As we have discussed before, it is important to seek care and receive a medical evaluation immediately after being injured in a car accident. The first step to this is trying gentle conservative therapy. For instance, chiropractic care, stretching, exercising, muscle strengthening, and physical therapy are the perfect places to start with your recovery and care. As Dr. Shawn Roofian suggests here in his Quick Tip for Doctors on Liens, usually conservative therapies like those mentioned above will help resolve the issue. However, if you find yourself stuck without any improvement 4-8 weeks after your accident, that is the ideal time to discuss seeing a specialist with your doctor.
Usually, if you plateau at this time, you will be sent to a pain management specialist who will go through a new evaluation with you. If they believe therapy is not enough for you, they may do interventional therapies such as epidurals, injections, ultrasound guidance, and other pain management options if you are a good candidate for those services. If you are not a good candidate, you will most likely be sent back to therapy to continue your progress with a chiropractor or physical therapist. On rare occasions where they believe pain management options may not be enough, a pain management specialist may then refer you to additional specialists such as surgeons.
As Doctor Roofian expresses, the important thing to consider with your treatment process is to be conservative. It’s important to start with the basics such as stretching, exercising, and chiropractic care and work up to more involved treatment options if the basic treatments are not working for you. So, be sure to find a chiropractor who works on a lien basis on our website here. And if matters do not improve, consider seeing additional specialists through Doctors on Liens’s service here.
