In-Depth Information
Prolotherapy • Auto injuries
Auto injuries
Comprehensive care for optimal recovery
Millions of people are injured each year in auto accidents. A motor vehicle crash can generate enormous amounts of force, and this force is almost always transmitted into the body of the vehicle’s occupants.
Individuals involved in an auto accident may experience severe throbbing neck or back pain. Oftentimes the pain may radiate to the arm or leg with associated numbness and tingling. Certain patients may experience a severe, throbbing headache that radiates around the head. All these symptoms can occur from even a low-impact accident and without the accident victim striking their head within the vehicle.
What if there is no pain right after an auto accident?
After an auto accident, your body may be in a light state of shock. You may not feel any pain at first but you may have injuries that won’t reveal themselves for hours, days, months or even years after the accident.
That’s why it’s important for victims of auto accidents to get a thorough spinal exam by a physician sufficiently trained in injuries to muscles and joints to rule out any possible hidden or invisible injuries to nerves, muscles, bones or ligaments. Left untreated, these injuries can create severe and painful backaches, neck aches, headaches or postural and extremity problems down the road.
How we help auto accident victims
Metro Spine's medical director, Dr. George Drakes, is a board-certified physiatrist and pain relief specialist. The term physiatry is derived from the Greek words physikos (physical) and iatreia (art of healing). Physiatrists like Dr. Drakes are doctors who strategically employ physical therapy as well as advanced pain relief treatments to aid the healing and rehab process. Board-certified means that Dr. Drakes has taken and passed a rigorous medical specialty examination in the fields of pain medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
As a physiatrist, Dr. Drakes’ diagnostic tools are the same as those used by other medical doctors, with the addition of special techniques in electrodiagnostic medicine, like electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies. These techniques help Dr. Drakes to diagnose conditions that cause pain, weakness and numbness.
After an initial evaluation, Dr. Drakes will customize a treatment program specific to your condition. It may consist of physical therapy modalities such as massage, spinal decompression, whirlpool, manual therapy and ultrasound – and advanced nonsurgical pain relief procedures like prolotherapy (saline injections to joints to strengthen ligament), blocks (injections which “block” pain in the nerves), radiofrequency (a high-frequency electric field that blocks pain) and nucleoplasty (radiowave injection for treating disc pain). Stretching, exercise and muscle reeducation programs tailored to your condition may also be recommended.
For more information on our nonsurgical pain relief and comprehensive rehab care for auto injuries or to schedule an appointment, call Metro Spine at (301) 856-5860 - serving Oxon Hill & Clinton, Maryland - Virginia - Washington, DC.