What is a whiplash? Whiplash refers to the injuries to the neck that are sustained as a result of sudden jerking movements of your head. This can be caused by many different activities. You could get a whiplash from being in a car accident, a work accident, or playing contact sports. Whiplash can be extremely painful and debilitating in some cases. Whiplash is a fairly common injury but not many people know that the symptoms of whiplash might not be visible right away. This means that they can take long periods of time to appear. Hence, many people do not see the need to get help until the condition gets out of hand.
About Whiplash
Before technology got so advanced, it was hard for medical professionals to diagnose a whiplash injury because it does not involve a broken bone. Ever since new technologies could verify soft tissue injury, insurance companies have started to cover such injuries. After a patient has sustained a whiplash injury, chances are that they will suffer from neck pain that can happen hours or even days after the injury happened. The pain from a whiplash injury is usually caused by the seizing and tightening of muscles around the neck in reaction to sudden unnatural movements of joints or muscle tears. As such, the muscles tighten in an attempt to provide support for your head and restrict it from any large movements. Usually after getting a whiplash injury, patients opt for chiropractic adjustment because this method offers quick relief from severe pain.
Whiplash Symptoms
Below are some of the typical whiplash symptoms that patients often experience:
- Serious neck pain
- Dizziness
- Vertigo
- Shoulder pain
- Nausea
- Blurred vision
- Stiffness of the neck
- Throbbing headaches
- Difficulty swallowing
- Fatigue
- Pain in the extremities
- …and others
How Does Whiplash Occur
One of the most common ways of getting a whiplash injury is by being in car accident. This often happens when your vehicle gets rammed from the back by another vehicle. When this happens, the impact causes your head to jerk in an unnatural manner, regardless of whether the direction of movement. The muscles and ligaments in your neck and shoulders can get torn or strained in this process. Note that the situation might be even worse if your car has no head rest. This is because the momentum of your head moving is not stopped by anything, allowing for hyperextension of your neck. As a result, your muscles become much more guarded and contract to prevent you from sustaining anymore injuries. However, this can cause the discs in our vertebrae to tear, break or be jerked out of their healthy position. Your spinal cord and nerves can also get damaged in this process. Since this type of injury requires gentle and delicate treatment, your best bet would be to go to a chiropractor instead of popping pills or going for an aggressive sports massage. Your chiropractor will be able to advise you on pain management techniques so that you can go back to your normal life as soon as possible.
