If you’ve been injured in a car accident in or around Jonesboro, GA, Morrow, GA, or Stockbridge, GA, then you’re no doubt feeling the effects of it. Whether it’s the day of the accident, the day after, or a week later, the pain from an auto accident can flare up at any time. Often on the day of the accident you feel just fine—that’s usually adrenaline pumping through your body giving you a false sense of health. It’s often hours or days later that the muscles and bones really start to scream in pain letting you know that your injuries are serious to warrant medical care. 

But if you’re here, it’s probably because you’re experiencing that pain right now (or a loved one is) and you want to find out what the best course of action is. Here in Jonesboro, Georgia, Chiropractic Plus deals with accident victims every single day, and we know how traumatizing it is, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We want to make the entire process easy for you, so here are eleven questions you should ask your chiropractor after a car accident near Jonesboro, GA.

What is Your Experience Treating Victims of Car Accidents?

Car accidents are tricky, because they are so violent that the cause of the pain and damage can take place in any part of the body, and the source of the pain may be far away from the location where the pain is manifesting. Knowing the ins and outs of car accident trauma is an essential skill for your chiropractor. Yes, we know that all chiropractors have to start somewhere—someone has to be their first car accident patient—but when you’re in pain, do you want that someone to be you? Or do you want a chiropractor with years of experience treating patients with issues similar to yours?

And you don’t have to take our word for it. In the internet age you can check reviews of any chiropractor to see if they really are as experienced as they say they are. We’re proud to say that our Google reviews are currently at five stars. We consider this a major sign that we’re providing the type of care that our patients need. 

How Soon Can I See a Car Accident Chiropractor?

You should schedule an appointment with a chiropractor as soon as you feel pain after an accident. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to schedule an appointment within 72 hours after the accident even if you’re not feeling pain, just so you can be evaluated. Remember that most car accident injuries don’t necessarily hurt immediately. You could have an injury that you’re completely unaware of. 

Fortunately, when there’s been an auto accident, our office in Jonesboro is very good about making room in the schedule for the injured victims. 

How Do You Evaluate Car Accident Injuries?

A good chiropractor will use all the resources at their disposal to evaluate car accident injuries, and that includes everything from a physical evaluation to X-rays to referring a patient to an outside specialist. 

Do You Do X-Rays?

Another question to ask your chiropractor is whether they can perform X-rays in-house or whether they will need to send you to a referred clinic to get that work done. A chiropractor who has the X-rays in their own office will be able to get you diagnosed much faster, with much less hassle, and have you moving forward on your road to recovery.

What Treatments Do You Use For Car Accident Victims?

You’ve probably heard of chiropractors referred to as “back crackers”, and it’s true that we use essential chiropractic techniques to adjust your spine, arms and legs. But we also do so many more things to treat patients who are victims of car accidents. Check out our treatments page for a full list of the services we provide, but they include everything from Active Release Technique (ART), Kinesio Taping, Muscle Stimulation, Ultrasound and much more. 

Do You Document the Injuries for Insurance and Police Investigation?

Getting proper care isn’t always enough. If there’s a question as to who’s at fault, and if lawyers are getting involved (or even nitpicky insurance companies) then you want to make sure that every little thing about your trauma and treatment has been documented.

We are experts in documenting trauma, determining causality, compiling strong and detailed medical records, providing Impairment Ratings, and reporting on injuries. We will document your injuries properly and thoroughly and create a narrative for your attorney. In addition, because we treat so many patients with similar injuries, we can help give you insight into this difficult, complicated, and challenging auto accident process. Bottom line, we want to support you in every way we can.

What is the Nature of My Injury?

Ultimately you want to find a chiropractor who will tell you what is wrong with you. There are many cases where a doctor will say “we don’t know why this hurts, but take some pain medication and it’ll go away.” We don’t work like that. We want to figure out why you’re in pain, figure out how best to help you get out of pain, and give you a roadmap forward to future recovery and being pain free. 

How Long Will It Take to Heal Completely?

A good chiropractor, once they’ve diagnosed you and set up a treatment plan, will be able to give you a good idea of how long it will take to be pain free. We freely admit that car accidents are traumatic and extremely violent, and there may be injuries that last a lifetime. If that’s the case, we’ll do everything we can to help minimize the pain and suffering and help you begin to cope with proven strategies for overcoming these medical problems. 

But there are also cases where we know what’s wrong, and we have a pretty great track record of knowing how long it’s going to be before you heal completely. 

Do You Work With Other Medical Professionals If I Need Specialized Care?

This is crucial. Some chiropractors want to keep all their patients in their offices and never send them away to anyone else to look at. But we believe that there are medical treatment and diagnostic tools that are essential to some car accident victims’ recoveries that need to be treated by specialists. This includes diagnostic testing such as MRIs, CT scans, EMG/NCV testing and more. 

Do I Need to Contact an Attorney Before I See the Chiropractor?

In most cases there’s no need to contact an attorney before seeing a chiropractor for an evaluation, because we go to such lengths to record all of your information and diagnosis. If you do choose to get an attorney, you can give them the medical records that we have compiled for your case, which will help them as they move forward.

When Can I Resume My Normal Activities?

This is an especially important question to ask a chiropractor, because it may affect your work schedule, the way you move around the house and yard, and the way you interact with others. Getting that roadmap toward healing success will give you the information that you need to determine when you can go about your full ranges of motions and movements. 

Conclusion

When in a car accident in Jonesboro, Morrow, or Stockbridge, GA, you want to ask your chiropractor all of these questions before and during your visit. At Chiropractic Plus we know that you can trust us to be your medical help when you’re in a traumatic car accident. Give us a call, and we’ll get you right in.