Acupuncture for car-accident injuries

What car-accident injuries are

Even a slow collision can cause neck or back injuries. Faster crashes can cause concussions and more serious neck and back injuries.

The most common injury is whiplash. It happens when the head is thrown forward and back, straining the muscles and ligaments of the neck. Whiplash can cause neck pain and stiffness, headaches, shoulder and upper back pain, and sometimes tingling in the arms. Car accidents can also cause low back strain, shoulder injuries and knee injuries.

Symptoms do not always start right away. Pain and stiffness from whiplash can appear hours or even days after the accident.

How Robert treats car-accident injuries

Robert is a certified practitioner of Toyohari, a Japanese style of meridian therapy. He trained in Japan in 2006 and 2007. He begins each visit with careful pulse reading. That reading guides a gentle whole-body treatment with very fine needles and light contact. Many patients barely feel the needles.

For whiplash and other injuries, Robert also places a few fine needles near the sore areas. The aim is to ease pain, inflammation and stiffness and to help your recovery along. An accident is often a shock, and many people sleep badly or feel tense for weeks afterward. Robert pays attention to that stress and tension as well as to the injury itself. For stiffness that lingers later in recovery, he may add moxibustion, a warming therapy that uses the herb mugwort.

Acupuncture can be an important part of a personal injury recovery plan, alongside your doctor’s care and any physical therapy. Robert accepts auto-accident PIP. He sees one patient at a time, so each visit is calm and unhurried.

Research suggests acupuncture can help with chronic neck and back pain. A 2012 analysis of acupuncture for chronic pain pooled data from trials on back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache and shoulder pain. Its authors concluded that acupuncture is effective for chronic pain. It studied long-term pain, not fresh injuries from an accident.

What a course of treatment looks like

Your first visit takes about 75 minutes. Robert asks about the accident, your injuries, the medical care you have had so far and your health history. Then he reads your pulse and gives your first treatment. Return visits take about 45 minutes.

A typical course is 5 to 15 weekly sessions. Milder strains may need fewer visits. More serious whiplash, or injuries in several areas, often take longer. Some people notice a change after the first visit. For others, progress builds over several sessions. Robert checks your progress as you go. If you are also seeing a physical therapist, keep up the exercises they give you between visits.

Get a medical evaluation first

After any car accident, see a doctor before starting acupuncture, even if you feel fine. Some injuries do not show symptoms at first.

Call 911 or go to the emergency room right away if you have:

• A head injury, loss of consciousness, confusion, repeated vomiting or a severe headache
• Numbness, tingling or weakness in the arms or legs
• Severe neck or back pain
• Chest pain, belly pain or shortness of breath

If new symptoms appear or get worse in the days after the accident, see a doctor again. Once you have been checked, acupuncture can work alongside your medical care.

Related conditions

Car-accident injuries often overlap with neck and shoulder pain, low back pain and headaches and migraines.