Louisville Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident

In a recent TV interview, Dr. Todd Black and host John Ramsey discuss the importance of getting chiropractic care after a car accident.  You can watch the entire interview at the bottom of this page.

Interview Transcript:

John Ramsey:

There is nothing worse than an injured back or neck, and you just can’t move. Your mobility is down and it will ruin your day. Don’t let it do that. Have something done about it. Call Chiropractor2U with Dr. Todd Black. Happy St. Patty’s Day to you, Dr. Black.

Dr. Todd Black:

Good to be here. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you too.

John Ramsey:

I am so glad you are here because it’s funny, not funny really. It’s very serious. But a friend of mine was in a car accident, knock on wood, okay, but he is moving slow. And he even said this before, I told him about you and he said, last thing I want to do is get in a car and go to a chiropractor. Okay, you saw the need. Tell him about Chiropractor2U.

Dr. Todd Black:

Well, Chiropractor2U is a mobile delivery service for people that have been involved in motor vehicle accident cases. Whenever you get in one of those, and if you have an injury, oftentimes you’re going to be seeing either a chiropractor or a physical therapist, maybe three times a week for as many as six weeks or so. So that can add up to a lot of time just driving to and from the appointment, waiting in the waiting rooms, waiting for the doctor to come to you, all of that kind of thing. And so I just decided, hey, let’s make that a lot simpler for people and then I would just come to them and take care of them at their home, which I did for quite a while. And then I put together this treatment bus. It’s a shuttle bus that’s been gutted out to make a treatment room on wheels. So if they’ve been in a car accident, I can come to them pretty much whenever they need; evenings, weekends, that kind of thing, make it work for their schedule, take care of them right there in the bus or in the comfort of their own home.

John Ramsey:

So you would think, some people may think, hey, I’m going to get lesser treatment because they’re coming to me. No, he has all of that equipment right there and he can take care of you. What kind of injuries do you usually see? Of course, everyone thinks of back and neck automatically, but tell me about some of the things that you really see.

Dr. Todd Black:

Well whiplash is probably the most common term, but what that boils down to is sprains and strains. And that could be a sprained neck or a sprained middle back, sprained low back, sprained hips, sprained shoulders, sprained knee, just about anything. Headaches are very common too. Whenever you sprain your neck, oftentimes the pain refers up to the head and that can cause a lot of problems. I was in a car accident one time and I was going to the doctor and they said, “Hey, which one of these things bothers you the most?” I was like, well, I couldn’t say which one bothered me the most, but I could say which one I wanted to get rid of first and that was that headache because it kind of takes you out from the top all the way down. So headaches are a big one.

John Ramsey:

I can understand that. Okay, so for those who are out there watching, maybe they’re thinking, well, you know what, if I went to an office, it’s going to cost me less. Okay. That’s a mistruth. Talk about the fact that you’re not any more expensive than it is to go pay an office visit. Right?

Dr. Todd Black:

No, I mean, we’ve had this discussion before.

John Ramsey:

Yes.

Dr. Todd Black:

And I always say doctors make plenty of money already. So I just use the same fee schedule for my home care patients that I do for the ones that come into my office, which is on 2623 West Broadway. And I’m there two days a week, Monday and Wednesday. So, if people want to come there to see me for their car accident, they can do that too. Or what I would suggest, give me a call, let me come to see you at either your home or your office, or you can get into my treatment vehicle.

John Ramsey:

And for folks, recommendations, I know that you have a number of clients, but yeah, have you had clients that stick with you longer than the six weeks because they’re just finding the sense of wellbeing by the treatments that you can give them?

Dr. Todd Black:

Well, it’s more like this. It’s like if their condition requires that they have more than six weeks of care, very often with the way chiropractors work is we see patients frequently at first for the first few weeks, and then we begin to taper things off and wait to see how things hold out. Sometimes, I will refer to other practitioners, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, things of that nature, and they may want that patient to treat for another six weeks or something like that. I don’t like to just tell my patient, oh, I’ve done my part, you can go now. I like to kind of hang around and see the job through. So if I worked on them for six weeks and they went somewhere else and they kept them for six weeks, they might see me once a month for the last month or so.

