Posts Tagged ‘Auto Accidents’
Insurance and Whiplash – Who Pays For Your Injuries?
Hey Doc, I know that I need the care but who is going to pay my bills?
In my San Diego Chiropractic office, I hear this question from most of my patients who have been involved in car accidents. Aside from the pressing issues of neck pain, back pain and headaches that are common after a car accident, payment of medical bills is one of the more common concerns of my patients. The reason that this question is so common is because there are so many avenues through which your medical costs can be covered.
Most people have a medical payments provision on their auto insurance. Your medical payments will cover all or the great majority of your medical expenses up to the stated limit on your policy.
If the person that hit you is uninsured, you may be able to cover your medical costs with the uninsured motorist provision of your auto insurance – if you opted to have this type of coverage on your policy.
Some people don’t carry medical payments on their insurance policy (you really should because it is inexpensive). If this is the case in your situation, you can pursue the responsible parties insurance via what is commonly known as a third party claim. Often you can settle a third party claim on your own but some prefer to use a lawyer.
If you choose to hire a lawyer, your medical expenses will be covered under an attorney’s lien. We accept liens as do many other doctors’ offices. When your medical care is covered under a lien, your doctor will be paid out of the settlement after your attorney settles your claim.
I hope that this basic explanation of insurance benefits related to care for car accident injuries is helpful. There are other scenarios but the ones that I mentioned above are the most common.
Your’s In Good Health,
Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554
Whiplash and Headaches
Have you been involved in a whiplash accident? Do you have neck pain and headaches?
We treat patients who have been in whiplash accidents on a daily basis. One of the more common complaints that our whiplash patients have is headaches. In fact, I would say that headaches are the most common complaint that car accident victims have next to neck pain.
Usually headaches from car accidents are caused by damage to the neck muscles and the muscle tension from the accident. In my practice, almost everyone that I see with headache issues from a car accident also has neck pain. That is not to say that everyone with neck pain has headaches although at least 50% of them do.
Car accidents generate a lot of force through the neck and upper back. Under circumstances like those found during car accidents, the weight of your head is simply too much for the smaller muscles in the neck and at the base of the skull. When those muscles get stretched and torn, the other surrounding muscles tighten up as a protective mechanism. It is those tight muscles that trigger the muscle tension headaches that are so common after car accidents.
Chiropractic care safely and effectively helps you recover from both neck pain and headaches. Chiropractic manipulations ease muscle tension, improve your range of motion and reduce your pain. This care combined with at home therapies including ice packs, light stretching, light exercise and rest can help you regain your health.
Your’s In Good Health
Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554
Chiropractic Treatment for Hip Pain
Hip Pain means different things to different people. I treat many people for hip pain in my San Diego Chiropractic center.
In my first paragraph I wrote that hip pain means different things to different people. What I meant by that is that usually the patients who complain of hip pain would point to their lower backs when I ask them to point to the pain. When I ask them at that point if it is actually lower back pain that they are feeling they will usually think for a moment and then say, “Yes, I guess it is low back pain.”
When patients complain of hip pain they are usually referring to pain in the area of the sacroiliac joint. The sacroiliac joints are two large joints that are positioned just to the sides of the bottom vertebra in the back right at the level of the beltline. I believe that people refer to this as hip pain because it is typically at its worst when walking.
True hip pain found in the joint where the femur joins with the socket found in the pelvic bones. The typical patient will identify hip pain by pointing to the front of the body, below the beltline and off to either side of the midline of the body.
Sacroiliac joint pain is often brought on or aggravated by prolonged sitting, bad lifting habits and direct injuries such as those that occur with sports or auto accidents. The sacroiliac joints are the largest joints in the spine and can heal slowly after an injury.
Chiropractic care supported by ice pack applications, light stretching and avoidance of know aggravating activities (if it hurts don’t do it) will usually eliminate the pain.
Chiropractic care is also effective for true hip pain but the approach is somewhat different. Since hips are joints, chiropractic care is also quite effective in relieving hip pain as well.
Your’s In Good Health
Dr. Jones
Auto Accident Treatment
Have you ever had chiropractic care for injuries from an auto accident?
At my San Diego based Chiropractic Clinic I provide treatment for many patients with neck pain, back pain and headaches. In many cases, the cause of these aches and pains are related to auto accidents or other types of personal injury.
More often than not, the accident in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously by the patient. Most people don’t take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed. This thought process extends into other injury / treatment scenarios as well. I once had an acquaintance who smoked but proudly proclaimed that she didn’t smoke inside her car because she didn’t want to ruin the interior!
I don’t know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes. In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the slight headache or the lower back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important. This is flawed thinking. Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.
The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex. Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, intervertebral discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur. These injuries can lead to a vast number of symptoms that can cause anything from slight irritation all the way to severe disability.
While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well established path. Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated. This irritation leads to inflammation. Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.
Statistically, 25% of all auto accident / injury victims will suffer from some ongoing symptom related to their accident. Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of injuries that occur as a result of auto accidents. The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% is to get an examination and possibly treatment, if recommended by your chiropractor.
Your’s In Good Health
Dr. Jones