Three auto injury treatment options a physical therapist can offer

Auto Injury Treatment

An injury that occurs as the result of an auto accident is often called an auto injury. That may be old news to you, but what might not be is how likely you are to develop such an injury. 

The magic number here is 4,795,000. That’s how many auto injuries occurred in 2020 according to the Insurance Information Institute. With car accidents causing so many injuries, it’s very possible that such an injury could happen to you. If it does, then you’ll be looking for auto injury treatment, and one of the best places to turn for auto injury treatment is a physical therapy clinic. 

Physical therapists often use these three techniques during auto injury treatment:

  1. Virtual physical therapy — Initial auto injury symptoms can make it harder for you to leave home to find treatment. However, today’s physical therapists can help you even if you can’t leave home. How? By meeting with you via a virtual physical therapy session. These sessions typically involve you talking to your physical therapist over a secure online video connection. In this way, your clinician can: 
  • Have you perform a movement screening.
  • Diagnose your injury.
  • Offer treatment options that can help treat your pain. 
  1. Therapeutic exercises — These are not the exercises you do at the gym. The therapeutic exercises that physical therapists use are designed to correct reduced function. They are also intended to boost stability, strength and flexibility. There are two forms of therapeutic exercises that your therapist may use for your auto injury. 

One is supervised exercises. These are exercises that you’ll do in the clinic with your physical therapist guiding you. The other type is home exercises. This is a program of exercises that your physical therapist will give to you as homework. And you’ll definitely want to do this homework! Completing it as instructed can help your injury heal faster. 

  1. Soft tissue mobilization — Car crashes are infamous for causing painful soft tissue injuries, and such injuries can often lead to lower back or neck pain. One medical study supports this idea. The study reports that 58% of people experienced lower back pain after a motor vehicle accident. It also reveals that 66% of people developed post-accident neck pain. Soft tissue injuries often require your physical therapists to get hands on. Often, they’ll apply massage-like movements to the injured tissue with their hands. This type of auto injury treatment is known as soft tissue mobilization. 

Whatcom PT can help you get effective auto injury treatment

Keen to get auto injury treatment from a physical therapist? You can turn to our experienced Whatcom Physical Therapy team for the help you need. We can do a free screening to determine what auto injury is causing your symptoms. Then, our physical therapists will craft a treatment plan that’s individualized to fit your injury and recovery goals. 

Contact our team today for more information about how we can help with your injury or to schedule your initial appointment.Â