John Ramsey:

Dr. Black, it seems to me that there’s this trend of convenience. Everyone wants things brought to their home, whether it be groceries or whatever the case may be. You were in front of that. Did you see that trend? And I would also think that yours really, the need is even greater because there’s pain involved. It’s like, hey, if I got to get in and out of a car, that’s tough. I remember when I hurt my back one time lifting, I could hardly get in the car to go to a chiropractor. I mean, people were helping me get in the car. That was the big hassle.

Dr. Todd Black:

Well, like you’re saying, very often we’ll have to write down how has this accident affected somebody’s life? What can you not do now that you could do before? And a lot of times, getting up and down or in and out is on top of the list.

John Ramsey:

Okay, so if someone’s been in a car accident, when should they call you? Okay, so you’re in a car accident, and I think it’s true. Sometimes you find that you think you’re okay. A day later, a week later, suddenly it’s something happened and slipped, whether it’s a disc or whatever, and you didn’t even realize that. Should they call you immediately?

Dr. Todd Black:

You know, I think it’s a good idea to get checked out right away. A lot of times, the pain doesn’t kick in as strong as it’s going to be until about 48 hours later. When you have an accident, there’s a whole lot of endorphins and there’s a lot of excitement and things like that. So it can sort of somewhat mask the feelings. Then you go home and you’re a little out of whack and then you try to do your normal routine and the next thing you know is just you’re not doing so well.

Your body’s compensating for the injuries that you have, making other parts that didn’t even get injured hurt, for example. So, I would say just right away is the best time. You should know if you check out okay or if you don’t. They’re both valuable to you. Okay? If you’re in an accident and you’re just fine, you should actually put that down in writing too. Because what happens if you get in another accident and then unfortunately the people that might be responsible for your injuries in that case want to say, “No, you were just in an accident last year and we think you were hurt then”. Well, if you have a piece of paper where I’ve examined you and your ranges of motion are good and you don’t have muscle spasm and you’re not making complaints, well that goes a long way to saying,  “I’m sorry, I was just fine before you did what you did to me”.  So it’s good either way.

John Ramsey:

That makes perfect sense. And for those out there who are trying to power through things, I think that’s sometimes in our DNA. Women are as bad as men, believe me. They say, I can make it, I can do it. To me, don’t do that. Call Chiropractor2U today. How quickly can you get out to them? How much in advance should they let you know about an appointment, Dr. Black?

Dr. Todd Black:

Well, like you said, this is the era of we want it now, we want it delivered. And so I keep that in mind. If someone calls me, I will at least try to get them some paperwork to fill out that day or the next day. And I will try to get them that appointment that day or the next day as well. You know, if they, for example, have things that keep them from meeting that soon, then it might go a little bit longer. But the whole idea is to get care to the injury as soon as possible.

We talked about this one time. Once you’re injured, you begin to heal immediately. And so essentially, your body is putting in stone the healing process right then and there. So you want to heal back. You’re not doing what you should be doing when you’re injured, so how’s your body going to learn to heal itself back to the way it used to be or as close to it as possible?

These are permanent injuries because you heal with scar tissue on the inside of your body. We know when we have scars on the outside of our body, we can tell the difference. And why? Because it’s actually different material. Same thing inside your body. It heals back with different material and that material is weaker and more pain sensitive than the original tissue so it’s very important to reorganize it optimally because you’re working with stuff that’s not as good.

John Ramsey:

Wow. One thing I love about this show, when someone is passionate about what they do and knowledgeable, I learn a little bit and hey, you learned a lot. And I’m telling you, if you have a problem, if you’ve been in a car accident, you’re not feeling quite yourself or you just want to be checked out, Chiropractor2U, he comes to you. Dr. Black has your back. Dr. Black, thank you very much. Really appreciate it.

Dr. Todd Black:

My pleasure, John. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

John Ramsey:

To you as well. I’m looking for the green though. I’m not seeing, come on Todd. Where is it?

Dr. Todd Black:

It’s here somewhere!

 

Watch the entire interview below: