Injuries Due to Baltimore Motorcycle Accidents

Injuries Due to Baltimore Motorcycle Accidents

As a Baltimore Chiropractor that spends the majority of my time treating patients involved in motor vehicle collisions (car accidents) in Baltimore, I typically come across several patients each day that are suffering from headaches, neck pain, radiating arm pain, back pain, and sometimes even radiating leg pain. During my initial past medical history and evaluation I ask about any cuts, scrapes, or bruises that these patients may have received as a result of their Baltimore whiplash injuries. Most of the time there are no signs of any of these injuries for “traditional” whiplash patients. That is, they have musculoskeletal injuries that are determined as a result of range of motion, orthopedic, and neurological analysis, but there are no cuts, scrapes, and bruises. The reason for this is pretty straight forward- besides maybe hitting their neck and head on part of the car during the impact, there are rarely ever any high velocity impacts with the occupants body and the car. Once in a while we can see some facial bruising, abdominal bruising, and cuts from a seat belt, but these are not an every day occurrence.

I occasionally treat Baltimore residents who have suffered from motorcycle accidents. Admittedly, I treat way fewer of these types of patients than “traditional” car accidents. I suspect that this is for two main reasons. First, there are way more motor vehicles on the road as compared to motorcycles, so its a volume argument. Secondly, and this part is sad, many times when motorists are involved in motorcycle crashes they do not survive. In spite of wearing helmets and road “leathers” sometimes even relatively low speed crashes can prove to be fatal. In fact, just this past week there was a report of a Baltimore Orioles minor leaguer who was killed in a motorcycle crash in the Dominican Republic. You can read the article here.

When I do come across patients involved in Baltimore motorcycle accidents,there are similar patterns of injury. Typically the motorcycle rider was either struck by or into another motor vehicle, in which case they are thrown from the motorcycle, or, in an effort to avoid a collision, they “roll” their motorcycle to either the left or the right and they skid on the ground until enough friction allows them to stop. You can see how these types of injuries are often more severe, and in some cases, life threatening compared to traditional Baltimore auto accidents.

With these patients I make sure to examine their skin for any evidence of cuts, scrapes, and bruises. While it is true that I personally will not be treating these injuries, we want to make sure that they are not at risk for any infection since that could be a bigger problem down the road. Typically with these patients in addition to abrasions, contusions, and lacerations there is a large amount of concussions that we note. This is due to the high velocity with which they strike the ground. In these cases we make sure to refer them to a neurologist for prompt evaluation and diagnosis. It is important to note that just because a motorcyclist was wearing a helmet, it does NOT mean that they won’t experience a concussion.

As with all Baltimore motor vehicle collision injury patients we make sure to have the patients evaluated by a medical doctor as well. That is, two professionals are better than one and I want to make sure that I have not missed any subtle diagnosis that would otherwise cause the patient more harm.

If you, or someone you know, has suffered injuries as a result of a Baltimore motorcycle accident, please contact Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic at (443) 842-5500. We would be happy to help!

Dr. Gulitz