Whiplash is a neck injury that can resolve quickly or develop into something more chronic and acute. In both cases, the pain can make it difficult to move and function in everyday life. While some people find over-the-counter pain medications help, not everyone can or wants to use medication to ease their symptoms, preferring to find something more permanent and long-lasting.
Chiropractic care and adjustments may seem like an unlikely candidate for whiplash treatment. But for some, chiropractic can provide the lasting relief they’ve been searching for.
What Is Whiplash?
Whiplash is a type of neck injury, usually caused by a sudden and rapid back-and-forth movement. The whip-like movement strains your neck and spine, injuring your nerves, ligaments, muscles, and bones. While whiplash is most commonly caused by car accidents, sports accidents, or even falling can also cause whiplash.
Common Symptoms of Whiplash
Depending on the severity of your whiplash, pain and discomfort can range from mild, with symptoms resolving on their own in a few weeks, to more intense injuries that take longer to recover from.
Most whiplash symptoms appear within 12 to 48 hours, and can include:
- Stiffness and pain in the neck
- Pain in the shoulder, upper back, arm
- Headaches or migraines
- Blurred vision
- Pain when turning the head or being unable to turn it completely
- Dizziness
- Tiredness
- Numbness or tingling in extremities
- Ringing in ears (tinnitus)
- Difficulty sleeping
- Mood changes like depression
- Difficulty concentrating
How Do I Know if It’s Whiplash or a Concussion?
Many common whiplash symptoms overlap with common symptoms of a concussion. While both are serious, the injuries are different:
- Whiplash is a soft tissue injury. The pain is localized, often causing a stiff neck, shoulder pain, or a limited range of motion.
- A concussion is a brain injury and more often affects your cognition. Some physical symptoms, like dizziness or headache, are possible, but confusion, memory loss, and sensitivity to light or sound are more common.
Because whiplash and concussion symptoms are so similar and it’s possible to have both, always consult a medical professional about your symptoms.
How Can a Chiropractor Help With Whiplash?
The idea of chiropractic care for whiplash treatment may seem counterintuitive. How could applying thrust, force, and pressure to an injured area possibly help? As it turns out, some types of chiropractic adjustments can be just as effective for easing whiplash pain as conventional therapies, like mobilization or physical therapy.
One study found that the Specific Adjustment Technique (SAT) is an effective chiropractic treatment to help people with whiplash reduce pain and restore functionality and mobility to the cervical spine (neck). While that study only examined SAT, another study found that people who were suffering from long-term whiplash injuries improved after undergoing chiropractic adjustments — 93% to be exact!
More research is necessary, but these studies indicate that some forms of chiropractic care may help you recover from whiplash:
- Spinal manipulation can realign your vertebrae and relieve pressure on the nerves.
- Soft tissue therapy, like myofascial release and massage therapy, can break up scar tissue and ease tension in your neck.
- Trigger point therapy helps identify which spinal joints are impacted by the whiplash, then stretch, manipulate, and move the tissue and joints to restore normal function.
- Electrical muscle stimulation, like TENS, can reduce pain and swelling.
A chiropractor can also advise you on physical therapy activities and ergonomics to help reduce your pain when at work and home and to restore your range of motion more quickly.
Can a Chiropractor Make My Whiplash Worse?
In general, chiropractic care and adjustments can be an effective treatment for whiplash injuries. However, applying too much thrust or force too soon after your injury could exacerbate your whiplash, as could undergoing chiropractic treatment for whiplash when you also have a fractured vertebra or disc herniation.
It’s always best to talk to your chiropractor to discuss your treatment plan and which techniques they’ll use during your session. Depending on the specifics of your injury, your practitioner may ask you to get X-rays or an MRI before your first session to confirm there aren’t any underlying structural injuries that could worsen your whiplash.
Some pain during and after a chiropractic adjustment is perfectly normal and may last between 24 and 48 hours. You may feel some neck pain or a mild headache that should resolve quickly, or even some nausea or dizziness. Pain that doesn’t resolve after 48 hours or gets worse should be reported to your practitioner immediately.
>>MORE: Learn about the warning signs to be aware of after a chiropractic adjustment
Find Relief
Chiropractic treatment for whiplash can be an effective, drug-free way to reduce the pain caused by your whiplash injury. While applying thrust and force to an injury that was caused by thrust and force may not seem like the right course of action, a skilled chiropractor knows how to apply the right force and thrust in the right amount to restore flexibility, movement, and range of motion in your neck.
If you’ve been suffering through your whiplash symptoms, Flourish Chiropractic Spa can help you find relief. Our team of compassionate, knowledgeable chiropractors and massage therapists can customize a treatment plan that targets the root cause of your whiplash pain to restore normal movement throughout your neck, shoulders, and arms.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and take the first steps on your healing journey.
