Whiplash - Symptoms and Treatments

Whiplash

Good news for whiplash patients

More than 3 million Americans suffer from whiplash every year – and that’s just from vehicle accidents. Whiplash can also be caused by other types of collisions, such as playing sports or falling on the ice.

Whiplash is an injury to the neck caused by the sudden movement of the head backward, forward or sideways. Whiplash injuries can result in stretched or torn neck muscles or ligaments, bulging or ruptured discs, misaligned vertebrae, and the loss of the neck’s normal forward curve.

Apart from neck pain, whiplash symptoms may include:

• Headaches
• Upper back pain
• Pain between the shoulder blades
• Shoulder pain
• Pain, numbness or tingling in the arms or hands
• Low back pain
• Loss of mobility / stiffness
• Dizzines
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Blurred vision

Most often with whiplash injuries, pain occurs immediately or is felt within a few days, but sometimes whiplash symptoms may not appear for weeks or even months after an accident.

Often, whiplash injuries can result in chronic neck pain. For example, one study showed that nearly 40 percent of people with whiplash still experienced pain seven years later. Behind chronic back pain, neck pain is the next disability epidemic, with whiplash as the leading cause of neck pain.

The good news is there are several treatment options available for whiplash.

Whiplash treatments include:

• Chiropractic adjustments
• Physical / occupational therapy
• Rehabilitation to improve muscle strength
• Massage therapy
• Multi-cervical unit (MCU) therapy

To view our available Condition Presentations, please visit http://www.betterhealthalaska.com/conditions/condition-presentations.aspx