Whiplash Injuries Resolved With Chiropractic Care
By Chris Brown
NEW WRITER - JULY WEEK 2
Picture this, your car is hit from the rear. It's a minor fender bender, but hours later you feel dizzy and unable to move your neck. While this may have only been a minor accident for your car, you have likely been injured by a whiplash incident. The complex connection between the spinal column, nervous system, and brain makes this injury often difficult to treat and potentially chronic. Luckily, chiropractic has shown great success in relieving symptoms and restoring functionality in whiplash sufferers.
What Is Whiplash?
Whiplash occurs when the head is jolted quickly back and forth, most commonly resulting from a jarring collision such as that from a car accident or sports trauma. When the head is rapidly moved in this manner, it can cause injuries to the neck, cervical spinal column, and brain (if it moves inside the skull). Because the spinal column is such an important part of the central nervous system, any injury here can also lead to pain and dysfunction throughout the body. Therefore continuing, and sometimes chronic, symptoms from whiplash can be varied including concussion complications, numbness in the arms, sleeplessness, neck stiffness, blurred vision, and, commonly, pain in the neck, shoulders, arms, and back. These ranging conditions can be grouped together as whiplash associated disorders (WAD) and all have potential relief through chiropractic manipulation.
Evidence of Chiropractic Successes Relieving WAD
A 2010 systematic review of 27 cases involving WAD patients that sought chiropractic intervention found that spinal manipulation significantly improved range-of-motion and reduced WAD-related pain. The study found chiropractic to help with all degrees of injury from acute to chronic. Chiropractic treatment of chronic WAD was particularly noted as improving posture, mobilization, and life satisfaction. In a different study, published in Injury journal, a similar positive result was found in 26 of 28 WAD patients. It should be noted that with whiplash having such a wide range of injuries and severities, each case would have to be evaluated by a chiropractic doctor to determine its expected outcome from spinal manipulation.
When to Seek Chiropractic Care
The American Chiropractic Association suggests that whiplash injuries be evaluated and imaged (if necessary) with short-term immobilization and ice compresses on the neck. Once initial swelling has reduced, and the severity of the injury is determined, chiropractic manipulation may be able to successfully help relieve and correct remaining symptoms.
The doctors at The Joint Chiropractic can evaluate and work to resolve your symptoms from a whiplash event. Sessions at The Joint are affordable without insurance and conveniently available by walk-in only, so you can receive treatment immediately, without adding any bureaucratic pains to your neck. And, with more than 600 clinics nationwide, relief is never far away.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Houston, Tex.