expect car accident chiropractic

What to Expect During Car Accident Chiropractic Care

For those who have been recently involved in a car accident, few elements are more important than obtaining proper medical care in the aftermath. There are a few areas that might be involved here, and one of the most important for many people is chiropractic care.

At Peterson Chiropractic, we’re happy to provide a wide array of chiropractic services for those who have been injured in any way in a car accident, from whiplash treatments to numerous other pain areas that may result from these accidents. For those who have been to a chiropractor like ours or another before, but for non-accident reasons, there’s a good chance your appointment following a vehicle collision will be different in a few important ways. Here’s what to expect during a chiropractic exam following a car accident.

Basic Symptoms and Medical History

First and foremost, your chiropractor will evaluate your basic medical history, plus the current symptoms that you’re showing as a result of the vehicle accident. This will obviously involve you allowing the chiropractor’s office access to your records if this is your first appointment.

During your symptom check, you will likely be asked to recall – as best you can – what happened during the accident, specifically to your body. If you are able to remember particular effects or movements that caused the pain you’re currently feeling, this could be very helpful.

Full Evaluation

Next up, your chiropractor will perform a full exam on you to evaluate several areas of the body. They will physically examine your muscles and joints, plus how these areas respond to various movements and actions, to test areas like strength, tone, motion range and neurological areas. They’ll also check basics like pulse, respiration and blood pressure.

In certain cases, there may even be certain diagnostic tests run. These could include X-rays, MRIs or other specialty tests that help determine muscle or joint strength.

Diagnosis

After an evaluation, your chiropractor will provide a basic diagnosis. This will include what they believe the condition to be, plus potentially how they believe it was caused.

Recommended Treatment

And from here, the final step of this process will be a treatment recommendation from your chiropractor. There’s a misconception here that chiropractors only recommend chiropractic forms of treatment; this is not the case, and your chiropractor may recommend several potential forms, including those that will be found elsewhere. However, they also might recommend a chiropractic care plan moving forward, one that also includes home themes like stretching and exercise to help rebuild damaged muscles and lessen any pain symptoms you’re dealing with.

For more on what to expect during a chiropractic appointment following a car accident, or to learn about any of our chiropractic care services, speak to the staff at Peterson Chiropractic today.

Peterson Chiropractic is led by Doctor Bradley Peterson, who grew up in Davis County and attended the University of Utah.