In the United States of America, more than two million people get injured each year in car accidents. And these accidents cause injuries that can be severe. No matter how careful you are on the road, car accidents are unpredictable, so are the injuries caused by them.
When injured in a car accident, it is obvious that a person would call an emergency line to get instant medical attention. Even if you think that you got lucky and escaped any injury, it is still possible that you have contracted injuries which aren’t surfaced yet. These injuries are usually in the neck, back, and head area. Therefore, getting immediate medical attention is a must.
Once you are in surveillance of a professional, you will be treated the way you should. But when you are back at home, it doesn’t mean that your treatment has finished. You would still be in a state of recovery. However, to speed up the recovery process, there are some things you can do on your own.
When you are doing these things, it is important to have someone you know and trust by your side. Because no matter how fine you feel, you are not to be left alone to engage in activities. If something injurious or problematic were to happen with your already-weakened body, someone should be there to assist you and get you the help that you need.
Without further, let’s check out some things you can do on your own to speed up your recovery.
1. Visit a Car Accident Specialist
As stated above, a car accident victim requires immediate medical attention. But after that, when you are good to leave the emergency care unit, you should make an appointment with a doctor who has professional specialization in dealing with car accident patients.
It is quite possible that you contract back pain, neck pain, or body stiffness after an accident, and if you go to a primary care physician for that, they might hook you up on a long list of medications or wrap you up in plasters. But a car accident injury chiropractor would heal you just with their hands – they’d manipulate your spine and make sure all your body parts are properly aligned.
Chiropractic treatment proves to be much more reliable, safe, and cost-effective for those who have recently suffered a loss due to a car accident.
2. Stay Home and Take Rest
One of the biggest mistakes people make after dealing with a car accident is not to take enough rest to recover completely. They believe they don’t have any major injuries, so they don’t need to be wrapped in a blanket and stay in bed. Well, it might be true that you didn’t face critical injuries, thankfully, but it still doesn’t mean that a collision didn’t take a toll on your physical and mental capability.
At some point in your recovery, you will start believing that you have healed and are fit to back to your old, restless life. But that wouldn’t be entirely true. If you are feeling fine, it only means that your injuries have been suppressed, not eliminated entirely. For injuries and pains to vanish entirely and never come back again after a slight strain, you will need to take a rest as long as your car accident doctor recommends.
3. Stay Hydrated
Your body goes through a lot in an accident, whether it was critical or not. The body loses its stability. And to bring that back, it needs a lot of fluids. That is why it is important for you to stay hydrated.
It is recommended that you drink at least 6 cups of water a day for at least a week when you are recovering from a car accident. The extra amount of fluid in your body wouldn’t only allow your muscles to relax, but would also reduce inflammation, which would speed up your recovery.
While it is important that you stay hydrated, you need to avoid drinking sodas and soft drinks. These drinks have high-fructose corn syrup which can retract the production of collagen in your body, which is a critical element needed for your body to heal from muscle tears.
4. Take Vitamin C
A car accident is a perfect weapon against your body strength. As stated above, it can weaken your body, even if you think you don’t have any injuries. And when your body weakens, vitamin C helps it get its strength back.
It is important that you put vitamin C in your daily intake if you are recovering from an auto accident. Not only vitamin C helps reduce inflammation, like water, but it also helps tissues to repair. Vitamin C produces electrolytes in your body, which are responsible for neutralizing the free radicals in your body that causes inflammation.
5. Avoid Physical Activity
For some people, it gets really hard to avoid physical activity during recovery because they live a really active lifestyle. It is perfectly understandable that your need to play sports, work out, drive, or go back to work is frustrating you, but it is crucial that you avoid physical activity that might be strenuous, at least for a few weeks.
If you don’t give your body time to heal and engage in physically demanding activities, your injuries will get worse. Just you aren’t currently in pain, doesn’t mean you can test your limits. If things get worse for your body, you might have to take even more drastic measures to heal again.
Although it can be very frustrating for you to avoid doing things that you were so capable of doing, you need to understand that it is for the betterment of yourself.
6. Some Exercise Might Help
It is established above that taking enough rest and avoid engaging in physically demanding activities is good for you if you are recovering from a car accident. However, you need to keep in mind that some light exercise can also be really good for your body.
Experts recommend light stretching as a way for your muscles to relax. Light exercise also helps your body gradually recover from the resting state.
And it doesn’t mean that you can play any sport or do any kind of exercise. Weightlifting is totally out of the question. And sports involving physical contact also needs to be avoided.
What you can do is gentle stretching, walking on a flat surface, stretch your muscles – these activities will at least prep your body to get out of bed without feeling too weak.
Before you engage in such activities, you definitely need to consult a car accident doctor, because they can guide you properly about how much and how frequent you should walk. You don’t need to burn more calories than you are actually gaining, it would make you weaker instead of getting stronger.
Some other things you need to take care of after a car accident is wearing the right kind of shoes, avoid lifting anything, not bending your back often, and sing at the top of your lungs to make sure your diaphragm is relaxed and your lungs aren’t compressed against your ribs – which usually happens in car accidents when you are wearing seat belts.
