A Trip And Fall Accident Could Leave You With Back Pain, But A Chiropractor Can Help

When you trip and fall, the jolt to your body can cause damage to your spine and back muscles. If you fall on your outstretched hands to protect yourself, you might spare your face and head from damage, but you could wake up the next morning with a stiff and sore back. A chiropractor can help with your back pain when it's caused by an accident like this, although your body may need time to heal. Here are some ways chiropractic treatments might help your pain and speed the healing of your back.

Chiropractic Adjustments For Your Spine

Your chiropractor will do an initial assessment of your condition after your injury to determine why you're having pain. This might include x-rays or another imaging test to check for fractures and disc problems. When appropriate, your chiropractor may administer spinal manipulations. These make small adjustments to your spine in an effort to return normal function to your back. This can reduce pressure on a nerve that's causing your pain so the nerve can begin to heal from the irritation.

When you undergo chiropractic treatments for a back injury, you may need to have multiple sessions until your back has healed, although you might find relief from pain after your first treatment. Full recovery happens once your tissues have had time to repair themselves and that often takes a matter of weeks depending on the severity of your injury.

Tissue Work To Loosen Tight Back Muscles

Massage is often a useful therapy for the muscles and tissues in your back that are inflamed and tight as a result of your injury. Tight muscles increase your pain and discomfort, so working the tension out of them can sometimes help. Massage can also break up tissue adhesion that often develop after an injury. These tiny scars increase your pain and limit full mobility, so releasing them through deep tissue work might be helpful. Your chiropractor takes your pain level and condition into account before beginning any type of treatment so you're always comfortable and able to tolerate the physical manipulations.

Education On Adapting Your Lifestyle

While you might take off from work initially when you're in the most pain, you'll probably need to go back to work or resume your usual activities fairly soon after your fall. The type of work you do could make your back pain worse unless you learn how to lift properly or sit at a computer with good posture. Your chiropractor can give lifestyle advice that helps you manage your pain and prevent it from getting worse while you go about your day at work and at home. In addition, your chiropractor might give you stretches and exercises to do at home that help strengthen your back and keep it flexible so it's less prone to injury and heals properly.