Whiplash is common in motor vehicle accident victims.  Your head weighs an average of 8-12 pounds and the only thing holding it to your body is your neck.  If your car is moving 10, 20, 30 or more miles per hour, then technically your body within the car is moving just as fast.  When an object abruptly stops your car, your body then must stop.  Unfortunately our necks tend to be weak and stopping our 8-12 pound heads from flying out the window takes work.  The same issues occur if our car is stopped and is abruptly pushed, as in a rear-end collision. 

The diagnosis whiplash is given depending on what happened in the accident.  Were the head and neck “whipped” due to a rapid force?  Those with whiplash typically have neck pain, upper back pain, headaches, arm pain, hand symptoms, earaches, jaw pain, and even sore throats.  After a jarring force is placed on the body, the neck muscles struggle to support the head and protect the delicate spinal cord and structures within the spine.  This can cause muscle and/or ligament tearing.  After the accident, due to the strenuous protective tightening and spasm, the muscles must be trained to relax again and the joints must be aligned for proper motion.  As a chiropractor and massage therapist, my job is to reduce the muscle spasms which are painful and don’t allow the joints to move properly, restore the normal joint motion which is imperative to allow healing and prevent degeneration, relieve nerve irritation to remove headaches and other referred pain, and to realign the body so it may heal itself naturally. 

If you have had a whiplash injury call our office to schedule a free consultation.  I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and to begin helping you reach your treatment goals.

For more information about whiplash, neck pain, back pain, and headaches visit our website at www.vancouverwashingtonchiro.com.

For more specific information about whiplash, visit the American Chiropractic Association publications at:

https://acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=3131, and

http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=2430.

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