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[Content Warning: Car Accidents]
Hi, everyone! Dr. Orit Hickman here. And, I wanted to put together a short video on what to do if you experience low back pain after a car accident. So, this is within the first, you know, first few hours to few days.
The biggest mistake that we tend to make right after a trauma like a car accident is that we tend to, you know, all the muscles get really, really tight and we’re like, “Ok. We’re not going to move. We’re just going to protect our body.” But, the research doesn’t actually support that. The best thing that you can be doing is start gentle movement. So, initially after the accident, once it’s been determined by a medical provider that you are safe to move and go back to daily activities, then what you want to do is try to first make sure you’re taking gentle walks, certainly around your house, but also around your neighborhood. As sore and stiff as you might be, preventing or stopping yourself from doing activities [is] really not the best thing that you can do. Your body needs blood flow. The tissues are all trying to heal.
And, if you watched my neck pain/whiplash videos after an accident, you’ll know that I just had my first like significant car accident where my airbags went off. My car was deemed totaled by the insurance company just last week. And so, I was fairly fortunate in that I really didn’t experience a lot of pain right at the time of the accident. But, for the next couple of days, I was feeling pretty sore. So, the things that I did to make sure that my body healed and that I didn’t end up with persistent symptoms included gentle head motions, which were in the previous video. And then, I’m going to show you some of the back movements that I did, And, really there’s any number of things that you can be doing but the most important is that you’re not guarding your back and you’re trying to move as normal as possible despite how uncomfortable it may be.
So, one of the first things that I did was I got into my hands-onto a hands and knees position, and I just gently did some rounding of my back and arching of my back. And, I did about ten repetitions of this probably about every hour just to keep my back loose. And, because, again, as soon as you have that kind of impact and you have a lot of tissue injury as a result of the accident, muscles get really stiff and sore, and everything braces to heal. The other thing that I do is called wagging the dog, so I sort of go back and forth with my hips, again, trying to keep my body loose, keeping my back loose as much as possible. You can do that rounding motion in sitting positions as well, so I’m showing you this from a side position, but if I’m, you know, if I’m sitting in a chair, I will also round and extend and sort of move side to side all while trying to keep my back pretty loose.
The other thing that tends to happen after a car accident is that the nervous system as a whole gets really, really ramped up. So, nerve pain is pretty common after that type of injury. And so, one of the most common things that I’ll do are what are called nerve glides for the lower body. And, there are four exercises or four movements that I do. So, I will lay down. I’ll rock my knees side to side ten times gently in a pain-free motion. So, that’s the range that feels comfortable. I’m not trying to stretch. I’m not trying to cause pain.
And then, I will-you can-you can straighten or keep the other legs bent, I’ll rock one knee in at a time, gentle, just for blood flow, tent times on each side. That’s exercise number two.
With exercise number three, I’ll just bring the leg gently across the body, again, ten times on each side. And, this is, again, gentle motion.
And then, the final movement that I’ll do is that I’ll hold behind the leg, and I’m going to gently lift and lower the bottom leg. All of this is to help get some nice blood flow to my sciatic nerves, which could get really, really irritated after a trauma like a car accident.
So, I hope that was helpful. Again, the most important thing that you want to remember is movement is your friend after you’ve had a trauma like an accident and rest and not moving are things that tend to keep pain around. So, gentle motion, gentle stretching, these are all really wonderful things. And, if in doubt, go see your doctor or a physical therapist to have them access and see what’s going on.
I hope this was helpful. If it was, I’d appreciate a thumbs-up and please subscribe to our YouTube channel to get more videos. And, if you have any comments, please leave them down below. Have a good day!
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