Massage Therapy After a Car Accident: Release Muscle Spasm From Visit 1

Massage here is targeted work on the specific muscles the examination found in spasm, not the relaxation massage of a spa. Dawn Marie Teufel uses her hands and forearms to apply pressure along the muscle fibers, hold pressure on trigger points until they release, and stretch connective tissue that has shortened. The pressure is set to the stage of healing, lighter in the first week and deeper as the tissue settles.

Muscle spasm after a crash is a protective reflex. The nervous system locks the muscles around an injured joint to stop it moving. That reflex is useful for a few days and harmful after that, because a muscle held tight loses blood flow and starts to hurt on its own.

Massage is prescribed by Dr. McNamara-Krauss after the examination, with the muscles and the goals named in the plan. It treats the muscle side of whiplash, neck injuries, back injuries, and seat belt injuries, where the belt leaves a line of tight, bruised tissue across the chest and shoulder.

A session before an adjustment loosens the muscles so the joint moves more easily and the adjustment holds longer. Laser or electrical stimulation in the first days reduces swelling so massage becomes tolerable sooner. Under Florida PIP, treatment within 14 days keeps the full $10,000 benefit available, and massage under the doctor's plan is part of that care. This is general information, not legal advice.

Dawn Marie Teufel reviews the doctor's notes before each session. In the first sessions after a crash, the pressure is light and the goal is blood flow and calming the spasm. As the tissue settles, the work goes deeper and targets adhesions and trigger points. You are asked to report pressure that is too much.

A typical course follows the rest of the plan: more frequent sessions in the first weeks, when spasm returns quickly, and fewer as the muscles hold their length between visits. There is no fixed count. The therapist reports what she found, and Dr. McNamara-Krauss uses those reports and her own re-examinations to decide when massage has done its job.

Dr. Carol McNamara-Krauss is a Florida-licensed chiropractic physician (DC), license CH5281. Massage is not applied over a suspected fracture, an open wound, a bruise that is still spreading, an area with a suspected blood clot, or skin with a rash or infection. Deep pressure is withheld from patients on blood thinners and from the low back and abdomen during pregnancy.

Head injuries and concussion are screened and referred, not treated here, and neck massage waits until a head strike has been cleared. A calf that is swollen, warm, and painful after a crash needs an emergency department first, because it may be a clot. Broward Health North on Sample Road in Deerfield Beach is the nearest to this office.