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Whiplash: What is it?
You’ve been rear-ended. When it happened, your head and neck were jerked back and then propelled, or “whiplashed” forward.
When whiplash takes place, the soft tissue surrounding the vertebrae in your neck becomes stretched and, depending on the severity of the car accident, the injury can extend to damaged discs, nerves, and blood vessels in the brain, neck, and spinal cord.
This injury, which may take just a few seconds to occur, results in distressing symptoms that can last a year or more, and may even be permanent. Clinical studies indicate that people who suffer from health problems prior to a rear-end collision are more vulnerable to injury and whiplash-associated symptoms.
What are symptoms of whiplash?
Common symptoms of whiplash include:
- Headache
- Stiffness
- Neck pain
- Dizziness
- Jaw pain
- Low back pain
- Cognitive difficulties, e.g., memory problems and blurred thought processes
I was rear-ended but I am not experiencing any of those symptoms. Should I still get checked for whiplash?
Yes. It is important to note that whiplash symptoms do NOT always appear immediately. In fact, it can take months or even years before symptoms begin to occur.
This is one reason it is necessary to explore chiropractic treatment for whiplash immediately. You may not be experiencing discomfort, but it is very possible you have a whiplash injury. If so, an x-ray will detect it, and your chiropractor can begin treatment right away.
Is there a difference in the symptoms experienced by women versus men?
Yes, and children, too. The neck muscles in women and children are generally not as developed as a man’s, which means their muscles cannot hold the neck vertebrae tightly together during a rear-end collision. For this reason, women and children seem to be injured more seriously than men.
Late Whiplash Syndrome
“Late Whiplash Syndrome” refers to symptoms that last longer than six months—in fact, they may continue for years. These symptoms occur on top of any neck-related pain, and include:
- Persistent headache
- Vertigo
- Radiating pain or numbness in the arm
- Chronic lower back pain
- Inability to concentrate
- Difficulty swallowing
- Impaired vision
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Osteoarthritis
- Premature disc degeneration
- Depression, anxiety, and other psychological issues (the psychological distress caused by whiplash is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder)
Whiplash is complex. It is not an injury that just goes away after a few treatments. Because it is systemic, the entire body is impacted, even the brain. The more studies that are conducted, the more the evidence suggests that a persons’ risk of long-term health problems is significantly increased when a whiplash injury occurs, even if the collision was low-impact.
Whiplash and Life-Threatening Health Issues
When a whiplash injury occurs, there is a significant chance it will make the person physically incapable of doing regular exercise. As we should all know by now, lack of exercise directly contributes to weight gain, high blood pressure, and a dramatically increased risk of heart attack.
How can chiropractic treatments help?
Chiropractic treatment for whiplash includes gentle manipulation of the spine, which reduces or eliminates pain, improves your range of motion, restores normal functioning of the spine, and heals the supporting soft tissue that has been stretched and damaged.
Just as whiplash and other injuries are systemic, the chiropractic approach to care and treatment is too, meaning that it addresses the whole body—not just the physical areas where symptoms are being expressed. Your chiropractor will conduct a very thorough, careful assessment before giving a diagnosis and starting treatment.