Car Accident Doctor In North Portland

What is the process after a motor vehicle accident?

We have all been there before or have had a loved one in this situation… you are rear ended or had been in a fender bender and you do not know what to do in terms of treatment and the overall process. DO WE PANIC? See how our team at North Portland Wellness Group in Portland can help.

Simple steps after a car accident in North Portland OR

1. stay calm, drive to the side of the road or onto a side street where it is safe
2. call 911 if you are seriously injured
3. assist any person(s) that may need help
4. exchange insurance information with the other driver
5. call your insurance carrier and give them a detailed overview of what happened
6. take pictures of your car, document damage
7. make an appointment with a doctor immediately to document your injuries, within 24-48 hours
8. document your symptoms every 6 hours, (ex: I had headaches this morning, hard to concentrate)

This entire process can be a scary moment, but with proper planning, patients can avoid chronic injuries due to a car accident. Many times, we have new patients coming to our office, and they have scar tissue in their neck, adhesions in their shoulder, loss of range of motion in their back, and when we ask when this all started… It usually starts from a car accident and the patient did not get adequate treatment to get to pre-injury status.

When someone is in a car accident and they do not get treatment to address underlying issues and only take painkillers to take away the pain, they are doing a disservice to themselves because underlying issues will get worse and arthritis and wear and tear will develop creating chronic issues.

We see this often, a patient comes in and they had an accident 3 to 6 months previous and they were just doing painkillers to get through the day, to get to work and function. If they have sleeping issues, they were prescribed sleeping medications. This is a disservice because they weren’t addressing underlying causes and they were not solving anything; they were just masking their pain.

When you get into a car accident, a patient needs a thorough treatment plan that includes rehab, Chiropractic, Acupuncture and many other modalities to get to pre-injury status.

The human body is not made of plastic and metal like our cars. Our cars can withstand impact and continue on. For years without skipping a beat.  Our bodies, our soft tissue structures such as ligaments, tendons, joints are not designed for aggressive impacts such as a rear eneder. This creates the inflammatory process, if left untreated it  cause chronic issues and pain for years.

The next time you are in a car accident, ask yourself… who can help me address underlying issues and get me back to pre-injury status.

North Portland Wellness Group