Why is Physical Therapy Important After a Car Accident?

Car Accident Physical Therapy

May 24, 2020

Settling back to a normal life after a car accident is not an easy task—mentally or physically. The list of things that need to be done seems endless. The recovery process is long and excruciating at the time and will require your total mental and physical strength.

Your priority at this time is to take care of your health, and physical therapy can support the recovery process immensely. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), roughly 6 million vehicle accidents take place in the US, out of which 2.5 million are rear-ended collisions.

Rear-end collisions are quite common and can cause a kind of injury known as “whiplash.” When our neck is forced to move beyond its range of motion, if a “whiplash” injury takes place, the victim can develop the following symptoms:

  • Limited motion in the neck
  • Fatigue and dizziness
  • Stiffness and pain in the shoulders, neck, and head
  • Chronic headaches and migraines
  • Memory problems and occasional blurred vision
  • Numbness and tingling in the upper portions of the body

Whiplash injuries can be moderate or severe. In case of a moderate whiplash injury, the symptoms can manifest with time, in which case you should immediately consult your doctor and start physical therapy.

Why is Personal Injury Physical Therapy Important After a Car Accident?

Physical Therapy Supports the Primary Recovery Process:

Car accident patients often fail to realize the severity of their injuries until they return back to their daily lives. Personal injury physical therapy helps in boosting the overall recovery process and improves the patient’s physical strength, flexibility, and pain resistance. However, there is no universal personal injury physical therapy routine that will fit all whiplash patients. Each physical therapy plan is unique depending on the kind and severity of the injury sustained by the patient.

Physical Therapy Can Avert Long-Term Damage:

As mentioned earlier, physical therapy does not only help immediate injuries but also improves the patient’s mobility, strength, and flexibility. It can help prevent lasting damages like migraines and chronic body pains. While some car accident injuries show up immediately, others manifest over time. If these lingering injuries are not attended to right away, they can take a turn for the worse. If the patient starts personal injury physical therapy right after the accident, he or she can lead a pain-free life in the coming years.

Physical Therapy Helps Treat the Pain:

While physical therapy is the last thing you want to do after getting involved in a car accident, staying physically active will actually help in easing the pain and boost the recovery process. It has been documented by doctors that car accident patients involved in physical therapy recover much faster than the ones on bed rest. At West Star Physical Therapy Network, our team of specialists creates personalized and unique personal injury physical therapy programs to address the patient’s body mechanics and pain points. Each and every exercise that is performed at the West Star Physical Therapy Network has a definite goal behind it to improve the functionality and mobility of the patient’s body.

Physical Therapy Helps in Avoiding Surgery:

In the case the car accident injury requires surgery that is non-life-threatening in nature and does not require immediate surgery, physical therapy may help avoid it completely in some cases. Some non-life-threatening injuries might require surgery later in life due to a combination of natural wear and tear.

In these cases, personal injury physical therapy helps in strengthening the vulnerable tendons, ligaments, and muscles to avoid the complications of surgery down the road. Physical therapy protects the various structures of our body that would otherwise deteriorate with time and normal wear and tear.

Physical Therapy Can Restore Functionality for Old Car Accident Injuries:

Even if you have not been in a car accident recently, it does not mean that you cannot benefit from physical therapy. PT can not only help with recent car accidents but also old ones. At West Star Physical Therapy Network, we create various kinds of cardiovascular rehabilitation techniques and training exercises that can help patients with old car accident injuries. Given that personal injury physical therapy is a non-invasive form of treatment, it would not require additional support from opioids for pain relief.

Physical Therapy Can Ensure Better Settlement Rates in Personal Injury Cases:

West Star Physical Therapy Network understands that settling a personal injury case is as important as recovering from the injury. Our team of physical therapists understands this and is quite accommodating to your schedule to ensure that you can attend your physical therapy appointments. Apart from this, West Star Physical Therapy Network also takes detailed notes during your visits to help you get the maximum settlement from your personal injury case.

