Accidents are quite a common thing that we usually see and hear about often. Daily, on average, 7000 people get injured by accidents. These injuries can vary from tragic to mild. The wounds are also testimony to the size and severity of the injuries. Major injuries often end up with a few bruises here and there while traumatic injuries can cause deep cuts and damage the internal organs, that require especially grueling and time-consuming treatments.
Though we might be aware of the causes of accidents, we are not familiar with the types of injuries and the possible treatments. To familiarize you with the accident injury treatment, we bring some of the common treatments caused by accidents. However, it is to be kept in mind that treatments vary based on the severity of an injury and body type.
Whiplash and other forms of Neck Injuries:
Usually, when involved in accidents, your body moves faster than its normal pace, leading to a sudden strong hit. This causes your muscles to tense up, mostly around the neck and shoulder. Muscle tension can reduce your mobility and make it difficult to perform day to day tasks.
Treatment:
If you’ve dislocated a joint or a vertebrate, it means the impact was severe and might require surgery. On the other hand, if it’s limited to muscular tension only, relax them through frequent massages and prescribed pain relievers.
Recovery
If you’ve gone through surgery, the recovery process will take up to a few months. But if it was just a normal muscular tension or a whiplash, then recoveries can take up to a couple of weeks, provided proper care and treatment is received.
Back and Spinal Cord injuries:
Injuries in or around your spinal cord or the back can be one of the most painful and traumatic experiences in a person’s life. The sudden movements caused by car or road accidents, along with the painful impacts, can cause your back disc to dislocate. If you hit your back hard, your spinal cord can fracture too. In addition to these, ligaments, back muscles, and tendons can strain. This is tremendously traumatic because they can limit the proper function of the body.
Treatment:
If the pain is severe and is limiting your movement to nothing, then it’s time to consult a physician and visit a chiropractor.
If you are not sure about how to locate the nearest chiropractor and you reside in Marietta, the best advice would be to search for “Marietta car accident chiropractor” on the web. By doing so, you will be able to locate the nearest one. On the other hand, if it’s just usual back pain, then you can opt for pain relievers in addition to ice/heat application coupled with an ample amount of rest.
If the injury is something more severe such as a muscle tear or a spinal cord fracture, it’ll require surgery.
Recovery:
Bones fixed through surgery require several months to heal. Muscle tears usually require somewhere around 3-4 weeks. While small and minor muscle strains require just a week or two.
However, most of the recovery process takes place within the first six months, and in case an injury does not heal within a year may last for a lifetime.
Brain and Head injuries:
Brain and Head injuries are mostly suffered by drivers or front-seat passengers. This is because of the sudden impact against the dashboard, windshield, or side glasses. Also, glass breaks cause damage to the head leading to cuts or gashes.
The main type of traumatic brain injury suffered due to car accidents is a Concussion. A concussion occurs when an impact or any other cause leads the brain to shift inside your head. This shift causes a change in chemical reactions, which can cause symptoms such as severe nausea, dizziness, headaches, neck pain, or loss of brain sharpness. These symptoms can appear instantly or can take a couple of weeks.
Treatment:
The first thing for an accident injury treatment is to consult a doctor or a medical professional. You could have internal bleeding in your skull, referred to as a subdural hematoma. This will require immediate medical attention or will have very severe consequences. Mostly the best treatment for concussions is a lot of rest. You’ll need to cut back on physical activities or activities that require a lot of brain activity.
Recovery:
If you have just suffered a mild concussion, you’ll notice the symptoms diminish in just a couple of weeks. Subdural hematoma, on the other hand, is complicated and will require many months to heal depending on the severity.
Lower extremity injuries:
These refer to injuries caused to the parts of the body that fall under your waist. These are mostly avoidable if you’re wearing a seatbelt. But if not, your legs can smash into anything, such as a dashboard or a seat. These cause a sudden impact on your legs, severe pain, or fractures in your leg, knee caps, or foot bones. Also, you can suffer from a muscle pull, ligaments, tendons, and hamstring pains or sprain.
Treatment:
If there has been a severe and painful bone break, then you’ll need surgery as soon as possible. If it’s a minor fracture, it’s best to support it with a cast. For minor pain, we recommend rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE treatment) and pain relievers if needed.
Recovery:
The recovery time depends on the severity of the injury. Minor pains might take up to a couple of weeks. A broken bone will take somewhere around 2-3 months to heal.
Facial injuries:
In-car accidents, you can be pushed forward smashing into the seat, dashboard, windshield, glass, etc. This causes extreme pain in the face and can damage the teeth, nose, and skull. Also, it can cause your skin to tear with deep cuts and scars.
Treatment:
For minor injuries such as cuts or scratches, bandaging might be needed. For severe injuries like a broken facial bone or damaged skull, you will need to get a surgery done, or it will stay permanently. For broken teeth, you will have to visit a dentist and for rectification of the damage.
Recovery:
It’s a bit difficult to predict the possible recovery time for these injuries because it mainly depends on the severity. Small cuts and scratches might take up to a week or two to heal. While surgeries might take a few months to heal.
Psychological Injuries:
These are tricky, and so is their treatment. Psychological injuries can arise from guilt or just a constant flashback of the accident itself.
Treatment:
You might need to visit a therapist or a counselor that can help ease your anxiety and stress to deal with and move on in life.
Recovery:
For psychological injuries, it isn’t possible to guess the recovery time because it varies from person to person and the extremity of the trauma.
Internal injuries:
These can occur through not properly wearing your seatbelt. During an accident, all the pressure goes on to parts of the body where the seatbelt is. If not worn properly, your torso, lungs, kidney, bowels, and many other parts might suffer damages. It can also lead to internal bleeding due to veins bursting which, will require immediate medical attention.
Treatment:
If the internal bleeding is not severe, the doctors might assess the possibility of the bleeding to stop on its own, unlike major internal bleeding that requires surgery.
For muscle strains, adopt the RICE treatment (rest, ice, compression, elevation).
Recovery:
The time varies a lot in the case of internal bleeding because it mainly depends on how the body reacts to the treatment. While muscle strains usually take a couple of weeks to heal.
Rib and Collarbone (clavicle) Injuries:
Part of your seatbelt comes over the area around your shoulder. When in an accident, you press forward against the seatbelt, and this can cause your shoulder or collarbone to break or dislocate. In more severe and high-speed accidents, the damage can go down to the ribs.
Treatment:
A broken collarbone will mostly heal on its own but might require some special braces to immobilize it. Extensive damage and rib injuries will require surgery.
Recovery:
The recovery time for both kinds of injuries might need up to 8-16 weeks.
Accidents aren’t planned but, you can always educate yourself about the kinds of injuries and their possible treatments. However, what’s best is to drive safe and keep those eyes on the road.
