If you’ve been involved in a Whiplash Injury it is essential that you receive care as soon as possible after the injury and that the treatment you receive is the best to support your long term full recovery.
Whiplash Injuries far too frequently cause long term complications!
I Know Firsthand How Devastating Whiplash Can Be!
I was in a head on collision at age 18 causing my head to hit the windshield, breaking the windshield and causing a deep laceration in my forehead. Nobody told me about the long term complications from whiplash so after getting stitches and a few days of rest I returned to the active life of an 18 year old.
More than a year later while at college I began to experience confusing symptoms of headaches, neck and shoulder pain, fatigue and difficulty sleeping. I had no idea this was related to the whiplash accident. Luckily I was referred to a chiropractor who put the pieces of the puzzle together.
I don’t know where I’d be without chiropractic care. But, that delay of more than a year cost me dearly and the result is significant degenerative arthritis of my neck.
This is why I’m so passionate about treating people who have suffered from Whiplash Injury.
Don’t make the same mistake!
Whiplash-Associated Disorder
They even have a name for the long term symptoms and complications from Whiplash Injury. With the best whiplash treatment you can avoid most if not all of these issues. Whiplash-associated Disorder consists of:
- Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain and Stiffness
- Chronic Loss of Neck Mobility
- Chronic Headaches
- Cervical Spine Arthritis
- Cervical Disc Degeneration
- Loss of Cervical Curve
- Chronic Dizziness
- Constant or Intermittent Ringing in the Ears
- Jaw Pain
- Numbness, Tingling, or Weakness in the Arms and/or Legs
- Blurred Vision
- Difficulty Sleeping
- Memory Problems
- Difficulty Concentrating
A study in a medical journal reported that Chronic Whiplash-associated Disorder from a car accident will result in 20% to 50% of those injured to continue to experience interference in their daily life 12 months later.
Whiplash Injury Treatment is an Urgent Matter
Due to the nature of the injuries from Whiplash, this is not a wait and see matter. You do not want to wait and see if you continue to experience pain and other symptoms for weeks and months after your injury. The longer you wait the greater the likelihood you are one of the many people who continue to experience problems for the remainder of your life.
Top 4 Critical Keys to the Best Whiplash Injury Treatment
How you treat any condition or injury is obviously critical. This is even more important when it comes to Whiplash Injury Treatment. The tissues that are injured in Whiplash are sensitive, delicate, critically important to your ability to function in your life.
Don’t make the mistake of taking a wait and see attitude. Not only should you take action but you want to make sure you receive the best whiplash injury treatment possible.
Critical Key #1: Do Not Delay: if you have been in a whiplash injury get evaluated sooner and make sure you assess the most likely damage. The one diagnostic test that should be done is a set of Cervical Spine motion x-rays that looks for any damage to both the bones as well as the soft tissues demonstrated by any instability.
Critical Key #2: Consistent Whiplash Injury Treatment for a minimum of 3 to 6 months is essential. The injured soft tissues go through 3 stages of healing. 1- Acute Inflammatory Phase, 2- Repair Phase, and 3-Remodeling Phase.
Stopping before the remodeling phase is an invitation for chronic problems. This is the stage when you are feeling much better but it is the time that decides how well that scar tissue heals like healthy tissue.
Critical Key #3: Treatment with a Skilled Practitioner. Unfortunately, most medical physicians fail to understand the dangers of chronic Whiplash-associated disorder and how common it is. Further, they fail to understand the risk of long term problems associated with delayed or improper care.
There is no single type of practitioner skilled and experienced in the assessment and treatment of Whiplash Injuries. Chiropractors with extensive experience are both the best doctors to understand and treat these injuries. They are also the most appropriate doctors to coordinate treatment with other specialists.
Critical Key #4: Managing both physical and emotional stress is essential. Even simple movements and postures following Whiplash Injury will not only cause an aggravation of your pain but can greatly interfere with your recovery. The memory and concentration problems following whiplash also make it critical to manage your stress load as well as possible.
Cycles of increased pain due to your body positions, movements, and life demands is a sign that you are interfering with both your short and long term recovery. There is a relatively small window of time for treatment to achieve the best long term recovery.
The long term complications of whiplash injury cause a breakdown of the joints of the neck resulting in degenerative arthritis. How you treat these injuries in the first weeks and months can have a tremendous impact on this degenerative process.
The type of treatment you get has a tremendous influence on the healing process. The scar tissue that develops is not healthy tissue. It is weaker and less elastic than healthy, uninjured soft tissue. The more you can help that tissue heal closer to healthy soft tissue the better your long term outcomes.
Not a day goes by that I don’t experience issues related to my car accident many years ago. Much of what I suffer with could have been avoided with more timely treatment. Don’t make that mistake for yourself.
Make sure to subscribe to my social media pages where I regularly post valuable information.
Facebook: Life Chiropractic Facebook
YouTube: Life Chiropractic YouTube
Instagram: Life Chiropractic Instagram
Blog: https://lifewithinchiropractic.com/blog/
Schedule your first visit here: Life Chiropractic