Download whiplash injury - Avenue Chiropractic Clinic Southampton

Can a Chiropractor help with a whiplash injury?
Whiplash injury is really an acceleration/deceleration accident that involves a complex of
potential symptoms that can follow not only from a car accident but any time that the
head and neck are involved in a sudden impact that strains the tissues of the neck.
Do You Have Whiplash?
The symptoms of whiplash may include neck pain, tenderness and stiffness, headache,
dizziness, nausea, shoulder and/or arm pain, parasthesias (numbness/tingling), blurred
vision, and in rare cases difficulty swallowing. Symptoms may appear as quickly as two
hours following injury.
The symptoms usually result from injury to the neck's soft tissues. Muscle tears
characteristically present with burning pain accompanied by tingling sensations.
Ligaments affected by excessive joint movement can cause muscles to defensively
tighten limiting motion.
Age and arthritis may increase the severity of whiplash. As people age, their range of
motion declines, muscles lose flexibility and strength, and intervertebral disc and
ligaments lose some of their elasticity so can cope less with sudden movement.
What can you do to help?
Whatever your symptoms, it makes sense to consult the chiopractors, Avenue Clinic
Southampton as soon as possible after any kind of acceleration/deceleration injury so
that your condition can be examined carefully to assess the degree of injury. It may be
that you require x-rays prior to any manual treatment and then if appropriate a short
course of treatment may help to reduce inflammation and pain quicker than just taking
painkillers and resting. The quicker you move properly again, the less strength you lose
and thus you may avoid developing a more long term problem.
What can you do for yourself?
Acceleration/deceleration injuries often overstretch the ligaments holding joints together
and these overstretched tissues will not regain their original length. It is therefore very
important to strengthen the muscles surrounding the joints in order to promote stability.
Chiropractors at the Avenue Clinic, Southampton are trained to show you the most
appropriate exercises to do depending on your problem.