body in accident

The human body is designed to do just about anything we want to do, with some limitations. For example our bones can withstand huge amounts pressure. In studies of human bone strength the scientists took long bones from several cadavers and subjected them to forces from top to bottom, pulling them apart, and from the side. It was found that human bones could withstand top to bottom compression forces of 22,000 pounds per square inch, pulling apart force of 10,000 pounds per square inch, and sideways force of 5,000 pounds per square inch. That's incredible. The connective tissue is hard to test because no person alive will subject themselves to an experiment to test when their ligaments will fail. Studies on dead tissue will not prove accurate because the tissue is missing blood supply and regular repair mechanisms that are in place in our body. What we do know about the human body when it undergoes injury is the following:

• The immediate effects of an abrupt surprise start or stop accident are small or large ruptures in the muscle and connective tissue.
• Bleeding over and through the torn muscle and connective tissue.
• Clotting of the bleeding tissue.
• Dead cells, clots and fibers covering the places of bleeding much like a scab on the skin of the body
• The separate parts of the torn muscle and connective tissue are pulled together by the clotting tissue.
• Tender new cells are formed to replace the old torn tissue
• The tender new cells mature and improve in strength and elasticity.

Because of these processes listed above it is normal to feel the following after an accident:

• A sense of looseness and lack of control because of the small or large tears in the muscle and connective tissue. Usually felt immediately and can last up to two weeks depending on how much damage was caused
• A feeling of pressure, achiness, and swelling because of the bleeding, clotting, and dead cell accumulation in and around the torn tissue. Usually felt two to three hours after the accident and can last up to three months and longer if the tissue is being torn again and again.
• A feeling of stiffness and restricted movement because of the clotting material pulling the torn ends together. Usually felt from three days after the accident and can be indefinite if the tissue is not conditioned correctly.
• A feeling of strength restrictions due to the new and tender tissue replacing the old dead tissue. Usually felt around two weeks after the accident and can get worse if the tissue does not heal in a good condition.
• A loss of normal range of motion and continued swelling and soreness if the torn tissue does not heal correctly.

It is important after a surprise start or stop abrupt injury to help the body heal the soft tissue just like a correct setting of a broken bone. Soft tissue also needs specific care to heal right and true.

What happens in a car accident

This is a reprint of an old post because it is still important information:
When a motor vehicle accident occurs, the outcome is highly variable depending on multiple factors involved in the accident like:

• Speed of the vehicles involved
• Size of the vehicles involved
• Road conditions for the vehicles involved
• Direction of the vehicles involved
• Position of the seats of the vehicle passengers
• Positions of the passengers in the vehicle
• Type of restraints on the passengers in the vehicle
• Type of deployment for the passenger restraints

