North Houston Spine and Sports Medicine is offering a Houston TX Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO chiropractic coverage for patients. The Blue Shield of Texas is offering its Participating Provider Option coverage at Dr. Timothy Runnels’ practice. He and the rest of his team are dedicated to giving you the best in chiropractic care. From an ethos of kindness and compassion, we aim to bring this service to all North Houston. We specialize in healing car accidents and sports injuries. Take advantage of your Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO to receive coverage on your chiropractic care with Dr. Runnels.

If you are in an accident and you wake up with severe pain and stiffness, a chiropractor may be able to help you. Back problems can create chronic pain, which leads to worse issues later down the line. The spine is integral and connected to the rest of the body. The shoulders, neck, and arms and legs can all be affected by untreated back problems.

Fortunately, North Houston Spine and Sports Medicine offers a wide variety of treatments to treat many different types of ailments. From back pain and migraines to herniated discs or scoliosis, we have you covered. Of course, patients can use their preferred insurance provider. But if you have a Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO health plan, then you have a home with us.

Auto Injuries

20 to 50 million people are injured or disabled in car accidents every year. Car accidents can result in many kinds of injuries, many associated with the spine. If you have been in a car wreck recently, you may have had a large amount of stress put on your spine.

Houston TX Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO chiropractic coverage

North Houston Spine and Sports Medicine and Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO are here to help you through the trauma of an auto accident.

While many of the more severe injuries like spinal disc injuries can occur in the car, more common is whiplash. Because of the hard jolt that one experiences in a car wreck, that stress can seriously injure your neck. Even if it was a fender-bender, you could be left with momentary, sharp pains throughout your day. But if it was a severe injury, the pain will be constant and chronic.

North Houston Spine and Sports Medicine understands that the physical pains will not be the only stressors after a wreck. To help you get through this trying time, we have done our best to have what other resources we can. While you are using your car insurance, your Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO chiropractic coverage can help on the medical side. And for any lawsuits or settlements, we have highly qualified attorneys we can refer you to.

Migraines

While headaches and migraines have similar symptoms, migraines are characterized by being more severe. Headaches can be treated by rehydrating and resting and can go away in a few hours. Migraines require a more extensive treatment plan. They can last up to three days, and if they are chronic migraines can return for half the month.

Don’t live with pain, call us today.

The American Migraine Foundation lays out several different categories of migraines. You can either be dealing with a common migraine (without aura) or a complicated migraine (with aura). Throbbing and nausea will accompany headaches and will grow worse with activity. The complicated migraine will have the same symptoms as the common migraine but will also have a warning called “aura.” The aura will look like black spots or zigzags over the victim’s vision and dizziness and numbness. It is possible to experience all the symptoms of aura and have a migraine that never reaches any head pain.

Retinal headaches are when you lose some of your vision temporarily. It is more common in women in their 20s and 30s. Sometimes vision is lost for weeks or months, but it is usually reversible. Ice pick headaches are sharp, sudden, shocking pain above your ear and behind your eye. Cluster, or “suicide,” headaches are very painful and invasive, affecting the entire face, head, and temples. They can result in swollen eyes and a runny nose. Lastly, cervicogenic headaches are those that develop in the neck. These can be effectively treated with chiropractic care and physical therapy.

Disc Injuries

The more severe condition one can walk away within an auto accident is one to the spinal disc. Herniated discs come with more severe pain and can debilitate and restrict your mobility.

Diagnosis usually requires medical history and examinations. The first step is to test the upper and lower back for sensitivity and tenderness and find the location.

A herniated disc should be dealt with as soon as it is detected.

If we determine that a herniated disc is present, then more expensive tests may be necessary. Depending on what each show, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and Myelograms can help us understand the problem. The X-ray and CT scan will not detect a herniated disc but will rule out any other possibilities. MRIs will give us the exact location of the herniated disc. Myelograms help us determine the pressure on the spine.

Treatment Options

There are several ways we can help treat an injury to the spinal disc. Because of the severe pain, certain medications will often be prescribed to help alleviate the issue while you heal. Anticonvulsants and muscle relaxers can also be necessary during rehabilitation. Our spinal decompression can help as a spinal compression is likely the issue. We recommend a combination of physical therapy practices at home in tandem with our chiropractic treatment. These are considered conservative methods.

If the pain is chronic and does not improve after trying all these methods, you might need to turn to surgery. Usually, we decide to look at surgery after six weeks of conservative treatments. After symptoms increase to further numbness, difficulty standing, and loss of bladder or bowel control, it is imperative to seek surgery. While all of these tests and surgery sound like they can become a financial burden, your Houston TX Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO health plan has you covered.