Your elbow is a versatile and important joint that allows you to lift a coffee cup and much more. Yet it’s only made to straighten so far. An elbow that straightens too far is said to be hyperextended, and this can have some fairly serious consequences. 

An elbow hyperextension can cause a soft tissue injury in the elbow. For instance, an elbow ligament or tendon may be overstretched or torn. These injuries can lead to pain and swelling, and they can also make it harder to move the affected elbow. They can also happen to just about anybody, including the 4.8 million people who have been in a car accident. Fortunately, physical therapists can address elbow hyperextension injuries and other elbow issues you may develop when you’ve been in a car accident. 

3 ways physical therapists can treat an elbow hyperextension injury after a car accident

While an elbow hyperextension injury may not be on your list of common car accident injuries, it’s still an injury that a physical therapist can treat effectively. Physical therapists are experts at treating the musculoskeletal structures that make up joints like your elbow. Some of the ways physical therapists can help with this injury are: 

1. Pinpointing the injured elbow structure — Your elbow is made up of nerves, bones, ligaments and tendons. Hyperextending your elbow during a car accident can injure any one of these structures. Physical therapists can evaluate your elbow to determine which structure(s) have been injured. This helps them create a treatment plan that is more targeted and effective. 

2. Easing your injury symptoms — It’s not always easy to deal with pain. This is especially true if the pain is coming from a body part you typically use a lot, like your elbow. The pain of your elbow injury can keep you sidelined from work and normal daily activities. There is hope, though. 

A physical therapist can use techniques like soft tissue mobilization to help ease your pain. As your elbow heals, they can use joint mobilization to ensure you regain the highest possible level of elbow movement. In addition, your clinician can create a therapeutic exercise program for you that can help build strength and flexibility in elbow-supporting muscles. 

3. Helping you work back into your normal daily activities — Injuries don’t recover all at once. It’s a gradual process. But it’s common for people to become impatient during their recovery. Their impatience may prompt them to try to go back to their normal routine too soon. Unfortunately, doing this can set back their recovery even further. 

Physical therapists can help you make steady progress throughout your recovery process. More importantly, they can help you track your progress so that you’re less likely to get impatient and aggravate your injury. A physical therapist can also show you movement modifications for common daily tasks, which can help keep you more independent as your injury heals. 

Franklin Rehab offers effective care for many elbow and car accident injuries

Did you sustain an elbow hyperextension injury during a recent car crash? You can swing by our Franklin Rehabilitation clinic to get help from our experienced physical therapists. You can also get a free screening done on your injured elbow. Even better, our PT experts can build you a beneficial treatment plan that’s tailored to your injury and your recovery needs and goals. 

Contact our team today for more information about how we can help treat a car accident injury or to schedule your initial appointment.