Why take your child to a chiropractor after a car accident

Car accidents happen every day. Unfortunately, they can be traumatic and painful in many ways. And every day, someone thinks they’re ok and doesn’t get checked. This can be a terrible mistake with life-threatening consequences. The truth is you don’t have to go through a complete loss of the car or be bleeding to actually have a serious injury. Also, not everyone gets affected the same way. Different bodies, location at the time of accident and posture can change the outcome. When it comes to our kids, these situations can be particularly difficult to address due to different challenges. This is why it is so important to take your child to a chiropractor after a car accident.

Reasons why you should take your child to a chiropractor after a car accident

Car accidents happen every day. Unfortunately, they can be traumatic and painful in many ways. And every day, someone thinks they’re ok and doesn’t get checked. This can be a terrible mistake with life-threatening consequences. The truth is you don’t have to go through a complete loss of the car or be bleeding to actually have a serious injury. Also, not everyone gets affected the same way. Different bodies, location at the time of accident and posture can change the outcome. When it comes to our kids, these situations can be particularly difficult to address due to different challenges. This is why it is so important to take your child to a chiropractor after a car accident.

Different locations may affect differently how the body is affected by the accident

Recent research by the National Institute of Health indicates that it is not only the kinetic energy or the impact of the vehicle driven in a car accident that can cause you to have pain. The direction of the impact and where you are seated can also affect how you get injured or feel that pain. For example, the adult in the front can feel completely different than the child in the back after the accident. The seatbelt and how it was buckled can determine the type of injuries and pain as well.

Keep in mind that your child is most likely in a car seat facing a different position or with a harness belt around them. This can change how the accident impacted them for the good or the bad. Also, their bodies are still shaping up as they grow and their muscles and bones have different strength and flexibility from ours.

Children's bodies are different

One of the biggest worries with young children is that they often suffer from spine injuries that can take long periods of time to show up. This can happen unless a thorough check-up is done. Because children have greater flexibility in their necks, spinal cord damage is more likely than vertebrae fracture. These are sneaky injuries that won’t necessarily be obvious to the naked eye. In kids, this can be particularly sensitive due to their rapid growth. Children are in constant physical evolution. Their bodies grow and change every day. If an injury is not taken care of, this growth could worsen it. The child’s proper growth could also be affected by it. Ignoring a situation like this can not only mean lifetime health and spinal pain and disorders but also have neurological consequences.

All of these are things the chiropractor at Spine Rehabilitation Centers will look into to make sure that everything is ok with your child.

Even if the child claims not to have pain, you should have them checked

After a car accident, you should have your child checked by both, the primary doctor and a doctor who specializes in the human body and car accidents. Some injuries can appear over time and kids are not always good at expressing what they’re feeling. The fact that everything looks good on the outside and the child is not feeling pain at that moment doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be some severe trauma injuries.

Be safe and take your child to a chiropractor after a car accident. Remember that the fact that you are ok and they seem fine doesn’t mean they truly are. Even things like whiplash (an abrupt flexion and extension of the cervical spine), may not seem as painful or serious at the beginning. However, they can lead to serious surgeries and other consequences.

Actually, children involved in car accidents often times don’t complain and the damage can take months to surface. Watch out for symptoms such as irritability, lethargy, poor feeding, and restlessness. These can be evidence of injuries. Other symptoms can include fatigue, headache, neck pain or restricted movements.

Communicate with your child

Children may feel or get impacted differently from an adult. Their way of perceiving and communicating a stressful situation can be different from how we would do it. Understanding how they feel can be difficult at times.

If your child can talk ask them about how they feel and make sure they relate their symptoms and version of what happened to the doctor. If they don’t speak yet, additional tests may be needed to ensure the child is ok. It is on these occasions that it can be harder to find out what’s wrong due to their poor communication skills and vocabulary. It is also riskier since the child may not show any symptoms at all or complaint initially.

However, physical pain may not be the only issue after an accident. Often, the scare can leave trauma in the child. Make sure this is also addressed. Ask your pediatrician about it and how you can help your child express themselves. It is important that you know how to react. Your pediatrician may refer you to a therapist to ensure your child is emotionally ok after the accident.

Contact us

Our specialists highly recommend that you see a doctor after having a car accident with a child even if they don’t seem to be in pain. We are trained to provide a thorough examination of the spine, bones and nervous system. We will evaluate any possible injuries and provide a plan or potential solution depending on the case.

The Spine and Rehab Centers team thanks you for taking your time in sending us these questions. We want to make sure we continue to provide you with thoughtful and valuable information. So, please continue to send them our way and we will do our best to continue to respond.

If you have any additional questions about our services, you may contact us by clicking here. Our phone number is 407-802-4476 and our offices are in Lake Mary and Lee Vista. You may find directions on how to get there here. And for more information on our services, please don’t hesitate to visit our website.