Being Overweight Increases Pain After Car Crash

Being overweight leads to higher pain after a car crash.  This is according to a research article presented at the American Pain Society’s 33rd annual meeting held in late April of 2014.  This has chiropractic implications since chiropractors are a first stop in car crash injury recovery.

A research team from University of North Carolina department of anesthesiology looked at emergency room records for people involved in a car crashes.  They found that people who were overweight complained of higher pain levels than the people of healthy weight.  They also found that the pain levels scaled with the degree of obesity.  Very heavy people had higher pain than heavy people.

Injury recovery was also slower with overweight and obese people.  Car crash injury victims reported pain levels at 6 month and 12 month follow-up visits.  The overweight people tended to report higher pain, which meant slower recovery.

What does this mean for you if you are overweight?  Well, I am not telling you to lose weight incase you are in an accident.   But I will tell you to expect higher pain and a longer treatment time.  Your injury may take longer to heal.  Chiropractic is still your best choice, but you need to have realistic expectations for your recovery.

Dr. Andrew White | St George Chiropractor

Featured image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Surachai

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