When you're involved in an auto accident there are several different routes patients take. The first, you go to the hospital after an accident. Good. If you think you're injured and in pain, go. Let the ER doctors evaluate your condition. They are checking for life threatening injuries. They may perform a CT scan on you, MRI, x-rays, etc. Most of the time, thankfully, there are no deadly consequences. You are usually given instructions to go see your primary care physician and given a muscle relaxant. The second, you go to your family physician. They do an exam and because of the opioid crisis, they don't want to give you strong pain relieving medication. They will tell you to take over the counter pain medication and send you for physical therapy. PT is good, AFTER you see the chiropractor.

You can do with these previous options but your best bet is to see a chiropractor. Why ?

1) chiropractors get to the cause of your problem. Muscle relaxants, pain relievers , rest all are masking the problem. Chiropractors realign the spinal segments that are thrown out of placement after the accident. If these segments are not realigned, it can take as little as 6 months before you start to see degenerative changes on x-rays.

2) with the opioid crisis, ER's and primary care physicians are not prescribing strong pain medications. Chiropractic doesn't have any side effects. Sometimes people may feels muscle soreness, like they just had a good workout-but serious side effects are not common.

3) using a TRAUMA TRAINED CHIROPRACTOR positions yourself as getting the best treatment, and also a competent physician that correlates causality to bodily injury, and bodily injury to functional loss. This gives you the best chance for your attorney to compensate you for your injuries, property loss and time off of work. Without this, you are decreasing your chance for a reasonable settlement.

4) do the physicians that evaluated and treated you have a background in spinal trauma pathology, concussion, accident reconstruction, spinal biomechanical engineering, medical-legal and forensic documentation and testifying in court ? Why is this helpful? Because in order to opine on such topics associated with your case in court, you need to have a background in these subjects be considered competent and knowledgeable. Does your doctor have these credentials ? You can see my CV here: US Chiropractic Directory - US Chiropractic Directory (uschirodirectory.com)

If you have been involved in an auto accident and are experiencing headaches, whiplash, neck pain, low back pain, sciatica, ringing in the ears, jaw pain, arm, leg or foot pain, blurred vision or disc herniations and live in the Chicagoland area like: Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Bensenville, Stone Park, Northlake, Melrose Park, Berkeley, Westchester, Bellwood or Hillside, you need to call Auto Accident Pain Relief Center of Illinois ,24/7 at 800-862-5914.