Car Accident Injuries and Shoulder Pain

Car accidents result in pain and injury. One of the most common areas affected are the shoulders. When your car accident results in shoulder pain, it is important to understand the source of the pain as well as the treatment needed to resolve it. Often non-invasive treatments are the solution, alleviating the pain and pressure while restoring mobility and strength to the injured area. Let’s explore the basics of shoulder pain from a car accident.

Causes of Shoulder Pain following a Car Accident

Healthy shoulders give you an exceptional range of motion, better than any other joint. The shoulder region includes many unique parts – bones, tendons, muscles, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels, any of which can be injured in a car accident.

Shoulder pain following a car accident can find its cause in strains, sprains, and other injuries to the musculoskeletal system including:

• Joint Subluxation – A shoulder joint subluxation occurs when damage to shoulder muscles cause pain and discomfort due to the impingement of nerves, ligaments, or tendons.
• Whiplash – Among the most common car accident injuries, whiplash can cause, not only back and neck pain, but radiating pain to the arms and shoulders. Whiplash often presents with pain, soreness, muscle stiffness, and decrease flexibility and mobility of the affected area.
• Torn Rotator Cuff – In high impact crashes, the muscles or tendons surrounding the shoulder can suffer a tear known as a torn rotator cuff. The result is shoulder pain and weakness, especially with movement.
• Soft Tissue Injuries- Soft tissues in your body include tendons, ligaments, and muscles. When these soft tissues suffer trauma, for example, during a car accident, the results include pain, swelling, weakness, spasms, and more.

These injuries can not only affect your shoulder, but also cause radiating pain to your head, neck, hand, wrist, and arm, along with decreased mobility, tingling, numbness, and more.

Chiropractic Treatment for Shoulder Pain from a Car Accident

Chiropractic treatments are a great option for pain relief and healing following a car accident injury. Treatments vary depending on your unique injury and plan of treatment, but the following will help you understand how a Doctor of Chiropractic and his or her team can help you recover.

• Chiropractic Adjustment – A chiropractic adjustment works to restore the proper spinal alignment which in turn can help resolve shoulder joint subluxation and reduce pressure as it restores mobility and strength. Spinal decompression works to improve alignment, helping your nervous system to reset itself and eliminate or reduce pain.
• Massage Therapy – Massage therapy can help stimulate or restore blood flow to injured areas as well as encourage lymphatic drainage, which in turn improves mobility while reducing pain, swelling, and inflammation. Plus, massages help reduce stress.
• Physical Therapy – Stretches, exercises, mobilizations are all techniques of physical therapy to help heal damaged tissue as well as restore mobility, flexibility, and strength to your shoulder area.
• Pain Management – Chiropractic treatment also includes a number of non-invasive pain management protocols to help you relieve pain and encourage healing without the use of pain medication.

After a car accident, call on the team at Countyline Chiropractic Medical and Rehab to find the best solution for you and your injury and get the pain relief you deserve!