Therapeutic Ultrasound After a Car Accident: Deep Heat for Soft Tissue Injuries Within 14 Days

The applicator contains a crystal that vibrates at a frequency far above hearing. Those vibrations pass through the gel and the skin into the tissue beneath. In continuous mode, the tissue absorbs the energy as heat, which reaches muscle and tendon several centimeters deep. Heat at that depth widens blood vessels, relaxes muscle fibers, and makes collagen in scar tissue more pliable, so it stretches instead of pulling.

In pulsed mode, the sound is delivered in bursts with less heating, and the effect is on the cells directly: more fluid movement and a faster clean-up of swelling. Dr. McNamara-Krauss chooses the mode, frequency, and intensity by the depth of the injured tissue and how long ago the crash was.

Ultrasound is a supporting treatment that prepares tissue for the treatments that do the main work. A few minutes on the upper trapezius before an adjustment lets the neck move further, and ultrasound over a shoulder ligament before massage makes scar tissue easier to release. It is a regular part of plans for soft tissue injuries, shoulder injuries, joint injuries, and the muscle strain that comes with whiplash.

Timing follows the injury. In the first days after a crash, when swelling is active, we use pulsed ultrasound or hold it in favor of laser and electrical stimulation. Once the swelling settles, continuous ultrasound brings the deep heat that helps stiff tissue move. Under Florida PIP, treatment within 14 days keeps the full $10,000 benefit available, and ultrasound is delivered inside a plan that began within that window. This is general information, not legal advice.

Gel is spread over the injured area, and the applicator is moved in slow circles across it for a set number of minutes. You feel the cool gel, then a mild warmth. There is no needle and no downtime. Ultrasound is usually delivered in the same visit as the adjustment, massage, or electrical stimulation it supports.

A typical course runs alongside the rest of the plan: a few minutes on the treated area at each visit while the tissue is stiff or scarred, dropped when range of motion holds without it. There is no fixed count. Dr. McNamara-Krauss re-measures range of motion at intervals and keeps ultrasound only while those measurements show it is helping.

Therapeutic ultrasound produces heat in deep tissue, and the screening before it matters. Dr. Carol McNamara-Krauss is a Florida-licensed chiropractic physician (DC), license CH5281. She does not apply ultrasound over the eyes, the heart, the pregnant abdomen or low back, a known or suspected tumor, an infection, a pacemaker or other implanted electrical device, an open growth plate, or a suspected fracture. Areas with reduced sensation are treated at lower intensity.

Head injuries and concussion are screened and referred, not treated here, and ultrasound is not applied to the head. A suspected fracture goes for X-ray before any heat treatment. Broward Health North on Sample Road in Deerfield Beach is the nearest emergency department to this office.