Acupuncture Treatment for Car Accident Injury & other Motor Vehicle Accidents
Acupuncture After the Car Accident Personal Injury. . .
When the accident has just happened
Paramedics are normally the first responders to the site of the car accident. They are well trained to know how to deal with motor vehicle accident (MVA) injuries. Since internal injuries are not always evident you should be evaluated in the emergency room having x-rays and other scans as appropriate. Sometimes hidden injuries do not become apparent until days or weeks after a MVA.
In Florida (where we are located) you are required to have at least $10,000 Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage on your auto policy. This ensures that you are able to pay for treatment in the event of an accident. Think what you will about medical care in the United States we have without a doubt the best emergency care system in the world.
A word of caution: Do not engage in heavy exercise or any strenuous activity immediately after a motor vehicle accident.
After your accident don’t engage in any strenuous physical exercise within one week, since you do not know if there is any hidden damage, such as linear bone fractures. Unless other injuries are obvious, emergency care focuses on the life threatening injuries. Often other injuries do not show up on tests until after swelling has subsided.
In our clinic, we often see people with pain in areas other than what would have attracted the ER doctors’ attention in the acute stage.
The extent of your physical activity should match the healing process. Extensive physical exercise does not speed up your healing at all. In fact, it is opposite. Healing takes a lot of energy so you may expect to fatigue quicker than normal.
A word of caution: Do not use ice for more than half hour at any given time.
It is common for ice to be recommended after an injury to reduce inflammation and pain. It is true that ice may work to reduce the blood supply and to reduce the signal transduction in the nerves, thereby reducing the swelling and pain. However, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it will also cause the invasion of Cold Qi (Cold Qi here means something that may cause disease if it comes into the body).
In TCM, the Cold Qi is one of the most common reasons for pain in muscle, joints and inside organs. It blocks the energy flow to the tissue. Pain is the result of the blockage of bio-energy in the tissues. If you have never heard of the concept of such Qi in the body, please browse through our website for more information.
An easier concept to understand is that the application of ice reduces blood supply to the damaged tissue, so in turn this reduces the nutrition and oxygen supply to the cells, speeding up the death of cells, resulting in a prolonged healing process and turning the acute damage to chronic.
How we treat car accident injuries
At Blue Orchid Healing Center, we may use several procedures or modalities of TCM for the treatment. These may include acupuncture, herbal medicines, electrical stimulation, tui na massage, cupping, moxibustion, and so on.
At your initial visit, you’ll be required to fill out a comprehensive health history questionnaire and pain evaluation. Then you’ll have a one-on-one consultation with a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and your first acupuncture treatment. Expect this to take about one hour to one and a half hours at the most.
1. Acupuncture
Acupuncture use after a car accident injury is gaining in popularity. In Florida, your auto insurance Personal Injury Protection benefits cover acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture works to release and eliminate pain, reduce swelling, soften scar tissue, and reduce bruising. It should be performed at least twice a week during the first several weeks to achieve its healing effects.
Occasionally, someone is afraid of or cannot tolerate the needles. Here we would use electrical stimulation with special devices and acupressure.
2. Herbal therapy
Herbal therapy is the main part of TCM. We also use it quite often. With the combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine the healing is much faster.
The herbs work to improve blood circulation in the affected area, improve recovery of cells (including nerve cells), so as to speed up the healing.
TCM theorizes that herbs improve bio-energy flow in that area, removing “blocks” on the path of the bio-energy flow. The block can be what we call “stagnation of blood”, Cold, Phlegm (the phlegm you cough out is only a narrow concept in TCM), Wetness, or Dryness. Based on your feeling and others, each kind of “block” generally needs different herbal medicines to work on it.
A special issue in the TCM treatment of car accident is that the affected people usually have increased stress or anxiety from trauma. Such emotion makes the connective tissue, including tendons, spasm which increases pain and may lead to chronic pain. We must also work to solve the disorders in the emotion to ensure the recovery of whole body function.
In our clinic, the herbs are already pre-formulated into pills or tablets. If you require something special ordered, we’ll let you know.
Herbal oil or herb patch
Sometimes we also use herbal oils or an herbal patch on the affected area. These work from the outside and the herbal medicine works from the inside out.
They work to release pain and reduce swelling. The weakness of the patch is that it may cause a skin reaction (skin rash and itch) in some people. If you have it, simply stop using it. The skin reaction is normally not a big problem.
3. Cupping
Cupping is another common treatment. In old times, Chinese families would use it for treatment by themselves without needing to go to a doctor. It is still used these days since it is good to relax muscle spasms and improve blood circulation, thus helping to relieve pain.
You should know that cupping therapy leaves a dark mark on the skin after cupping (bruise). These marks fade quickly. If you have a dark mark, it means that you have stagnation in your body that the cupping is drawing out. If you are healthy, there is no mark at all after cupping. So, make sure to check the skin mark after treatment to see how healthy you are!
How effective is acupuncture for
treatment of car accident injury?
In our experience, receiving acupuncture after your MVA injury works to quickly diminish inflammation and pain, allowing you to rehabilitate faster and easier.
We’ve had many clients report that their fractures healed much faster than their orthopedic surgeon expected and many who sailed through physical therapy with ease.
Most people require a series of treatments tailored to their individual problem(s) to reduce swelling, pain and muscular spasms. We find that our patients have the best results when they stick to the treatment plan.
If you’ve suffered a car accident injury or other motor vehicle accident you may want to include acupuncture treatment as part of your recovery plan.
Occasionally, some patients discontinue their treatments as soon as the pain starts to diminish without completing the entire recommended course of care. Here, we often see the pain and discomfort return because the treatment was stopped before they achieved a tolerable amount of pain relief. Because we want you to feel better we will recommend a course of treatment that’s based on our experience with similar types of injuries.