What I Wish I Had Known Before The Car Accident
I often see massage clients who have recently had a car accident. Maybe they’ve got severe injuries, or a nasty case of whiplash. But they all have one thing in common: they are in shock and suddenly have to wrestle with serious questions about medical care, their ability to work, and possibly losing their nest egg. I suspect that tackling tough issues like this is best left to more clear headed times, so I asked a chiropractor, an insurance agent, and a personal injury attorney what precautions they’d take.

There are 6 million car accidents every year in the US. And even low speed accidents can cause serious injury. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the head snaps back with the equivalent of several tons of force (in a typical whiplash scenario) at just 10 mph. The most commonly reported types of pain are neck and low back pain. And this pain can be persistent after an accident. 15-40% of people with neck pain directly after an accident develop chronic lifetime neck pain. (Source: Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons)

The Safest Driving Position
Chiropractor Carolyn Finnegan at Align Chiropractic treats lots of patients after car accidents. She also teaches a spinal care class in her practice to every new patient. An important lesson she teaches drivers is to keep your head on the head rest at all times. In case of a rear impact (the most common kind), this prevents you from snapping your neck forward, and reduces the impact-driven range of motion to a small back and forth tilt.

And here’s a tip to keep you in the correct position: adjust your mirrors so you’ll have to return to the correct position to check them. Sit in your car seat with your butt all the way back to the end of the seat, then adjust the headrest so that your head can rest comfortably on it. Adjust your mirrors from here.

Dr. Finnegan also dispelled a common myth, Being as relaxed as you can be helps in a car accident. It’s just not true. The stats don’t bear this out. If you suspect that you’re about to get into an accident, ‘It’s best to brace yourself, tuck your chin, and look straight ahead.’

In the Bay Area, people are often sitting in heavy traffic during accidents (ah, the fond memories of the morning Bay Bridge commute!) If you see an impact coming, it’s also a good idea to brace your foot on the brake so you don’t hit the car in front of you. Dr Finnegan said, ‘Having your legs in an uneven position during impact may cause skeletal imbalances in the hips, but getting sandwiched between two cars is much worse.’

The worst injuries come from turning your head to one side during impact, or from people who didn’t know they were about to be hit. They don’t have the chance to accumulate the natural tension that comes with knowing about an impending impact.

And women are much more likely to get whiplash than men - there’s typically less muscle mass around the neck to protect it. In fact, women are 3 times more likely to have long term neck pain from auto accidents than males. (Source: Traffic Injury Prevention)

Next time: MedPay, the singlemost important thing you can do to protect yourself In an accident.

Foam Rollers For Runners
Are you a hobbyist runner? New marathoner? Veteran racer? Then you’d benefit from using a foam roller on a regular basis on your IT Bands. IT Bands are a major issue for runners.

Your IT Bands are connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee, just outside the quads. Tight IT bands can interfere with your running stride, cause knee pain, low back pain, or just make it really hard to finish your run. Because your IT band isn’t a muscle, you can’t contract or stretch it on your own. The best way to keep IT bands in check are post-run rollouts on a foam roller.

I’ve got foam rollers on sale for just $28 that are rated for home use. (The swirlie patterned rollers you see in the gym are made for continuous heavy duty use; these are made for home and are more economical.) Get one before or after your next massage!

FSA's: Use It Or Lose It
It’s the end of the year… time to use up your Flexible Savings Accounts. Most FSA’s give employees a tax free way to put away money for health care, with a catch - anything you don’t use by the end of the year goes away! You work hard for your money - use it on yourself and your family.

Therapeutic massage is an allowable expense on many FSA plans. Most FSA’s (and HSA’s) follow federal IRS guidelines for allowable medical expenses. ‘Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and the costs for treatments affecting any part or function of the body.’ (Source: IRS Publication 502) In this document, massage is not specifically listed, either as an allowable expense or as a disallowed expense. But based on the IRS definition, it sounds like therapeutic massage - massage to treat a specific pain issue - should be covered. Consult your plan for details, and book a massage!