One key thing to remember when evaluating an accident is to remember one of Newton's laws that is that an object in motion will remain in motion until a sufficient equal and opposite force brings that object to a stop. Another thing to remember is that momentum can be transferred from one object to another. Often it is assumed that because the vehicle did not show much damage on the exterior, then the passengers should sustain little damage. The other assumption is that because the impact speed was low, the damage to the occupants is low. Let's handle the speed issue first. How slow is slow? NFL lineman usually clocks in at 4.9 to 5.2 seconds for a 40 yard sprint. That works out to about 16 miles per hour. How much damage can a NFL lineman cause to a person standing still, when he hits them in the middle of the back going full speed? What happens when we double the weight of the lineman and cut the speed in half? The force is still the same. What happens if we triple the mass of the lineman and cut the speed to one third as fast? Still this is the same force. According to the New York Times the average car sold in 2003 weighed 4021 pounds. An average NFL lineman weighs 300 pounds. The average car weighs 13 times more than an average NFL lineman. That means that the average car traveling about 1 mile per hour would have as much force as an average lineman does when he hits someone running at top speed. So if the average car hits an object at 5 miles per hour, that would equal an NFL lineman hitting the object at 80 miles per hour. What do you think would happen to that object? The bigger the vehicle doing the hitting, the greater the force is.
The vehicle damage does not determine the amount of damage to the passengers inside the car. This point is a little complicated to explain but imagine two cars of equal size. The car in front has the brakes firmly in place applied to great tires with a firm grip on the road. The striking car is of equal size and hits the front car at 10 miles per hour. In this scenario the front car driver has strong and immovable pressure on the brakes and is firm in the seat with head firmly against the head rest. The cars are of equal size and the brakes and friction against the road is acting as the equal and opposite force pressing against the striking car. The results will be skid marks on the surface of the street, rear end damage on the front car, and front end damage on the back car equaling 10 miles per hour times 4000 pounds. Because the passenger was firm in the seat and firm on the brakes, the passenger did not travel independent of the car and the protective seat along with both vehicles absorbing the force of the impact through the crumpling metal protected the driver of the front car. The cars sustained extensive damage and the passenger in the front car was pressed into the cushioned seat and sustained little damage. The elasticity of the seat shot the drivers head forward at a reduced speed because the momentum was absorbed by the seat and the car metal. So the outcome for the driver of the front car is better than what it could be. The driver of the back car had head speed forward, because an object in motion will remain in motion until forces equal and opposite can act on that object to bring it to a stop. The air bag deployed and absorbed the force of the head traveling forward, so the driver of the back car might also fair good despite the gross look of the cars. Let's use this same scenario but change the front car driver's pressure on the brake and position in the seat so that the drivers head is six inches forward from the head rest. The striking car hits the front car and the front car leaps forward at 10 miles per hour in 0.053 seconds. The brake is not well deployed because the front car leaping forward has the driver pressed into the seat and the foot has left the brake. The front car has sustained little damage because it acted like a billiard ball bouncing away from the impact, but the front car driver's head travel back at 10 miles per hour in 0.053 seconds for 6 inches. The driver's head hit the head rest and recoiled forward about the same speed less the cushion absorbing the momentum. The driver's soft tissue in the neck sustained a great amount of damage although the car appears lightly scathed. Now just imagine the vehicle in the back was twice the size of the front car, but the speed was half and much. Just like before, the force is the same, and the outcome will be similar.
Next post will be about the soft tissue damage that the driver's body undergoes when involved in this type of accident.

Back Surgery?

For over thirteen years I have been a chiropractor. I love being a chiropractor so very much. It is so awesome to help people heal who could not find resolutions for their problems anywhere else. It is very gratifying to see that by correcting the spinal dysfunction, the nervous system starts to work again and their health improves. I love working outside the normal medical model and having multiple different tools for health care at my disposal. Yes it is true that not everybody has responded to the care I have delivered, but on the majority I have enjoyed helping people achieve better health. To the people I have not helped, "I am sorry that I could not help you. I am constantly studying to find resolutions for your various health problems and I am confident that in the future I will be able to help you."

Recently I was asked my professional opinion about surgery for a low back disc degeneration. I want to share what I shared with my client: I am biased about outcomes for surgery and chiropractic care. Just imagine for a moment, I see most of the surgical failures in my office. Would I see the surgical successes? Why would I ever see the successes from surgery? Those people would have no reason for coming to me and seeking my help for that same successful health care resolution. So when clients ask if I would recommend surgery, I am tainted by the countless cases over the thirteen years in practice of surgical failures. Like wise if the patient found resolution using physical therapy or any other medical approach, I would not see them in my office for those same health concerns. So I have been biased because of the medical failures I have seen over thirteen years. Now lets put the shoe on the other foot. Why would a surgeon see the chiropractic patient who had successful resolution to their health care concern? The surgeon's clientele are those people who have been unsuccessful at other resolutions. True I am talking in generalities, some people use medical intervention as the first step and some people use chiropractic care as the first step to help them with their health care concerns, but at least over sixty percent of my clientele had medical intervention failures. In short, if the patient has sought out resolution for difficult cases, the medical, chiropractic or any other practitioner has seen the patient who had failure with the other practitioners. So each profession will be biased by their past experience. If you have ever seen my right hand and the surgical failure you would know why I personally can not recommend surgery. I am personally biased especially when I experienced the same type of injury on my left hand, sought chiropractic therapy and found success with it.

S0 what is the resolution to the bias from each practitioner. We doctors need to:

• recognize that we are not the 'cure all' for everybody.
• learn and perform our healing art form very well
• keep an open mind to alternatives
• shelf our ego and place the over all health of our clientele above everything else
• continue to advance the science around our healing art
• inform our clientele about those things we know and not about our conjecture
• recognize that not everybody is the same and can not be treated the same