Being injured in a motor vehicle accident, suffering injuries like whiplash, concussions and back pain, is a very difficult experience for most of the people who suffer from this misfortune. While recovery times can vary wildly, it is important to remember that there is a relationship between severity of symptoms and duration of symptoms. This means that if you have strong pain and other symptoms, you may experience symptoms for longer than you expected. The recovery process can be difficult, but it will be very important to work hard at gradually improving in multiple areas. Here are 3 important reasons to work as hard as you can in your recovery from injuries that are caused by motor vehicle accidents.
Better Function Makes Life Easier
Many of the rehabilitation strategies employed for injuries like concussion. and whiplash are targeted at improving your function. This means that it is important to work to improve your ability to do more certain things than you could in the past. An excellent example of a critical function is the amount of time that one can walk before needing to take a break. If you can walk for 5 minutes and need to take a break, this will make many different tasks that you have to complete very difficult. If you can work to improve your ability to walk for longer periods of time, say 20 minutes, before you need to take a break, many simple daily tasks, like getting dressed and going to appointments will get easier. A health care practitioner will help you to identify some key areas of function that can make your life easier, as quickly as possible, after suffering from whiplash or concussion from a motor vehicle accident.
2. Recovery is a Journey
As mentioned above, injuries like whiplash, concussion and back pain, from motor vehicle accidents can require significant periods of time before recovery can be achieved. Of course, this is not what anyone wants. We all want quick or immediate improvements in pain. Recovery, after a motor vehicle accident, however is a journey requiring consistent, small steps towards a goal. Like many journeys, we may travel for some time and not feel any closer to our goal, but when we measure our progress, we can often see that we have moved ourselves forward. Your health care provider can help you to see the steps you need to take on this journey, but much of the progress will come from the consistent work that helps you to make gradual progress in your recovery.
3. The Odds are in Your Favour
While recovery from a motor vehicle accident related injury is often longer than one might expect, most people eventually reach a state of full recovery or significant improvement. Most studies on long-term outcomes suggest that 70-90% of those who suffer head and neck injuries from caused by motor vehicle accidents go on to experience a full recovery, but that this process may take 1-5 years in many cases. So if you are frustrated with your lack of progress, keep working at getting better. To find a healthcare provider who can help you along on this journey, contact us (info@lowertownrehabilitation.ca) for a free, online consultation.
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