What type of injuries are the most frequent in traffic accidents?
The injuries caused in a traffic accident are closely related to both the speed at which the impact occurs and the nature of the vehicle involved in the accident. For example, an accident on an urban road is not the same as an accident on a highway or participating in an accident in which the vehicle is a motorcycle. But these are not the only factors that influence the severity and type of injury, since the position occupied in the car or the posture maintained at the moment of impact also have a great impact.
In our clinical experience the most frequent injuries in such accidents are:
- Whiplash: can cause muscle pain, limited mobility, headaches, herniated or protruded discs.
- Back pain and low back pain.
- Alterations in the temporomandibular joint.
- Injuries at shoulder level: tendinosis, dislocations
- Knee, ankle or wrist sprains
- Rib fractures
- Fractures of extremities
Why does it happen and how can we recover from whiplash?
When a rear-end collision occurs, the impact comes through the seat, which causes our lumbar spine to flatten. This effect spreads down the spine until it reaches the neck, which, being the free zone, suffers the jolt (like a whip) causing the head to move backwards and then forwards. But it is not so much the amplitude of the movement that causes the injury, but the order in which these movements occur: when we voluntarily perform a neck flexion, the first vertebrae to perform the movement are the upper cervical vertebrae, followed by the middle and lower vertebrae and even the dorsal vertebrae. In whiplash the order is reversed: the first vertebrae to go into flexion are the low vertebrae, followed by the middle and high vertebrae.
One of the keys to recovery from whiplash is early mobilization of the cervical spine in order to reduce pain and avoid fear of moving the patient’s area.
Another important resource available to specialists in Physiotherapy to help our patients is education, since with it we get them to know their pathology and know how to distinguish the beneficial actions from the harmful ones. They are very important in this regard both advice on postural hygiene as to make our patient understand the need to maintain a level of activity as close as possible to that before the accident and depending on the state of the injury of our patient we can use techniques such as:
- Massage
- Treatment of trigger points
- Heat application
- TENS
- Stretching, among other techniques.
But among all types of treatments we must highlight the benefit of active exercise by the patient, always under the supervision of the professional, since exercise not only improves posture and mobility of the spine, but helps to relax muscle tension and improve function.
What exercises are performed to address injuries affecting the cervical spine?
First and foremost, we must keep in mind that the exercises should not cause pain and that repetition is essential to learn the proper movement. Nor can we forget that the rest of the spine was also involved in the injury mechanism, so the exercises must include these areas, or that we must adjust these exercises to the evolutionary phase of the injury. Among them we can find:
- Mobility exercises at both cervical and dorso-lumbar level.
- Exercises to activate the deep cervical musculature and the scapular area.
- Neck and shoulder girdle coordination exercises in different positions.
- Lumbo-pelvic stabilization exercises.
- Strength and endurance exercises
- Aerobic exercises
How many physical therapy sessions are needed for recovery after an accident?
It is impossible to predict the number of sessions that a patient will need to recover from the injuries of a traffic accident. According to a large number of studies, between 10 and 30 percent of patients will develop chronic pain or other symptoms, with severe symptoms occurring in 5 to 10 percent of cases.
The possible causes that can lead to this poor evolution could be related to the use of the neck brace for longer than recommended, the patient’s age, or the existence of cervicoarthrosis or previous neurological deficits.