Whiplash is a neck injury from a forceful back and forth movement of the neck

The main cause for a whiplash is usually from a motor vehicle collision but can also occur by other forms for example a fall.  A few of the symptoms that you can experience from a whiplash are neck pain, muscle spasms, stiffness, decrease of range of motion, headaches, fatigue, dizziness and even radiating symptoms. Radiating symptoms are when you begin to feel numbness and tingling into the arms and fingers. Some patients also experience more severe symptoms like blurred vision, difficulty sleeping, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, ringing in the ears, and depression.

After a motor vehicle collision, you should seek medical care and rule out fracture or ligamentous instability that could damage or worsen your symptoms and be life threatening. The forceful backward and forward motion can injure and damage, your bones in the spine, the discs that are in between the bones, ligaments, nerves, muscles and other tissues in the neck. There is not a specific recovery time frame and It is difficult to predict how long the recovery for a whiplash injury will take whether it is a few weeks, a few months, or years to recover. Some complication to your recovery could be age, previous trauma, and chronic neck pain that can play a big role in the recovery of a whiplash injury.

What do we do as chiropractors to treat whiplash?

We perform a very detailed exam that consist of the patients’ current range of motion, orthopedic exams, cranial nerve exam, sensory testing, motor testing, reflex testing, detecting muscle spasms and restrictions in the spine. After examining the patient, the doctor comes up with a proper diagnosis and requests the proper imaging. For a neck injury the doctor usually tends to send out a script for imaging whether it is an X-ray, CT, MRI of the cervical spine which is the neck. Once we receive the imaging and report we make sure the patient did not suffer from altitudinal ligamental tear or a fracture in the spine and we can begin conservative care. We begin by treating conservatively by applying electrical stimulation to the surrounding muscles. Electrical stimulation sends electrical pulses to the muscles through the skin to stimulate the injured muscles and help reduce pain. Electrical stem helps accelerate recovery and provides some relief of pain. Although Electrical stimulation is great it is not for everyone, patients with pacemakers or any kind of heart device and pregnant mothers should stay away from Electrical stimulation. Alongside with electrical stimulation we like to use ice to help reduce inflammation and heat to help relax muscles.  Another treatment is myofascial release.

What is myofascial release?

Myofascial release is a very safe and effective hands on technique pressure that is applied to connective tissues restrictions to help with pain and restore some motion.  As a chiropractor and being one of the main things we do we also provide chiropractic adjustments, also known as spinal manipulations to the cervical (neck) spine, thoracic (upper back) spine and lumbar (low back) spine. A chiropractor uses their hands, or a small instrument called an Activator to apply a controlled force to the spinal joint. The adjustment helps improve motion and physical function. Some patients that suffer from headaches symptoms after a motor vehicle collision seem to decrease after an adjustment. Once the patient is out of the acute phase, we introduce active therapy. For our active therapy we introduce the patient to different stretches and exercises. The stretches will help release the contracted muscles and help increase range of motion. We also teach exercises to help strengthened the weak muscles in the cervical spine and thoracic spine. Once we strengthened the muscles it helps with the natural curves that we have in our spine whether its is the lordotic curve in the neck which is known as the cervical spine or kyphotic curve in the upper back which is known as the thoracic spine. These curves should be maintained because many times after a motor vehicle collision the curves tend to reverse which can cause muscle spasms and pain. The way we maintain those curves are by strengthening the extensor muscles which are in the back of the neck and upper back. If we strengthened, then that helps with posture which will in the long term help the curves and take weight off of the neck muscles. Another problem we see with whiplash patients is forward head posture which puts a lot of weight on the muscles and ligament in the neck. After a whiplash the patient can also suffer from a sprain and strain in the neck. A sprain and strain is when the neck muscle and ligaments become overstretched like a rubber band and it takes time for those muscles and ligaments to return to its “normal” elasticity.

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