Starts visit one
Pain
Calm it down.
Hands-on work on swelling, scar and irritated nerve, so the arm stops bracing every single time you ask it to move.
What We Treat
Motor vehicle accident recovery treatment in Vancouver, WA.
The elbow that stops short of straight. The wrist that aches the second you put both hands back on the wheel. You have been doing everything one-handed and calling it managing. Recovery runs one-on-one with a licensed Occupational Therapist, several board-certified in hand therapy (CHT), every visit.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- An elbow that stops short of straight, and stops there again tomorrow
- Pins and needles in two fingers that were perfectly fine before the crash
- Doing the dishes, the laundry and the buttons one-handed
- Driving with one arm resting in your lap because turning the wheel hurts
- Being told the bones healed, while the arm still won’t do what you ask
- Reading the same claim letter three times and still not knowing who to call
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
The bones healed. The arm didn’t.
A crash almost never damages one tissue. A fracture gets plated, but that joint then spends weeks held still, and still is what makes a joint tight. A nerve gets stretched or pinched, and sends numbness and weakness down into the hand. Swelling and scar settle into everything around the repair. Four different problems, four different fixes, all in the same arm. An x-ray that reads fine says nothing about any of them.
You have not been dragging your feet. You have been going to appointments, answering adjusters, and doing your job with one arm. But none of this gets sorted out by a sling and a wait-and-see. That is why an elbow can be locked tight by the time somebody finally sends you here. Hand and upper-extremity therapy is its own board certification, and our Certified Hand Therapists hold it. Your first visit is a cause-first evaluation: what is stiff, what is nerve, what is scar, and what order to attack them in. Auto insurance is on our accepted list, and we check your benefits before your first visit and tell you what we find.
The Honest Truth
A stiff joint doesn’t wait for the claim.
If you keep waiting
- A joint that sits still gets tighter, and tight is harder to undo than sore
- Scar sets around the repair in whatever position you have been holding it
- The good arm takes over the whole job, and the hurt one keeps getting weaker
If you start this week
- You leave visit one knowing what is actually limiting the arm
- Hands-on work on scar, swelling and motion starts that same visit
- We check your benefits first and tell you exactly what we find
Nobody regrets starting too early. An elbow that is locking up is not waiting for the claim to settle.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for an arm hurt in a crash.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here is what the four phases look like after a collision.
Once the pain settles
Prime
Win the motion back.
Graded motion at the elbow, forearm and wrist, plus a custom splint fabricated and remolded here as the joint gives ground.
Once the motion holds
Perform
Make it strong enough to trust.
Grip, lifting and rotation loaded back up in the positions your job, your kids and your steering wheel actually use.
Before discharge
Prevent
Take your life off hold.
We test the arm against the tasks you have been avoiding, then you leave with a plan you keep doing. That is the endpoint, not just another appointment.
Amy is an exceptional therapist with extensive knowledge of hand, arm, and elbow function. My husband was in a terrible car accident that resulted in nerve damage, cartilage loss, and an extensive surgery to repair a compound elbow fracture. Amy has been instrumental in getting some movement back in an elbow that was locked very tight by the time we found Amy. She has worked with our insurance and gone above and beyond in accommodating our schedule with so many doctor and therapist visits. We are so glad we found. Amy, and can not recommend her any more highly. Thank you, Amy!
Shared by Audrey G. · Elbow fracture after a car accident
Visit one: an elbow that stops well short of straight
Prevent phase: both hands back on the wheel, and back on your work
Motor vehicle accident
Pain to Prevent
Questions, Answered
What people ask after a crash.
Auto insurance is on our accepted payer list, and the full list of plans we work with is on our insurance page. Coverage still depends on your policy and your claim, so we check your benefits before your first visit and tell you exactly what we find. You will not be guessing at it, and you will not be chasing it down alone.
No. Stiffness and scar make an arm harder to move the longer they sit, but harder is not the same thing as too late. Arms arrive here long after the crash, some of them locked up tight. Your evaluation tells you honestly what motion is still available and what it takes to go get it. If we think someone else is the better call for you, we say so.
You get a plan with an endpoint, not an open tab of appointments. At your evaluation we map the four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, and what has to be true before you move from one to the next. How long the arm has been stiff changes the pace, so we tell you what we are seeing as we go instead of guessing at a number on day one.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person from our front desk calls you back to get you scheduled. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Mon–Fri 7:00am–5:00pm · Sat–Sun closed
- (360) 989-1200 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- One-on-one with a licensed Occupational Therapist, every visit
5.0 · 146 Google reviews
Your request goes straight to our front desk
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during clinic hours to get you on the schedule and tell you what to bring.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Gabbert Clinic
- 7710 NE Greenwood Dr # 150, Vancouver, WA 98662
- (360) 989-1200
- Fax: (360) 583-3442
- admin@gabbertclinic.com
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Mon–Fri 7:00am–5:00pm
Sat–Sun closed