Whiplash.

We have all heard the term, yet few know what it actually means let alone what whiplash treatment entails. That’s okay. That is why you are reading this blog.

Whiplash is simply the an acceleration and deceleration of the cervical spine that leads to injury. The most recently adopted term is more appropriately named cervical acceleration/ deceleration injury or CAD injury for short. For simplicity and familiarity I will use the term whiplash in the remainder of this article.

Following a car accident, whiplash can show up with many different symptoms. The most common symptoms are neck pain, headaches, upper back and limb pain, muscle spasm, numbness and tingling and low back pain. A few other less common, but common enough to mention are difficulty sleeping, ringing in the ears, difficulty with memory, irritability, and concentration issues.

The most common type of car accident is a rear end collision at low speed. This is a good thing for the most part. However, this also leads to many other missed problems. Since people are less likely to seek medical attention following a low speed collision, rarely does anyone evaluate the delicate and small structures in the cervical spine. Yes, even if you do go to the ER, they will likely x-ray and look for major and life threatening injuries, but often do not evaluate the soft tissue injuries that often follow a whiplash incident.

Whiplash treatment

With whiplash treatment, the details are VERY important and can vary your treatment and healing time greatly. Your doctor should ask all of these questions and then some.

What direction were you looking at the time of impact? At the rear view mirror? Down at the radio?

Was your foot on the brake?

Were both hands on the steering wheel or just one?

Was your head rest in the up position?

Did your seat break?

Did you hit your head?

Knees hit the dash?

All of these questions help a doctor who focuses on car accidents to determine where the injuries have occurred and the exact tissues that were damaged. Was it your spinal ligaments, muscles, spinal discs, and/or facet joints? The structure that is injured can vastly change the healing time needed for your injuries. A thorough exam is necessary to determine this, but unfortunately often not done. Muscles can take a few months to heal. Ligaments and tendons can take 6 months or more. And spinal discs and facet joints can take upwards of a year to completely heal.

Whiplash treatment in Redmond can vary greatly. Obviously, you are looking to make a wise decision in selecting a doctor who focuses on whiplash. While pain killers and muscle relaxers will help you not feel the symptoms of whiplash, they do not get to the root structural and soft tissue damage that may be looming. This damage left untreated can result in degenerative processes and future pain and suffering. Our Redmond whiplash treatment goal is to get you back to pre-accident condition as quickly as possible. With the use of structural chiropractic adjustments, manual therapy, massage therapy and exercise therapy, we will do everything it takes to get you back to a normally functioning life.