Whiplash After a Car Accident: What You Need to Know

Whiplash is the most common injury I see following auto accidents in my Greenville chiropractic practice. It is also one of the most frequently undertreated injuries there is. Patients assume that if they do not feel seriously hurt after a collision, they were not seriously hurt. That assumption gets people into trouble.

Here is what you actually need to know about whiplash and why getting evaluated promptly after a car accident is one of the most important decisions you can make for your health.

What Is Whiplash?

Whiplash is a neck injury that occurs when the head is suddenly and forcefully thrown forward and backward, or in a side impact, sideways, faster than the muscles of the neck can respond. This rapid uncontrolled movement stretches and tears the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the cervical spine and can misalign the vertebrae and injure the discs in the process.

While car accidents are the most common cause of whiplash, athletes in contact sports such as football and soccer can experience whiplash from high-impact collisions as well.

Whiplash Is a Strain, Not Just Soreness

Patients sometimes minimize whiplash because they think of it as simply a sore neck. It is worth understanding what is actually happening to the tissue. A neck strain involves damage to the muscles or tendons, the bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones.

A neck sprain involves stretching or tearing of the ligaments, the tissues that connect bones to each other. Both can occur simultaneously in a whiplash injury and both deserve proper treatment.

Common Symptoms of Whiplash

Whiplash symptoms vary depending on the severity of the injury and which structures were affected. Common symptoms include:

• Neck pain and stiffness

• Reduced range of motion in the neck

• Headaches, particularly at the base of the skull

• Shoulder and upper back pain

• Pain or numbness radiating into the arms and hands

• Blurred vision or ringing in the ears in more severe cases

• Dizziness and difficulty with balance

• Fatigue and difficulty concentrating

Depending on the severity of the impact, these symptoms may appear immediately or may be delayed by 24 to 72 hours. If left untreated, whiplash can contribute to chronic pain and degenerative changes in the cervical spine over time.

Why Symptoms Are Sometimes Delayed

This is the point I emphasize most with patients who come in after an accident feeling relatively okay. The adrenaline and inflammation response that follows a collision can mask significant soft tissue damage for hours or even days. Many patients feel fine the day of the accident and wake up the next morning barely able to turn their head.

This delay leads people to conclude they were not seriously hurt and skip the evaluation that could prevent a short-term injury from becoming a long-term problem.

How Whiplash Is Diagnosed

When you come in following a car accident, I perform a thorough examination of your entire spine, not just your neck. I evaluate your posture and spinal alignment, assess your range of motion, identify areas of tenderness and muscle tightness, and take digital x-rays when indicated. That examination gives me a clear picture of what structures were affected and how severely before any treatment begins.

How We Treat Whiplash

Treatment for whiplash at Brown Chiropractic Center is tailored to the findings of your examination. Depending on the nature and severity of your injury, care may include cervical chiropractic adjustments to restore proper alignment and joint motion, cervical traction to decompress the cervical spine and relieve nerve pressure, cold laser therapy to reduce inflammation and promote soft tissue healing, therapeutic ultrasound for deep tissue healing, and high voltage galvanism for acute pain control and muscle relaxation.

Icing the affected area in the early days following the injury is also helpful for managing inflammation, particularly immediately after the accident. Short-term use of anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen can play a supportive role as well, though these should be used as directed and not relied on as a long-term solution.

Do Not Wait to Get Checked

If you were in a car accident in the Greenville area, call our office as soon as possible. New patients receive a complimentary consultation and examination. The sooner we can evaluate what happened to your cervical spine, the better your chances of a complete recovery and the stronger your personal injury documentation from day one.

Book your appointment at Brown Chiropractic Center

Dr. Jeff W. Brown, D.C.

Brown Chiropractic Center, Greenville, SC

(864) 271-0001