How Your Chiropractor Can Help with Slip-and-Fall Accidents
Are you feeling a little stiff and sore after a fall? It may be time for a visit to a chiropractor. Chiropractors treat a variety of injuries caused by slip-and-fall accidents and offer all-natural treatments for pain, stiffness, and other symptoms.
What Kinds of Slip and Fall Injuries Do Chiropractors Treat?
Whether you slipped on a muddy sidewalk or tripped over a loose carpet, a slip-and-fall accident can cause painful injuries that may last days or weeks. Luckily, your chiropractor offers treatments for slip-and-fall injuries that speed healing, reduce pain, and improve mobility. Chiropractors treat many fall-related injuries, including:
- Sprains. The ligaments that connect the bones in a joint may stretch or tear as you fall, causing a sprain. A sprain may sound like a minor injury, but it can take weeks or months for the ligaments to heal, depending on the severity of the sprain.
- Strains. As you struggle to stay on your feet, you may strain muscles in your legs, arms, hips, back, shoulders, or neck.
- Tendinitis. Irritation and inflammation of the tendons that connect bones to muscles may also occur when you fall.
- Back or Neck Injuries. Falls can also disrupt the alignment of the vertebrae, the bones that make up your spine, or cause the discs that cushion the vertebrae to bulge. Whiplash, commonly associated with motor vehicle accidents, can also happen if you slip and fall.
- Muscle Pain. Your muscles are likely to feel sore and tight after an accident. Spasms and painful knots in muscle tissue may worsen your pain.
- Pinched Nerves. Misaligned vertebrae or joints and tight muscles and tissues can press against or "pinch" nerves causing pain.
Treating Slip and Fall Injuries with Chiropractic
Pain, inflammation, stiffness, and reduced mobility can cause problems even if your fall seemed minor. Prompt treatment of your symptoms is important. If you ignore your symptoms, you could develop chronic pain or reduced range of motion. Chiropractic treatments relieve your pain now and help you avoid long-lasting consequences that could affect your comfort and mobility.
Depending on your injuries, your chiropractor may recommend one or more of these treatments:
- Massage. Massage is helpful for nearly any slip and fall injury. Treatments gently stretch muscles and tissues, releasing tension and easing spasms. Endorphins and serotonin, hormones that relieve pain, increase after a massage, providing natural pain relief. As muscles loosen, stiffness and flexibility may improve.
- Spinal and Joint Manipulation. Manipulating or adjusting misaligned vertebrae improves their position within the body. Although spinal manipulation relieves pain, that's not the only benefit. Spinal manipulation and adjustments also decrease pressure on muscles and tissues, reduce stiffness, and improve mobility. These treatments recognized as an effective way to treat pain and is among the therapies recommended by the American College of Physicians for low back pain. Chiropractic care isn't just helpful for your spine. If you have a sprained ankle, adjusting the bones in the joint decreases pressure on the ligaments and muscles, which may speed the healing process and improve range of motion and flexibility.
- Flexion-Distraction. Flexion-distraction therapy gently stretches the spine and relieves pressure on nerves and bulging discs using a special moving treatment table. The therapy can be helpful for lumbar disc issues, low back pain, sprains, sciatica, and other painful conditions.
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS). TENS treatments stop nerve signals from reaching the brain, preventing pain. A mild electrical current passes through electrodes attached to your skin to ease pain.
- Ultrasound Therapy. Heating deep tissues with a handheld ultrasound device eases pain and speeds healing. Ultrasound therapy is used for many injuries, including sprains, strains, tendinitis, whiplash and muscle spasms.
Have you experienced a slip-and-fall injury? Chiropractic treatments can help soothe aching muscles and joints and improve joint range of motion and mobility. Contact our office to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor.
Sources:
American College of Physicians: American College of Physicians Issues Guidelines for Treating Nonradicular Low Back Pain, 2/14/2017
HealthCentral: Chiropractic Care and Back Pain: Non-Invasive Treatment for Bulging, Ruptured, or Herniated Discs (Slipped Discs), 5/10/2019
Chiropractic Economics: Prevention and How to Stop a Muscle Spasm, 1/21/20
https://www.chiroeco.com/muscle-spasm-treatment/
Mayo Clinic Health System: Benefits of Massage Therapy, 3/22/2022