CALL: 406-388-1446

WHIPLASH/AUTO ACCIDENTS
If you are suffering from neck pain, headaches, dizziness, shoulder pain, low back pain, sciatica, or other injuries from your car accident.

Dr. Satchell, or Dr. Althans will perform a detailed evaluation of your spine and obtain x-rays, if needed, prior to prescribing the appropriate course of needed treatment.

A series of precise spinal adjustments can relieve nerve impingement and restore proper alignment. In addition, a customized program of strengthening exercises and soft tissue therapies can help to relieve your neck pain and/or back pain while enabling your body to heal more quickly and correctly.

A car accident injury can occur in a variety of ways.  While some injuries stem from direct impact with an airbag, windshield, or other part of the vehicle, most often they are purely due to the force of impact as it transfers from the vehicle to you.  When something suddenly stops a traveling car, even at relatively low speeds, anything inside of the car will continue moving until it hits something inside the cabin.  Assuming you are seat belted, your body will continue to fly forward until the seatbelt/harness stop your motion.  Your head and neck will be flexed, then undergo compression after which they will then snap backwards, causing a whiplash injury.  These tremendous forces on your neck can strain muscles, sprain ligaments, and cause joint dysfunction of your cervical vertebrae, thus resulting in neck pain.  A cervical injury may also leave you with other symptoms, in addition to neck pain such as pain in other regions of your body, numbness, tingling into your arms/upper extremities, headaches, dizziness, and vertigo.

The same collision that causes whiplash can also cause low back pain, shoulder pain, wrist pain, knee pain, or ankle pain.  Sometimes the body twists unnaturally in a collision, partly due to the way the safety restraints hold it in place and this torsion can cause your lumbar or pelvic vertebrae to come out of alignment.

SEATBELT HARNESSING
Always wear your seatbelt and shoulder harness when riding in a vehicle as the safest place for you is securely in your seat.  Seatbelts alone can reduce your risk of serious or fatal injury by nearly to 50%.

HEAD RESTRAINTS/HEAD REST
The single most important way to prevent whiplash injury is to have your head restraint properly positioned.  The head restraint is the uppermost part of your seat, which should be adjustable.  The proper position for the head restraint is for it to be placed as close to the back of your head as possible as well as level with the top of your head.  For further clarification, you can discuss this with one of the doctors when you are in for your evaluation.

What to do if you are in a vehicle that is about to be hit from the rear:

  • Sit fully back against your seat and head restraint.
  • Shrug your shoulders firmly to limit neck motion.
  • Look straight ahead with your head back slightly.
  • If stopped already, apply the brake firmly.
  • If you are the driver, place your hands flat against the steering wheel.

These precautions can assist in preventing injury or lessen the chance of injury should you be involved in an auto accident.

If you have been in a car accident, whether last week or last year, call us TODAY at 406-388-1446.