The truth about Back Injuries

Myths are usually enjoyable..you get some smile out of them. Urban legends are even better.  UNLESS the Myths are about your car accident and your back injury. 


Information provided by:  Car Accident Facts:

Myth #1:   Your car has little or no damage how could you have hurt your back?  Some of the smallest car accidents have caused the biggest injuries.  I thing Insurance Companies have decided if your car isn't "hurt" than how can you be?  

Bumpers on most of our cars these days were designed to tolerate some impacts without damage. What the studies have been finding, is that although your car does not look damaged, the force of the other car hitting yours is now moving into your body, the bumper tolerates it, but the force still has to go somewhere, and you are where it goes.So, do not allow damage to your car or LACK of damage in any way inform whether you are injured. If you need treatment for back pain after a car accident, your pain is real and you should get the help you need.

Myth #2:  I had my seat belt on (didn't get thrown from the car) how could you have injured your back?

Well, it does actually, the seat belt is designed to prevent you from being thrown against the steering wheel which used to cause tragic injuries and it prevents you from being thrown out of the car.However, when you are in your seatbelt, and you are in an accident, you are often thrown against the belt. The seat belt sort of acts like a brick wall, when the accident occurs you are thrown against it, it tightens, and your body keeps moving around it, causing shoulder injuries, bruising and damage where the seat belt tightened against your body, and whiplash symptoms as your neck was not restrained.

Myth #3:  You weren't hurt right after the car accident, it's now three weeks later and you are claiming a back injury.

Your pain and your injury are just as real as the person who went to the hospital in an ambulance after a car accident. Injuries in your muscles and ligaments and tendons for unknown reasons can take a long time to show up.

Myth #4:  You are just "sore" take a pill (Advil, Ibuprofen, etc.) and it will go away.

Unlike other injuries you may have experienced, most small accidents can take up to 3 months with steady treatment before your pain starts to change. Ibuprofen can make the day a little more tolerable, but it's not actually a medicine, and can not help your muscles heal and repair their injuries.

Listen to your body, not the insurance companies, or friends, or family or whoever is trying to tell you that you aren't hurt because of any of the above.  Go to a trusted Doctor to find out exactly what is wrong.  Back injuries can cause many problems that you may not recognize as being a back injury (tingling or numbness of the legs, trouble breathing, etc).  LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!  A back injury, no matter what the reason that caused it, can change your life forever.  It will change it more drastically if the injury isn't discovered and/or treated soon enough.  

Not all back injuries are the same.  Not all "identical" injuries will be received the same...what may cause one person "little" pain may cause another extreme pain.  Only you know your body and only you and your Doctor can treat your back injury.  Be honest, be patient and work your treatment.






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Dr. Jere Sutton of the Colorado Car Wreck is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon