Most people who are involved in an auto accident tend to use the condition of their vehicle as a marker for the severity of the accident.
After all, if the car doesn’t look totaled, then how bad could it have been, right? And if the ER nurse sent you home and said you were fine, then that’s the end of it, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Even if your car looks fine, and even if the attending ER physician said you’ve got no broken bones, you’re likely quite some distance from being fine. The reality is that if you were in an auto accident of any severity level, it probably saw your body moving at some speed, then stopping abruptly. That kind of sudden change can put stress and strain on your musculoskeletal system that can have lasting repercussions, and if left untended, it can cause you a lot of pain.
Think about it. The above would be like saying if you didn’t break a bone it doesn’t hurt, but if you’ve ever sprained your ankle, or any other part of your body, then you know that’s a categorically false statement.
The bottom line is that there’s no such thing as a “minor auto accident,” and you owe it to yourself to get thoroughly checked out after you’ve been involved in one.
It’s great if the ER doc says you’re fine. He’s a triage doctor and trained to treat critical, life-threatening injuries, and it sounds like you managed to avoid one of those. After breathing a sigh of relief on that front, now it’s time to get the rest of you checked out. Your chiropractor can properly assess the damage to your musculoskeletal system and create a treatment plan that will make those post-accident aches and pains you’re feeling a thing of the past in short order.