The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been tracking holiday traffic accidents and deaths for a very long time, and almost yearly the deadliest holiday for traffic related deaths is the Fourth of July. As a matter of fact in 2010 there were 392 deaths nation wide and 39% were alcohol related. As you are getting ready to celebrate our country's independence please be safe on the roads, and DO NOT drink and drive. 

When I was 8 years old my Dad was given this little round piece of wood that had the word "TUIT" engraved on it by a salesman. The joke is that you no longer have the excuse of "I'll get around to it someday", because I just gave you "a round TUIT". Its a corney sales joke, but that little piece of wood really struck me as powerful. It made me think (as philosophical as an 8 year old can get) that excuses are, for the most part, just in our heads. If we really put our minds to it we can make just about anything happen.

This especially is the case if you have been in a car accident in Seattle or Bellevue. The excuse "I'll get around to it at some point" can potentially really harm your health. In essence, you can not afford, for any reason to wait for your "ROUND TUIT".  Time and again I have patients walk through my door dealing with terrible neck and back pain, and as we start talking it was revealed that they had been in a car accident at some point and never received any care. 

One of the largest studies ever done on whiplash injuries confirms this truth. It found that 55% of whiplash patients were still in the original pain from their accident 17 years later. My experience shows that the reason for these people still being in pain all those years later is that they either never took the time to take care of them selves or they received bad advise from someone who knows very little to nothing about whiplash injuries. 

If you have been in a car accident, please take the time to go and get checked. It may save you a lot of heart ache and pain down the road. Don't wait for your "round TOIT", give us a call at Bellevue Whiplash Center at Back in Action Chiropractic to receive a check up.

Here at Bellevue Whiplash Center, at Back in Action Chiropractic we believe that healing is a "team sport" and it is important to address car accident injury's with multiple treatment modalities. This week we are excited to announce the addition of a new team member to our "car accident healing team", Corey Burgess, LMP who will heading up the massage center here for our patients. 

Massage has been and will continue to be a vital peice to the puzzle of helping our patients get better. If you have been injured in a Bellevue car accident and are looking for a comprehensive treatment center (that includes massage) to help you get better give us a call at 425-635-0495.

Have you been involved in a car accident? Do you want to get back to the gym or just build up your fitness? Most injuries caused by car crashes affect the neck, back, or shoulders. Some may increase your risk of developing early onset osteoarthritis, chronic pain and other complications. Depending on the type and severity of your injuries, there are various exercises you can do for muscle and strength gains.

Here are a few simple ways to build up your fitness after a car accident:

Take It Easy

Whether you're a pro athlete or a beginner, allow your body to heal before returning to your training routine. Increase workout intensity and volume gradually, engage in low impact activities, and watch for any warning signs. Cycling and swimming are recommended to those who had muscle strains. After a joint sprain, focus on rehabilitation and work out your non-injured areas. Incorporate new exercises every week. If you’ve had bone fractures, work with a physiotherapist.

Focus on Larger Muscles

Compound exercises, such as the squat, lunges, deadlifts, and shoulder press, are a better choice than isolation moves - at least for those with recent injuries. For example, you can start with exercises that target larger muscles like your chest and quads. Use machines only. As you progress, use stabilizer exercises to strengthen smaller muscles. Warm up properly before working out. Cool down after exercise. Warming up and cooling down may help reduce injuries and improve blood flow to your muscles.

Focus on Recovery

Proper recovery is just as important as training. Stretching, massage, foam rolling, and physiotherapy can help rebuild your strength. These techniques support muscle repair, increase your range of motion, and keep your bones flexible. In addition to your regular workouts, spend at last 30 minutes a day stretching your muscles. Get a massage at least three times a week to speed up healing.

Car Accidents: 98,820
Car Accident Injuries: 45,209
Car Accident Fatalities: 454

These are obviously numbers for the entire state of Washington, but we must deduce that the majority of these number are centered around Seattle, and Bellevue. 

Video motion x-ray is a vital piece of the diagnostic process here at Bellevue Whiplash Center at Back in Action Chiropractic. We use it to determine where a patients injury's have occurred and how severe they might be. This is hands down the best way to determine if there has been any tearing in the ligaments of the spine which is an extremely common finding in car accident victims.

Below is a fantastic example of a video motion x-ray.

Did you know that 20% of car accidents occur in parking lots? This should not surprise me, because if you have ever been to Costco on a Saturday, that parking lot is a zoo! This is a really good video on how to avoid a parking lot car crash, and if you are in one, what to do.

This is a very common thing for me to hear from a patient who was injured in a car accident. Pain down the leg can possibly be something called sciatica.

Sciatica is a term referring to severe pain in the leg. It is often accompanied by numbness, weakness and tingling sensation originating in the lower back and traveling downwards through the buttock. These sensations travel through the large sciatic nerve present in the back of the leg.

The most common cause of sciatica and back pain following a car accident is the sheer force that the seat belt places on the lower back and the associated nerves. When involved in a car crash, your seat belt anchors your hips down to your seat, and the forces of being hit cause the area directly above the seat belt to move forward. This creates a sheering force across the fifth and last bone in the back and all of the nerves associated with it. On top of this sheering force the resultant injury causes the body to spasm and this pinches all of the nerves around the spasm in the muscles

Sciatic pain can be very severe and can be felt in the lower back region, buttocks, and various parts of leg and foot. People suffering from sciatica will find it difficult to walk, or even get up from bed.

Some of the common symptoms of sciatica are:

1. Tingling or burning sensation in the leg

2. Weakness in the leg or foot, difficulty in movements

3. Sharp pain that may make it difficult to get up or walk

4. Pain in one side of the buttock or in one leg

There are 2 cases though in which immediate medical attention has to be sought:

1. Progressive weakness in leg

2. Urinary or bowel incontinence

People with the above symptoms may have cauda equina syndrome and should to directly to the emergency room.
Treatment for Sciatica:

Sciatica is a symptom of an underlying problem such as herniated disc. In order to treat sciatica, the underlying problem has to be determined. There are various ways to treat sciatica. Surgery is only required in severe cases, otherwise this problem can be treated with non-surgical treatment methods. 

Chiropractic care has been shown to be extremely helpful with sciatic pain. In fact it is one of the things that we specialize in here at Bellevue Whiplash Center at Back in Action Chiropractic. Back exercises, stretching exercises, healthy diet, and massage can also be extremely helpful in eliminating sciatica. There are numerous natural and home remedies to ease the suffering. Here are a few things you can try:

1. Taking  turmeric daily can help in reducing some of the nagging pain because of the anti-inflammatory agents in tumeric.

2. You can apply winter green oil to the affected leg for relieving the muscle pain.

3. You should not be still for extended periods of time. You have to keep moving, but not too fast to aggravate the pain. When you sit or lie down for a long time, the muscles will tighten, thus increasing the pain.

If you are suffering with sciatica since your car accident, please give us a call at 425-635-0495. We would love to see if you are a candidate for the type of care that we deliver for car accident victims.