Man being examined by chiropractor

How Long Should I Wait Before Going to a Chiropractor After a New Jersey Car Accident?

By Greg Kohn
Partner

You will want to get prompt medical treatment if you got injured in a collision. Some types of wounds require treatment in an emergency room, while other types of injuries like whiplash, can respond well to chiropractic treatment. The timing does matter when it comes to how soon you will want to start the process at a chiropractic office. 

A New Jersey personal injury attorney can help you go after monetary damages for your injuries. Let’s look at the question, how long should I wait before going to a chiropractor after a New Jersey car accident?

Initial Assessment

It is best if you have an appointment with the chiropractor within the first day or two after a car accident. On the outside, you do not want to wait longer than three days after a crash to start chiropractic care.

“Fresh” wounds respond better to chiropractic care than injuries that a person received more than a few days ago. The best way to return to your normal activities is to start the treatment process right away. Also, with prompt chiropractic intervention, it is likely that you will recover more quickly and easily. Proper healing requires that a person’s injuries not have time to get “set in stone.”

If you need more incentive to start chiropractic treatment soon, it might help if you realize that waiting to start the treatment process can cause additional harm to your body. For example, if you are holding your arm at an unnatural angle because of pain, your body could develop indirect harm by putting a strain on muscles and soft tissue that were not directly injured in the car accident. Getting started promptly can help you to avoid pain and other problems down the road.

Might Find Hidden Injuries

Some injuries take time to develop noticeable symptoms. It is possible to have a fracture or internal bleeding, for example, that does not exhibit signs for two or three days. In the case of internal bleeding, you could go into shock or hemorrhage before you know there is a problem. A thorough trauma assessment by a chiropractor could discover some injuries that you have not yet recognized. 

The Importance of Medical Records in Your Injury Claim

Your New Jersey personal injury attorney will use your medical records to establish the car accident as the cause of your wounds. If your medical records for these injuries do not start until several days or longer after the wreck, the defendant is likely to claim that something else, not the crash, caused your wounds. It is harder to prove causation when a person waits to get chiropractic care.

Your medical records will also serve as evidence of how severe your injuries were and of your discomfort level. If you never get medical treatment, it will be a matter of your word only that you got hurt. You have already had a traumatic experience and been injured. With prompt chiropractic intervention, you will have the best likelihood of healing well, avoiding future physical problems, and getting the compensation that you deserve for your injuries. You can talk to a New Jersey personal injury attorney about getting started on your car accident injury claim. Get in touch with our office today, we gladly offer a free consultation.

About the Author
Greg Kohn is a partner at Nagel Rice and specializes in complex civil litigation cases, including professional malpractice, personal injury, class actions, wrongful death, products liability, and commercial litigation.  He has extensive experience representing clients in both state and federal court. Greg has tried many jury trials to verdict and has recovered over $50 million in settlements and verdicts in all types of personal injury matters including automobile accidents, wrongful death cases, slip and falls, and other catastrophic injury cases. Greg also handles medical malpractice cases, involving misdiagnoses, wrongful birth, and delayed cancer diagnosis. If you have questions regarding this article, you can contact Greg here.