What exactly is whiplash

What Exactly is Whiplash, And How Can It Affect You?

You’ve probably heard of the term “whiplash” but maybe you aren’t exactly sure what it means or what it is. Whiplash is a type of injury that commonly happens during high impact experiences such as contact sports injuries, falls and car accidents-with car accidents being the highest cause on the list.

While they are often felt right away, whiplash symptoms can show up weeks even months after the initial injury-which unfortunately means that many people have serious complications from under treatment such as increased scar tissue, and painful immobility.

There are several treatments we use for people who come to us with whiplash. Before we talk about that, let’s look at the dynamics of this commonly known injury so we can have a better understanding of just what is happening in the body during a whiplash injury.

The Anatomy of Whiplash

The neck is made up of seven bones known as the cervical vertebrae. At the base of the head are the first two vertebrae known as the atlas and axis. The first vertebrae are known as the Atlas after the Greek hero who held up the world. This is appropriate because this ring-shaped bone holds your head upright. The Second vertebrae are known as the Axis and allows the head to move side to side in a “no” movement left and right. The remaining five vertebrae are all regularly shaped. All seven of the vertebrae of the neck are connected at the back of each bone by what are called facet joints. These facet joints allow for the twisting and forward and backward movements of the neck.

In-between each vertebrae is a shock absorbing disk that acts as a cushion in between each bone. The cervical spine is also protected and surrounded by many muscles and ligaments which help with movement and support. They also act to protect the delicate spinal cord.

As you can see the neck is very complex!

Whiplash is a common term given to a sudden injury to the bones, nerves, and muscles of the neck
that happens when they are thrown forward and backward or side to side quickly and forcibly. The area of the neck that is injured will depend on the way in which this injury happened. Did the neck move forward and back, or did it twist side to side? This abrupt force of impact will cause the head and neck to overextend beyond what they are able to do normally which will also strain and injure muscles and ligaments. In certain cases, there can even be damage to nerves and vertebrae or a resulting traumatic brain injury in the form of a concussion.

Signs And Symptoms of Whiplash

The force of motion which causes whiplash is painful and disruptive to the entire head and neck and can cause many physical and emotional issues. But how can you tell that the symptoms you may be experiencing are whiplash?

There are many signs and symptoms which include:

• Depression
• Trouble staying or falling asleep
• Pain with movement in the neck and head
• Frequent lasting headaches
• Visual impairment or sensitivity to bright lights
• Neck instability- a feeling as if it’s too hard to hold your head up
• Emotional stress, frequent crying, feelings of being hopeless
• Tendonitis and ligament sprains

We asses for whiplash injury by looking at:

• The range of motion of your head and neck.
• The degree of motion at which you feel pain
• The reflexes and strength of your arms and hands
• If you have any tenderness in your head, neck, or shoulders

If you are having sharp pain, numbness or tingling that radiates down your neck to an arm or leg call 911 or get to an ER right away as this could be the result of nerve compression from the force of your accident.

Traditional Treatment of Whiplash

Typically imaging such as x-ray and MRI will be done to get a picture of the head and neck. Often these do not account for the micro tearing to muscles and ligaments that occur with whiplash, which can cause scar tissue and pain if it is not treated.

Typical treatment of whiplash focuses on:

• Pain management with over the counter or prescription medications
• Hot or cold therapy
• Rest
• Prescription muscle relaxers
• Injections of numbing medications such as Xylocaine

While all these tools can be helpful it is common for people to continue to have pain down the line, or even develop something known as whiplash syndrome. This happens when symptoms persist over six months. Without treating the micro tearing that happens in the muscles and ligaments with whiplash the body will begin to lay down scar tissues over the strained areas. This causes further stiffness and pain.

Trigger points may also develop in the muscle tissues as a means for your body to compensate. These can also refer to pain in other parts of the body.

How We Can Help

There are several ways we can help you treat whiplash after an injury or resulting from an accident. It’s important to know that we can give you an assessment even if you are feeling no symptoms (remember how we said these can sometimes take weeks or months to show up?) We can also help fit you with a proper brace that supports your neck as it heals.

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP) can also help heal your injury by targeting pain at the source of your injury. We use a mixture created from your own blood that floods the injury with platelets and other proteins that stimulate your body’s own healing. Platelets release growth factor that also help your injury heal quickly.

This will help the body promote and mobilize stem cells which will aid in the healing process in three main ways:

• Improved joint mobility and functionality
• Decreased pain
• Lessening of the time it takes to heal
• Greater tissue strength

This helps prevent painful scar tissue from forming and aids in the healing of the micro-tearing of muscle and ligaments.

An injection of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) can be done quickly and simply in our office. This procedure typically takes one hour and can be done multiple times. Each injury will require an individual plan of care and may need up to 3-4 treatments before an injury is fully healed.

Call us at 877-381-4200 to schedule an appointment to help your whiplash injury heal as quickly as possible. We look forward to seeing you and to getting you back on your feet!