neck area, or down any limb.
3. Ice And Heat Therapy: This is a practice that requires participation both inside and outside of doctors’ offices to see results as quickly as possible. Simply place an ice pack in the affected area for around 20 minutes several times a day, and follow it up with a heat pack or warm bath.

If you or a loved one has experienced any symptoms of a pinched or compressed nerve, please contact our team at Impact Medical Sun City at 813-938-5195 so we can assess and treat, so you can get back to doing what you love most!

Is It Crucial To See A Doctor After Being In A Boating Accident?

Accidents end in one of two ways, they can either be life-altering or they’re incidents you can walk away from unscathed. While we’re always hoping for the latter, there is one sure thing that must happen no matter how severe the accident seemed, or what vehicles were involved- you must see a doctor. While being out on the water in the sunny Florida weather is a dream for most people, this can also lead to a lot of concern if the worst happens and you end up in a boating accident.

What Makes Boating Accidents Unique?

By now, we are all familiar with the rules of the road such as, following traffic laws like speed limits, and lane directions. Even wearing your seatbelt should be a second nature that saves millions of lives every single day! But, boating has different rules, and a very different approach from the boating community when it comes to following some of the rules in place. This can make boating dangerous not just for you and the people in your boat, but for others out on the water as well.

Related > How Common Are Boating Accidents?

What Are Some Safety Concerns Associated With Boating?

Lack Of Seatbelts:

Because of the nature of boating, you want to be able to evacuate your boat as quickly as possible if the time ever comes. A seatbelt can slow you down, causing the chance of a passenger drawing to be higher. While the lack of seat belts can save lives, there are also times when not having a seatbelt can endanger them. If someone hits your boat, or the wake of the water slams into your vessel, whiplash, spine injuries, concussions, and more are all possibilities just like in an automobile accident. Even worse, if you do end up with one of those injuries, making it safely off of the water and onto land could prove to be a challenge.

Bacteria In Water:

If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of a boating accident, then you may sustain some cuts and bruises along the way. Even if this is something you would normally brush off, the water holds a different type of threat; bacteria. If you have an open wound in a warm bay or stagnant lake, you’ll want to head to the doctor to ensure that you won’t need any antibiotics just in case there was something creeping around that can’t be seen by the naked eye.

Dry Drowning:

If at any point during your boating trip, you end up in the water, breathing some water into the lungs is a possibility. In the same breath, When you’re in an accident or traumatic boating situation, the chances of elevated breathing and panicking can increase during any stressful situation, but when breathing becomes elevated in the water, the chances of you breathing in the water increase. This may not seem like a big deal at the moment, but breathing in water at any time isn’t a touch-and-go case as you can experience Dry Drowning. Dry Drowning can occur up to 24-48 hours after the incident occurs, so head to the doctor to make sure the lungs and vocal cords look clear of any water immediately after an accident to ensure safety while healing from your other potential injuries or infections.

After a boating accident, please note and document any of the following symptoms to share with your doctor: Difficulty breathing, coughing, chest pain, soreness, fatigue, or vomiting.

Contact the pros at Impact Medical of Wesley Chapel today

Boating accidents happen, and the injuries can be serious. Our team at Impact Medical Wesley Chapel has the experience and specialized knowledge to help you recover as quickly and fully as possible. We’ll work with you to create a personalized treatment plan that addresses your specific needs and gets you back to enjoying the activities you love. Schedule your free consultation today—call us at 813-953-1002

How Bad Posture When Driving Can Contribute To Your Injuries

You never realize how bad posture can worsen your car crash injuries until it happens, but we hope to bring awareness to you beforehand so you don’t have to find out the hard way. If you ever need auto-injury treatment, Impact Medical Plant City has everything you need for ample recovery.

There’s a Risk of Chronic or Exaggerated Accident Injuries

Poor posture while driving can affect you in a couple of ways. It can lead to chronic pain and disabilities from prolonged or frequent driving, or it can make accident injuries much worse than they could be.

When every trip, big or small, is made with bad posture, it can wear on your body just like you would with poor posture in any other chair. Truckers have it the worst since much of their time is spent on the road. Before you know it, you could be suffering from chronic pain or limited mobility in the following areas:

• Upper back
• Lower back
• Neck
• Shoulders

What happens when you get into an accident while displaying poor posture? During a crash, your body is susceptible to becoming compressed in unnatural ways. When your body is already in an awkward position due to bad posture, worsened injuries can arise when these parts are impacted. This situation can lead to exaggerated muscle strains and sprains, as well as other unpleasant symptoms like numbness.

What Does Poor Driving Posture Look Like?

If you’re wondering what bad driving posture looks like, many examples have to do with slouching or leaning. Whether you’re hunched forward or leaning to the side, there have been proven sled tests indicating that crash dummies consistently end up in a worse situation when leaned forward. Driving for a prolonged period of time without taking breaks to get up and stretch can result in similar injuries.

The Correct Way to Sit While Driving

Ready to break out of your slouching habit? The next time you’re in the driver’s seat, take a mental note of how you’re sitting and make an effort to sit the correct way:

• Sit up straight, ensuring that your hips are carrying equal weight.
• Make your spine flush with the back of your seat
• Keep your knees no lower than your hips.
• Use pillows to practice these tips if needed.

A Note to Our Truckers Most truckers we know are dedicated to their jobs, and that’s a good trait to have. However, we encourage you to watch your health by taking care of your body. This means stretching and walking around every chance you get to ward off chronic pain and stiffness. If you’re tempted to sleep in your driver’s seat overnight, you’ll do your body a favor by booking a room and laying in a real bed instead to put less stress on your spine.

Treating Auto Injuries With Chiropractic Care

Do you already have auto injuries? Not all hope is lost. You can still treat pain, stiffness, and more with chiropractic care. A chiropractor can relieve your symptoms while demonstrating correct posture while driving to help you with preventive habits in the future. Our treatment options for auto accident injuries include chiropractic care and manual therapy as the best natural methods to restore your body.

Visit Your Local Impact Medical For Self-Pay Chiros Near You

Impact Medical Plant City is the best place near you for treating auto injuries and learning the importance of good posture while driving. For those with busy schedules, we make it easy to squeeze in your adjustments with our self-pay chiropractic services! Give our friendly team a call at 813-214-8330 to learn more.