Recovering from a car accident may be one of the most difficult things you ever do. You do not have to go through it alone, though: we can diagnose your injury and enable you to resume the activities you need and love to do.
To learn more about your Marco Island auto accident injuries and available treatment options, call Naples Community Injury Center at (239) 631-5445. Nothing is more important to us than helping patients feel better.
Auto Accidents Can Cause Many Injuries
Car crashes are violent, unpredictable events that can affect survivors in too many ways to list here. You could suffer injuries to your:
Head
The crash’s impact could either send a heavy object flying at your head or cause your head to hit a solid object, like the roadway or the side of the car. Such injuries could cause:
- Headaches
- Concussions and other forms of traumatic brain injuries
- Deep cuts or abrasions
Neck
Whiplash is the injury most commonly associated with car accidents, especially those where another car hits you from behind. You could suffer whiplash even after a relatively minor collision.
In addition, you might suffer muscle sprains or bone fractures in your neck if the impact is strong enough.
Back
The human back is surprisingly delicate: one wrong move or one strong impact could cause serious pain in your:
- Muscles
- Nerves
- Tendons
- Bones
For example, in a healthy back, your vertebrae sit on top of one another and are separated by a “cushion” called a disc. If a car accident knocks a disc out of place, it could cause your bones to grind together, putting pressure on your nerves and inflicting pain.
A particularly serious type of back injury is a spinal cord injury, which could cause paralysis and prevent you from walking or moving the way you did before.
Extremities
The joints in your hands, arms, legs, and feet could all sustain injuries in a car crash. However, it is important to remember that your body parts do not function in isolation. If your arm hurts or feels numb after an accident, the problem may be in your back or shoulder rather than in the arm itself.
How can you tell what is causing your auto accident pain? Consider letting the team at Naples Community Injury Center assess your injuries.
How to Treat Auto Accident Injuries
If you suffer severe injuries in a crash, your first move should be to dial 911 from the scene and go to the hospital. Once they stabilize your condition, you can start looking at your long-term treatment options.
Since there are so many types of auto accident injuries, it should not surprise you to learn that there are many ways to treat injuries caused by car crashes. Our Marco Island team can offer all of the following treatments:
Chiropractic Adjustments
Also called spinal manipulations, we recommend this treatment to patients who:
- Have pain in almost any joint, not just those in the spine
- Do not have any contraindications, such as severe osteoporosis or heightened stroke risk
- Are in pain due to misaligned bones, nerves, or other parts
During this treatment, we have you lie down on a special table while we move the affected joint in ways that can readjust the bones and other parts so they sit in proper alignment. These movements could be gentle, gradual, strong, abrupt, or a combination of the above.
Spinal manipulations are only safe when performed by professionals like us, who have all of the necessary qualifications and training. Please feel free to come to us with any questions or concerns you have about this—or any other—treatment.
Electrical Stimulation (ES)
ES treatments are fairly straightforward: we apply electrodes close to the injury site and send mild magnetic pulses down into your skin. This is a painless, noninvasive way to promote better, faster healing.
Muscle Energy Techniques (MET)
MET can help you begin recovering from a fracture or a surgical operation. It is a very gentle process in which a member of our team has you contract, relax, and stretch muscles in a predetermined pattern. This therapy can prevent stiffness and scar tissue from permanently reducing your range of motion at the injury site.
Resistance Training
If and when you are strong enough that MET is no longer helpful, you can begin resistance training. This involves meeting with a member of our team who can guide you through a series of stretches and exercises to improve your:
- Flexibility
- Range of motion
- Strength
Car accidents can rob you of your strength and endurance levels. Resistance training works to get you back to the point where you can continue with your pre-accident levels of activity, if possible.
Massage Therapy
You may already know that massage can help people relax and destress. As Mayo Clinic points out, however, it can also play a key role in helping patients recover from all manner of painful conditions.
To get the most out of massage therapy, let us examine your injuries and determine the type and frequency of massage you could most benefit from.
We Treat Auto Accident Survivors with Compassion
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) reports that Collier County, which includes Marco Island, saw a total of 5,926 traffic accidents in 2022. These accidents inflicted nearly 3,500 injuries. So, if you were injured in an auto accident, you are far from alone.
Our team takes pride in being able to help car accident survivors get back on their feet. We make things easier for our patients by:
Examining You Thoroughly
We will dedicate your first appointment to finding out what your injuries are, how they have affected you, and what your treatment goals are. You can expect us to:
- Listen attentively as you explain how the accident happened and how your injuries feel
- Ask a lot of follow-up questions, so we better understand your situation and goals
- Review your medical records, so we know about your overall health and accident-related injuries
- Order diagnostic tests, such as x-rays, that we can use to confirm (or eliminate) potential diagnoses
It may take a little while for us to call you back with a diagnosis. We know how hard it is to be patient at a time like this, but remember: an accurate diagnosis is essential to receiving effective, safe treatment. We want to be sure that the treatments we recommend:
- Have a good chance of enabling you to meet your goals
- Will not worsen your condition or undo the benefits of other treatments you may be undergoing
- Do not overlook some critical aspect of your injury (e.g., by focusing on a back injury when you also sustained a shoulder injury)
Monitoring You Throughout
In addition to administering treatment, we keep a close watch over our patients. This means:
- Regularly asking how you feel or if you have any concerns
- Encouraging you to be proactive about telling us about your concerns
- Warning you ahead of time about possible side effects and recommending ways you can deal with them
- Modifying or discontinuing any treatment that does not work for you
We can continue to work with you until our treatment regimen has helped you improve as much as possible. At this point, you can either resume your previous activities or begin another course of treatment.
Answering Your Questions
We regularly see car accident patients, but for you, this experience is completely new—and potentially scary. We understand that you may:
- Need additional moral and emotional support throughout the treatment process
- Have a lot of questions about your prognosis and treatment options
- Want some time to discuss your options with loved ones and us before you make a decision
- Need help managing your expectations, so you do not get too discouraged if you do not see results as fast as you thought you would
If there is ever anything you need, we want you to contact us right away so we can help.
The Aftermath of Auto Accident Injury Treatment
Where do you see yourself when treatment ends? Every patient has a different answer to that question, depending on:
- How severely they were injured
- Their condition prior to the accident
- Their preferred lifestyle
Whatever your goals, we want to help you get there. Whether that means providing a single round of treatment or working with you for months, you can rely on our team to support you at every step along the way.
No matter your situation, our physiotherapy and chiropractic care options can alleviate pain, enable you to move better, and improve your quality of life after a car accident.
Call Us After an Auto Accident in Marco Island
We recommend that you get in touch with us as soon as possible after suffering auto accident injuries in Marco Island. The earlier we examine you and begin treatment, the easier it may be to treat you. Make your first appointment with Naples Community Injury Center by calling (239) 631-5445 today.
