WHO IS AT FAULT?!?
For the time being, your life has not changed since the car accident. All of your normal daily habits, responsibilities and leisure time have been wiped away by the complications that will be created by this accident.
The prior stresses you might have been dealing with will not compare to the hassles and inconveniences that an car accident victim experiences.
Later, the inevitable thought occurs anywhere from one hour to five days after the time of the car accident.
"Am I Really All Right?"
Not only are car accidents an inconvenience and a hassle, you may have noticed that ever since the accident, you have not been feeling like your normal self. You're experiencing obvious pains and symptoms like:
- muscle stiffness,
- spasm,
- neck pain,
- headaches,
- numbness and tingling,
- mid back pain,
- low back pain,
- difficulty sleeping,
- irritability,
- memory loss,
- fatigue,
- difficulty concentrating,
- and many other problems.
...Or Worse, You May Be Injured And Feel Nothing At All!
Either way, you might find yourself at the local hospital by either self admission, or taken by an ambulance.
Let me make this perfectly clear. The emergency room technicians (doctors, nurses, aides, etc.) are trained to detect life threatening conditions and provide appropriate care as needed.
If your injuries do not fall into this category, then after the evaluation you'll be sent home with pain and sleep medication, anti-inflammatory medication and muscle relaxers.
The hospital follow-up has always been interesting to me. Here you have a doctor specializing in acute trauma; broken bones, internal injuries, burns, severe gashes and lacerations, who has already diagnosed and released you a week or two ago, wanting you to come back for another evaluation.
Now It Gets Interesting...
During your initial days of taking pain pills and muscle relaxers, medi-cocktails, you get a call from an insurance adjuster representing the person who caused the accident. These are highly trained individuals who deal with accident claims all day long. They are calling to get information to settle this case immediately. They understand you have been to the hospital and released. They also understand that NOW is the time to settle while you're on all those medications.
Injured people feel less injured under the influence of medications. It is usually hospital policy not to give a second prescription during a follow-up visit. Their job is finished. If you complain of injury, they will recommend you to see your family doctor or general practitioner for your injury.
Welcome to the medical 'loop of crazy'!!!
The general practitioner is a competent doctor of medicine. However, this type of doctor may not be familiar with how to diagnose and treat soft tissue injuries.
These collisions cause underlying soft tissue injuries that victims may be unaware of, and family doctors may not be able to handle; especially those of the neck and back. The loop begins when the doctor continues to prescribe all those medications. Despite the effects of the drugs, you still feel injured and simply not the same person. As each day goes by, and the injuries continue to be inappropriately treated, the body produces dysfunctional scar tissue at the sites of the injury.
This continued incorrect healing process begins the initial step of future conditions, the most common being Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis.
This form of arthritis over time can ruin your posture (giving you a slumped or hump-backed appearance.) It also causes the vertebral discs in your spine to degenerate and create scar tissue formation leading to chronic stiffness, pain, numbness and spasms.
Remember the purpose of the medications is to "numb the pain," not correct the problem.
The next step for the general practitioner will be to refer you to a physical therapist. The therapist is under direct order and supervision by the doctor (the same doctor who is not specialized in this type of injury). Since the therapy is based on the doctor's diagnosis (usually an incorrect diagnosis) this often leads to misguided protocols of treatment.
Most doctors are not trained in the detection or treatment of hidden injuries, like you get in a car accident. Four to eight weeks later, you are done with physical therapy. BUT you are still in pain and the injury feels worse!
You don't want to go back to therapy, and you're sick and tired of taking all those medications. The sad part about this 'loop of craziness' is it's not over with. At this point, the doctor is at a loss as to why you're still hurting. So you are referred out, normally to an orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic evaluation is simple...
Surgery Or No Surgery?
Current medical research states most soft tissue injuries occurring from auto accident patients do not require surgical intervention.
This brings us to the closure of this medical loop I call 'crazy'. Since only a small fraction of all soft tissue injuries caused by car accidents require the need for surgery, you will likely be told the following...
"There is nothing we can do. You may have to live with this for the rest of your life."
This is a big mistake. Don't let this happen to you!!!
Remember the insurance claims adjuster who called you earlier? You can expect more calls to your house as soon as they receive your doctor's report. The claims adjuster's interpretation of the report is,
"Your doctors are finished, and your pain will eventually go away on its own, so let's settle this case NOW and put this all behind you."
That's A Gigantic Mistake! Why? A lot of auto accident victims receive inappropriate care from hospitals, medical doctors, or physical therapy clinics. Then, while the underlying damages and pain is hidden or numbed with drugs, they settle their case. And they still don't feel like the person they were before the accident. Don't let this happen to you.
If you do, you may experience pain, numbness, headaches, muscle stiffness, fatigue, and other problems, including arthritis, for many months ahead. Nothing is more important than your health once you start to lose it.
So the big question is...
