Navigating the Healing Journey After a Motor Vehicle Accident

If you’re in a motor vehicle accident and notice aches and pains afterward, your first inclination might be to panic. But there’s no reason to do so! While post-MVA recovery can be challenging, you can regain your strength and function with the right care.

Several injuries are common after a motor vehicle accident, including whiplash-related disorders, back pain, and soft tissue damage. These injuries can cause discomfort and limit your daily activities, but the team at Hands of Hope Physical Therapy & Wellness can help you manage your pain, rehabilitate your injuries, and return to your regular routine.

Today, we want to guide you through the post-MVA recovery process so you know what to expect after your accident. And if you need more information, don’t hesitate to call our clinic to speak to our friendly staff!

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Common Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries

We always tailor treatment to meet your needs, so our first step is understanding your specific injury and symptoms. Car accidents can cause a wide range of orthopedic injuries, including the following:

Whiplash-Associated Disorders (WADs)

  • Often shortened to simply “whiplash,” WADs are neck injuries caused by the sudden jerking motion of the head during a collision. They can lead to neck pain, stiffness, and headaches. 

Back Pain

  • Back pain often develops after a car accident due to strained back muscles or sprains in the ligaments of your spine. 

Other Soft Tissue Injuries

  • Your back isn’t the only part that can be sprained or strained during a car accident. You might damage tissue in your rotator cuff (a group of muscles in your shoulder) or sprain your knee.  
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Outlining Your Post-MVA Recovery Journey

Step 1: Initial Assessment

Before beginning treatment, we need to understand exactly what to address. Our experts will thoroughly evaluate your injuries, medical history, and pain levels, collaborating with other healthcare team members if necessary. Ultimately, we aim to craft a treatment plan that suits your specific needs.

Step 2: Pain Management

Our first order of business is reducing pain and inflammation so you can begin the rehabilitation process. We offer several advanced pain management techniques that can help with MVA-related injuries, such as the following:

Facet Joint Injections

  • This simple procedure involves injecting pain medication directly into your facet joints–the small joints that connect the bones in your spine. It’s a great option for minimizing pain from whiplash or other spine injuries and doesn’t involve any preparation or recovery time.

Radiofrequency Facet Joint Ablation

  • If your spine pain is especially severe, we might suggest this technique, which is more involved than a facet joint injection but offers longer-term relief. This process uses radio waves to target tiny spots of nerve tissue in your facet joints, which prevents the tissue from sending pain signals to your brain.

Trigger Point Injections

  • Did you injure another body part during your accident rather than your back? Trigger point injections might help, depending on the nature of your injury. These injections target small knots in your body’s tissue that can cause referred pain elsewhere.

Our pain management specialists will also monitor your pain levels throughout the rehabilitation process, ensuring you have the relief you need as you work to improve mobility, strength, and function.

Step 3: Restore Mobility

Once we’ve helped identify a pain management program that suits your needs, we’ll help improve your range of motion with targeted stretches and mobility exercises. Improved range of motion helps you move with less pain so you can work on the next step, strengthening.

Step 4: Strengthening Exercises

Building strength is crucial when treating MVA-related injuries. Targeted exercises focus on strengthening muscles around the injured areas so you can return to your day-to-day activities.

Depending on your injuries, we might suggest a yoga-based rehabilitation program to help improve mobility, strength, and balance.

Step 5: Functional Training

In the final step, we focus on training you in movements you’ll need for your daily tasks, like lifting, bending, and walking.

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441955, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1556370723000214

Start Your Own Post-MVA Recovery Journey Today!

Don’t let a motor vehicle accident hold you back! The team at Hands of Hope Physical Therapy & Wellness is your partner in the post-MVA recovery process. We’ll work closely with you and your healthcare team to provide a personalized, comprehensive treatment program to help you return to the activities that matter most.

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Exercise of the Month

Cervical Retraction and Extension With Towel

Start by standing up straight. Wrap a towel around the back of your head and hold the ends with both hands in front of you. Tuck your chin, pushing your head back into the towel and then raise your chin up towards the ceiling against the towel. Return to start. Repeat 3 sets, 10 reps each.

Feel Better by Eating Better!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

  • 1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup, or honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • flaked sea salt for topping, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla into a mixing bowl. Once combined, add in almond flour and stir until incorporated. Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Alternatively, you can scoop the dough with a spoon and roll it into a ball. Flatten each dough ball with a fork, making a crisscross pattern, and sprinkle a little flaked sea salt on top of each cookie, if using. Bake in a preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Remove from oven, allow cookies to cool on a wire rack, and enjoy.