A car collision or motorcycle collision may start and end in only a brief yet terrifying moment. The injuries you could sustain from that accident, and the process of recovering from those injuries, may last far longer. Your life and your well-being could change dramatically if this happens to you.
However, you do have choices on how to handle these changes and heal yourself. The process will not always easy, but learning to live with your injuries is possible. Here are some methods for how to cope with car accident injuries.
Using Physical Therapy to Help with Car Accident Injuries
Severe injuries do not always heal immediately after surgery. You may find that your body is still stiff in certain places, or that certain parts still have a limited range of motion, or that you still feel pain. The recurrence of headaches and migraines, and possibly other symptoms like numbness and chronic fatigue, may only add to your troubles. Car accident injuries have the potential to make simply going through work, school, and your day-to-day life into highly difficult physical challenges.
That is why depending on the injuries, many physicians will strongly recommend that you at least consider trying physical therapy after a car accident. This training regimen may take many forms – again, and it is dependent on the nature of the injuries. A common method of physical therapy focuses on exercises that emphasize moving your body, including repetitive motions.
The goal is not only to prevent a total loss of motion in the afflicted body parts but also to promote continually pushing your body towards the mobility it had before the accident. Physical therapy can also assist with reducing pain and other symptoms.
All of this is intended to restore physical function in people who have sustained severe bodily injuries. The process may take months or even years, but by working with a physical therapist often, you may be able to make a complete physical recovery. At the very least, this type of therapy can diminish the pain and help you cope without the need for further surgery or medication.
Receive Massage Therapy from a Healthcare Professional
Massages are not simply for relaxing, as the Northwestern Health Sciences University’s website for their massage therapy program explains. Hospital patients can receive rehabilitative massage, which is intended to help them heal. According to the NWSU program’s website, people can receive massage therapy for a variety of reasons. These include “to reduce stress and anxiety, relax muscles, rehabilitate injuries, reduce pain, and promote overall health and wellness.”
As for what exactly the term means, massage therapy is the “manual manipulation of soft body tissues … to enhance a person’s health and well-being.” These include the muscles, ligaments, tendons, tissue, and more. Massage therapy can assist you in relieving pain, taking care of various symptoms, and even improving functionality through the release of tension. Many different types can provide different effects.
Massage should not, by any means, be the only method you use to cope with car accident injuries, especially if those injuries are severe. However, receiving massage therapy after a car accident, in conjunction with other forms of treatment like physical therapy, may prove beneficial for your body.
Work on Caring For Your Mental Health
Physical therapy and massage therapy may help you immensely in your actual physical recovery. However, a car accident may also leave injuries that cannot be seen on the body. These incidents and the resulting wounds and damage can seriously affect your mental health as well. You may experience a range of psychological effects, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, grief, shock, anger, guilt, stress, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Healing the mind is just as important, if not more important, than healing in your body. That is why in addition to physical therapy, it may help to undergo psychiatric treatment as well. This option includes talking with and receiving care from a qualified mental health professional, but it goes beyond that.
Self-help may also take the form of speaking with family, friends, and people you trust. If other people were in the car with you during the accident, you might want to talk as a group, with each person sharing their feelings and thoughts.
Receiving this kind of support, and being aware that you are receiving this kind of support, can make a significant difference. Coping with car accident injuries may prove much easier when you are learning how to deal with any “mental health injuries” as well.
Seek a Car Accident Attorney
Learning how to cope with car accident injuries is vital in helping you continue living your life. However, as necessary as receiving various kinds of treatment may be, it may also represent significant expenses. Besides looking for medical professionals, you may also want to look for personal injury firms that can help you receive compensation to cover those expenses.
The Law Offices of James C. DeZao, P.A. are more than eager to take on your case and fight on your behalf. Get in touch with an accident injury lawyer today and call us at (973) 358-6134.