Five "Secrets" About Fender Benders

1.  Despite insurance companies’ using it as the main criterion, the visual damage to your car is not necessarily an indicator of the consequences of the collision on your body.

2.  Feeling confused, "fuzzy," disoriented, and irritable often follows even a minor collision.

3. Symptoms may have delayed onset; you may "feel fine" for the first few days, or even longer. Be cautious about signing off on an insurance claim too soon; give yourself time for any consequences to your body to show up.

4. The sooner you receive proper care, the sooner you will recover. I encourage patients to come in as soon as possible after (an even minor) collision, to get their entire body checked & balanced, to better their chances for a speedy recovery.

5.  If you don't have Medpay on your auto policy, get it. If you have it, and you're in an accident, your own insurance will cover your care, so you or your doctor won't have to wait for the other party's insurance to pay. It's insurance that's reasonably priced and really worthwhile.

A Fall That Affects the Shoulder

  Instinctively in a fall, we reach out to brace our body’s impact with our arm(s) and hand(s). Among the upper extremity consequences of this instinctive reaction are injuries to the shoulder(s), which can be serious and painful.

Depending on the angle and direction of impact, forces driven up the arm may cause the head of the humerus, the bone in our upper arm, to misalign from its normal position at the glenoid fossa, a shallow “cup-like” socket which is part of the scapula.

This painful misalignment is commonly posterior, or backwards, occurring in falls forward such as tripping or stumbling, but can be anterior / superior, as when one’s foot slips forward and the body falls backward, with arm(s) instinctively extended backward to break the fall.

Carelul assessment of the shoulder after a fall and gentle, precise corrections of misalignments are essential to relieve pain, support healing, maintain normal range of motion, and prevent future degenerative changes that lead to arthritis.