In Oregon, a no-fault state, you are entitled to receive personal injury protection through your automobile insurance policy. The law mandates that you and every passenger in the vehicle have up to $15,000 to cover any medical bills resulting from an accident.
In the case of a motor vehicle accident of minimal impact, there may or may not be immediate pain. The body’s natural protective response after an accident is to release endorphins and hormones to get one quickly to safety.
A few hours or days later, you may notice pain or stiffness.
Pain usually presents in the neck and head, low back and shoulder. Cervical Strain or neck pain from whiplash is most common. Neck strain is a stretch injury to the muscles and ligaments of the neck caused by sudden stopping or starting.
Myofascial pain is pain to the muscles and sheath tissue (fascia) that surrounds the muscles. This can cause pain, tightness, limited range of motion, weakness or sensitivity to an injured muscle and is often triggered by the trauma and/or stress from the accident. Sometimes trauma from the accident causes damage or disturbance of nerve function due to impingement or inflammation of the nerve roots along the spinal cord. Nerve pain presents as weakness, radiating pain, tingling or sensitivity to touch.
Acupuncture works very well to relieve pain of all kinds related to motor vehicle accidents. Acupuncture works especially well in the days and weeks that follow the incident. It is ideal to get in for treatment the sooner the better, before the body settles into it’s new condition of stiffness, limited range of motion or headaches.
Acupuncture treatment consists of hair fine-needles, gently placed appropriately in the body. Acupuncture treatment releases the trauma from the body, healing the body and restoring range of motion. Typically acupuncture is very relaxing and often patients fall asleep in their treatments.
A typical course of Acupuncture treatment is one, or occasionally two treatments per week for a series of weeks to remind and ‘re-train’ the body to its natural balance, restoring ease of movement and feelings of peace.