The most common cause of a whiplash injury is from a car accident. When you are involved in a rear-end collision, your neck snaps backward and forward, injuring your spine, tendons, ligaments, muscles, nerves, and inter-vertebral joints. Typically, you don’t feel much pain right away, but as the day wears on, and especially the next day, the pain gets worse.
The most common symptoms are headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, upper and lower back pain, and difficulty in concentrating. Other symptoms that can occur are blurred vision, ringing in ears, pain radiating down arms or legs, jaw pain, and irritability.
Getting the proper chiropractic exam and treatment as soon as possible is essential. A thorough evaluation including x-rays will assess the extent of the injury and identify any fractures. If a herniated disc is suspected, a MRI may also be done.
When your neck is snapped backward and forward, the muscles and ligaments get sprained. They tighten-up and pull the vertebrae in a straightened position. The normal position of your neck vertebrae is a gentle curve. Then the joints in-between each vertebra get mis-aligned. They can’t glide smoothly when you turn your neck or bend forward or backward. When your spine is mis-aligned, your spinal nerves that exit in between each vertebra can get pinched or irritated.
If left untreated, this abnormal movement accelerates the development of bone spurs in your neck. Bone spurs result from a build up or thickening of calcium around a joint. To get a better understanding of this process, an analogy can be made with getting callouses on your hands or feet. Constant abnormal rubbing of the skin causes the thickened skin.
Chiropractic spinal manipulation to re-align the vertebrae, along with physio-therapy modalities will reduce your pain, speed up the healing process, and help prevent permanent damage to your spine.
Dr. Tarcha has 29 years of experience helping patients recover from whiplash injuries and preventing permanent damage. She uses state of the art diagnostic and treatment methods. She can be reached at (310) 318-9543.
Comments 2
My whiplash was a forward to far right motion when a drunk snuck up behind me and screamed boo as loud he could into my ear canal. That was in 2012 and I have been in constant pain since. 2010, 2 years before, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Pain is unbelievable.
Your thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.
Author
Hi Kathy,
I would recommend that you get an evaluation from a chiropractor, which includes x-rays, and probably an MRI. It’s possible that the forceful jolt mis-aligned your upper cervical spine and skull area. If you live in this area, I would be happy to see you. If not, I may be able to refer you to someone.
Dr. Tarcha