Since the recent bad weather in Manassas and surrounding areas throughout northern Virginia and the Metro DC area, it seems like there have been a LOT of car accidents lately.
Just on my commute last night, I saw four different accidents on the side of the road!! In my podcast yesterday, we discussed the fact that every American will statistically have an automobile accident every 17 years!!
That means that if you live to be about 80, you’ll have been in about 4-5 car accidents in your life!! Now, what scares me is that means that everyone has or will get into a car accident, and this “driving in cars” thing is relatively a NEW thing. I mean, we only started having this problem 50-60 years ago.
If humans have been around say, 2 Million years or so, that’s a drop in the bucket on the scheme of things.
As a Chiropractor, I know that there is almost always permanent damage to the ligaments of the neck and back in a car accident. I also know that Car accidents have a cumulative effect on the body over time. Ligaments that were torn or sheared become weaker than the original tissues. Gravity then starts to put force on those weakened ligaments, and that over time, can cause distortions to the posture of the body.
Human spinal ligaments were designed by our creator and through natural selection, to withstand only minor impacts, those LESS THAN 4 miles per hour. Humans were not designed to drive in cars at 40 mph, and then crash into each other. That’s something we RECENTLY chose to do!!
Ever seen someone with one shoulder higher than the other? What about uneven hips? How about somebody who’s head is on sorta, crooked? Or maybe they carry their head leaning forward, like it might fall off at any second?
These postural distortions are the result (usually) of a past car accident.
That person you see in church in front of you with one shoulder higher than the other PROBABLY has upper back and neck pains, maybe frequent headaches. Most likely, they can trace the origin of that back to a car accident or a fall.
What they may not realize is that the nerves in that part of their spine are compressed, shutting down energy from the brain to the part of their body that those nerves feed. Over time, this can cause degeneration, arthritis, disc bulges in the spine, as well as organ problems if the nerve supply to organs is decreased as well.
The reality is that even small impact injuries suffered during an automobile accident have long-lasting, cumulative effects on the human body.
That is why Anyone who is involved in even a small motor vehicle injury needs to have their spines checked and evaluated for misalignment by a Chiropractor.
Generally, a visit to the Emergency Room is NOT ENOUGH, as the ER physicians do not check for misalignment, because it will not kill you in the next 24 hours, which is what the ER physicians are trained to seek out.
If you do not show a fracture or cancer, the ER docs will most likely send you on your way.
Don’t get me wrong….
It is not that they are doing something incorrect!!! It is simply not their job to check the xrays for structural misalignments. That is only the job of a board-certified Chiropractor.
Yours In Health,
Dr. Steve Lininger
Chiropractor
Manassas