Wayland MI Chiropractor Explains Car Accidents & Headaches

Headaches in Wayland are a common occurrence after a traumatic injury or accident, but headaches are NEVER normal. Post-traumatic headaches are headaches that begin after an injury such as a car accident, any other type of accident, slip and fall, etc. These headaches are very often quite painful and debilitating. They can start immediately following an injury or start days, weeks, or even months following. The severity of the accident often has very little to do with the severity of the headaches. Even low-speed crashes, as low as 8.2mph, can result in quite painful post-traumatic headaches.

Post-Traumatic Headaches in Wayland MI

There are two ways a car accident can cause post-traumatic headaches. First, someone in an accident can suffer a blow to the head by striking his/her head against a window, steering wheel, or any other surface inside the vehicle. These blows to the head can cause a concussion, a sprain/strain to the neck, a misalignment of the bones in the neck, and/or post-traumatic headaches. The second way is a whiplash (acceleration-deceleration) injury that can occur if the head whips back and forth. When the head whips, the brain can smash around inside the skull, again a mild traumatic brain injury and/or post-traumatic headaches.

These headaches can start immediately or begin weeks after the accident as we previously mentioned. The symptoms of one of these injuries may include, but are not limited to painful tightness and/or pressure around the forehead or on the sides and back of the skull; a dull achy head pain; loss of appetite and/or tenderness to the back of the head, neck, and scalp muscles. Any of these symptoms can last from a few minutes to a few weeks or months. It is important for those in a car, or any other accident, to be seen by a Chiropractor within 14 days of the accident. Chiropractors can evaluate if there has been an injury to your spine and evaluate your type of headaches. Chiropractors then work with you to correct the cause of the headaches. They can do this because most of post-traumatic headaches are nerve related. When a Chiropractor evaluates the spine, they look for misalignments of the bones and joints. These misalignments cause pressure to be put on the nerves and decrease their ability to work and function, and if your nerves cannot function as well then your body can’t either. When misalignments of the spine occur causing pressure to be put on the nerves that is what we term a subluxation. Chiropractors are the only professionals trained to locate and correct (with a safelight adjustment) subluxations. When a person is adjusted, the nerve pressure is reduced allowing the body to function better and the cause of the headaches to be corrected.