Wrapping Up:

If you have been in a car accident recently or were involved in one before, don’t delay in opting for physical therapy sessions. Call West Star Physical Therapy Network today for a consultation and start on your road to recovery. Our team of doctors and physicians is looking forward to helping you bounce back to your normal life as fast as possible. Why Do Personal Injury Attorneys Choose WestStar Physical Therapy? 

Personal Injury Physical Therapy – Car Accident Physical Therapy Professionals

Automotive accidents are more common than any of us would like to imagine. Every year, between 20 and 50 million people suffer injuries of various kinds as a result of traffic accidents. More than a million people die annually from similar accidents, meaning that the risk of such an accident haunts nearly all of us daily.

People who suffer traffic accidents have to undergo severe physical, emotional, as well as financial hardships after the event. Recovering from the resultant injuries can be a stressful, uncertain, and emotionally draining experience. During this time, many doctors and surgeons recommend that patients partake in personal injury physical therapy to achieve faster improvements in a more painless manner.

Personal injury physical therapy is immeasurably useful because it can help patients regain their mobility and go back to their normal lives sooner than would otherwise be possible. This type of therapy also helps with pain management, which can be a major concern after a car accident.

Choosing the Right Provider of Physical Therapy

To get the most out of a physical therapy session, however, you need to choose the right therapist. This can often be difficult for patients who have just undergone a traumatic accident or injury. It might be difficult for them to make important decisions while recovering from their injuries under the influence of prescription opioids and other types of painkillers.

Therefore, personal injury attorneys often help their clients find the right physical therapists who would help them get back on their feet—both literally and figuratively—after a traumatic automotive accident. By providing such help, personal injury attorneys can both ensure the well-being of their clients and maintain the proper records and documentation that would help them secure a victory in court.

Choosing the right physical therapy network would also help prevent a financial setback for the client at a time when they’re already under a lot of physical and mental stress. As their representative, the personal injury attorney must minimize the amount of financial damage that the victim would have to sustain as a result of their accident.

Moreover, the patient needs to have access to a reliable physical therapist who provides the kind of treatment that the patient requires at the time of recovery. Therefore, it is best to choose a trusted physical therapy network that is renowned for offering a wide variety of treatment options, including aquatic therapy, land therapy, acupuncture, occupational therapy, and certified hand therapy.

Why Personal Injury Attorneys Prefer WSTPN?

The West Star Physical Therapy Network (WSTPN) is the largest and most trusted institution providing physical therapy to accident victims in the state of California. It was established in 1980 by a group of physical therapists who were passionate about combining modern, proven therapeutic techniques with the time-honored tradition of patient-focused care.

In addition to the restorative treatments designed to improve mobility and self-sufficiency in patients, the trained therapists at WSTPN also work to provide patients with the emotional support they need during the stressful process of recovery. Patients receive constant encouragement and positive reinforcement from the therapists as well as the staff members, which helps boost their confidence while preventing any feelings of depression or helplessness.

The many different types of therapies offered by the physical therapy professionals at WSTPN are all designed to enable patients to return to their active lifestyle, go back to work, and partake in all the hobbies they enjoyed before the accident. These factors have helped WSTPN build a reputation for successful and innovative approaches to therapy as well as attentive and hands-on patient care.

Personal injury attorneys also favor WSTPN because the network provides treatment to accident victims on a lien. This means that the patient need not make an upfront payment for the personal injury physical therapy they receive. Instead, all outstanding bills will be cleared once the personal injury case has been settled in court.

Hence, the physical therapist will provide the patient with the care they need, as and when it is needed, and then receive payment for their services once the personal injury case is over. This system ensures that accident victims can get the medical attention they need, even if they don’t have insurance coverage or access to ready money, while their attorneys represent them in court.

The physical therapists associated with WSTPN also understand the need to document injuries and maintain proper records, which can be presented as evidence during legal proceedings. Proper documentation of the exact injuries sustained during an automotive accident—as well as the treatment provided for the injuries—can help personal injury attorneys win a case on behalf of their client.

It is for these reasons that personal injury attorneys around California prefer to work with the West Star Physical Therapy Network when their clients need physical therapy for injuries sustained during traffic accidents.