How Diabetes Can Affect Neck Injuries
Posted on: 28 December 2018
If you have diabetes and have sustained a neck injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident, then you may experience more symptoms than those of a non-diabetic. In addition, taking prescription pain medication for your neck injury may wreak havoc with your blood sugar levels. It is for this reason that you should consider non-pharmaceutical treatments for your neck injury such as auto injury chiropractic care. Here are some ways diabetes can worsen a motor vehicle-related neck injury and what you can do about them.
Poor Circulation
If your diabetes is poorly managed or if you have long-standing diabetes, the blood vessels inside your body may be damaged. This can lead to poor circulation, which can cause delayed healing after a neck injury.
Your chiropractic physician can perform therapeutic massage on your neck to help enhance circulation so that brisk blood flow can be directed to the injured areas around your neck. This will help decrease pain, improve range-of-motion, diminish muscle weakness, and strengthen the surrounding structures of the neck.
Therapeutic massage also helps promote relaxation so that you can enjoy a more restorative sleep. When you have a painful neck injury such as whiplash or herniated disc, it is important that you get enough sleep because doing so helps your body heal faster.
Systemic Inflammation
Diabetes can also trigger a systemic inflammatory response. When blood glucose levels get too high, your body can release pro-inflammatory chemicals into the bloodstream. When this happens, you may experience an increase in neck pain and inflammation of the soft tissue that surrounds your neck.
While taking your prescribed diabetes medication, watching your weight, getting enough exercise, and following your diabetic diet can help dampen systemic inflammation, you may also need chiropractic interventions to further promote healing of your neck injury. Your chiropractor can perform a neck adjustment or a spinal alignment procedure that will help improve circulation, decrease inflammation, and ease your pain.
These treatments can help eliminate your discomfort without prescription pain medications, which can cause serious side effects such as an increase in blood sugar levels, confusion, gastrointestinal problems, and dizziness.
If you have diabetes and have sustained a neck injury as a result of a car accident, consider the services of an auto injury chiropractic care practitioner. He or she can recommend non-pharmaceutical ways of treating your injury so that you can resume your normal activities free from pain and weakness.
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