Is Whiplash Treatment after Accidents or Injuries Essential?

Is Whiplash Treatment after Accidents or Injuries Essential?

Oct 01, 2021

A whiplash injury results from a forceful impact to the neck like the cracking of a whip. Whiplash injuries also result from rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck. Whiplash injuries are standard in motor vehicle accidents caused by rear-ended vehicles. However, you may experience the symptoms of whiplash from sporting incidents, physical abuse, and other trauma like a fall. If you experience whiplash symptoms, you can expect them to improve within a few weeks following whiplash treatment, including exercises and medication. However, in some people, whiplash can leave chronic pain besides other long-lasting complications.

What Are the Primary Causes of Whiplash?

Whiplash generally occurs when your head is forcefully thrown backward before quickly thrusting it forward. The motion injures the bones in the spine, the discs between the bone, muscles, ligaments, nerves, and various neck tissues.

You can suffer injuries like whiplash from the following:

  • Motor vehicle accidents are the most significant cause of whiplash when vehicles are rear-ended.
  • However, assault or physical abuse can also cause whiplash to occur if you are punched or shaken. It is also one of the injuries observed by chiropractors in shaken baby syndrome.
  • Contact sports like collisions in football tackles also cause whiplash.

What Are the Symptoms of Whiplash?

Whiplash symptoms generally develop within days of the injury and may include neck pain and stiffness, worsening pain when moving the neck, loss of range of motion in the neck, tenderness of pain in the shoulder or upper back and arms, tingling numbness in the arms, dizziness, fatigue, and headaches starting at the base of the skull.

Some people also develop symptoms like blurred vision, sleep disturbances, depression, memory issues, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and tinnitus.

Most people suffering from whiplash recover within a few weeks and don’t exhibit any lasting effects from the injury. However, discomfort may continue in some people for several months or years after the injury occurred.

It is challenging to predict how people with whiplash recover. You will likely continue having chronic pain if your initial symptoms were intense and included severe neck pain, pain spreading into the arms, and a limited range of motion.

You can decide to see your primary healthcare provider or the chiropractor near me if you have neck pain or other whiplash symptoms after car accidents, sports injuries, or any other traumatic injury. You must get a prompt and precise diagnosis to rule out broken bones or other damages that may cause the symptoms to worsen.

Can Whiplash Cause Complications?

Whiplash undoubtedly causes complications if you have had whiplash earlier, you were involved in a high-speed injury with existing low back or neck pain and are aged. Therefore you must visit your doctor or the chiropractor 85331 to get your condition diagnosed and treated to lessen or avoid the discomfort altogether.

Diagnosing Whiplash

Whether you meet your doctor or the chiropractor, expect to answer questions about the event which caused the problem and your symptoms. The practitioners ask the questions to understand the severity of your symptoms and how often they occur. Questions about whether you can perform your everyday tasks are also put forward by the practitioners.

Expect the doctor or chiropractor to touch and move your head, neck, and arms. They may also request you to move and perform simple tasks to check the range of motion in your neck and shoulders, the degree of the movement causing the pain or increasing it, tenderness in your neck, back, shoulders, and the strength and sensation in your limbs and reflexes.

Imaging studies don’t make whiplash apparent, but the practitioners will likely request one or more tests to rule out conditions that worsen your neck pain. The imaging tests may include x-rays, CT scans, and magnetic resonance imaging tests, mainly to check whether you have soft tissue injuries like damages to the spinal cord, discs, and ligaments.

Whiplash Treatment

Whiplash treatment strives to repress pain and rehabilitate a normal range of motion in the neck to get you back to routine activities. Your personalized treatment plan considers the extent of your whiplash injury because some people may only need over-the-counter medications and at-home care. Others may need prescription medications and specialized pain treatment or physical therapy from the chiropractor near you to manage whiplash appropriately.

Stretching and movement exercises help restore the range of motion in your neck to get you back to your regular activities. However, if you have ongoing discomfort from whiplash or need help with range of motion exercises, contact the chiropractor from Tatum Chiropractic and Wellness. The chiropractor uses various techniques to improve your range of motion, providing you a drug-free and painless treatment to relieve the discomfort you experience.

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