Seat Belt Injuries After a Car Accident: Examined the Same Day, Within 14 Days

In a frontal crash the body loads the belt in a fraction of a second. The shoulder strap runs from the outer shoulder across the chest to the opposite hip, so it drives the collarbone and AC joint down, compresses the ribs and breastbone along its path, and twists the trunk. The lap belt holds the pelvis while the upper body keeps moving, which loads the low back and the sacroiliac joints. The neck whips forward over the strap.

The driver's strap runs over the left shoulder, the front passenger's over the right. A lap belt that rode up onto the abdomen transfers force to the belly instead of the hip bones, and that is the version that risks internal injury. Frontal crashes on Federal Highway, Copans Road, and the I-95 ramps are the common sources.

Dr. Carol McNamara-Krauss is a Florida-licensed chiropractic physician (DC), license CH5281. The exam follows the belt: the collarbone and AC joint, the ribs and breastbone, the chest and upper back muscles, the shoulder, the abdomen for tenderness that suggests internal injury, and the low back and sacroiliac joints for the lap belt's load. The cervical spine is examined because the neck whips in every belted crash. Range of motion is measured and recorded the same day.

Abdominal tenderness with a lap belt bruise is a same-day referral to the emergency room, not a treatment plan. Collarbone or rib pain with bone tenderness gets an X-ray referral through our imaging and specialist referral process before treatment.

Once fracture and internal injury are ruled out, the musculoskeletal injuries are treated here.Class IV laser therapy on the LightForce system reduces inflammation in the bruised chest wall, the collarbone joints, and the shoulder. Therapeutic ultrasound addresses the strained pectoral and intercostal muscles. Electrical stimulation settles the spasm in the upper back that comes from guarding the chest.

Chiropractic adjustments restore motion to the rib joints, the AC joint, the mid back, the sacroiliac joints, and the neck. Massage therapy with Dawn Marie Teufel, LMT, works the chest and shoulder once the bruising has settled. Shockwave is never used on the spine or ribs. Any whiplash or shoulder injury is treated in the same plan.

Bruising fades in a couple of weeks. The rib joint and chest wall strains behind it usually take several weeks, and deep breathing and twisting are the last things to stop hurting. We re-measure range of motion at set intervals.

For the claim, the file records the location and extent of the seat belt bruising on day one, the findings along the belt's path, range-of-motion measurements, any imaging or ER referral, the treatments applied at every visit, and your reported pain and function, in a proprietary case documentation system built in consultation with personal injury attorneys. Narrative reports are prepared on request and the file goes out as one PDF. See medical documentation for attorneys.