What is a "Whiplash" Injury | San Diego Car Accident Attorney / Law Firm

What is a "Whiplash" Injury?

The amount or degree of damage to the soft tissues around the neck area - that is, the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and disks of the neck — will be the deciding medical factors as to how much rest vs. activity (medical care included) should be initially performed.  If there are no fractures, dislocations or other injuries resulting in an unstable cervical spine (neck), studies have shown rest and a soft collar is actually harmful when compared to early return to activity and exercises.  This is because soft tissue type injuries heal best with "proper motion" in order to get the blood supply over to the affected area to help heal the damaged tissues.

Chiropractic therapy treatment, which essentially exercises the joints of the neck, has been shown in medical studies to actually speed recovery when performed sooner rather than later after a whiplash type injury.  A good way to classify the injury includes four categories:

1) Pain with no significant abnormal clinical findings;

2) Pain with mild clinical findings and notable range of motion loss;

3) Pain with neurological injury (resulting in radiating arm pain for instance); and

4) Pain associated with fracture (bone breaks), and/or dislocation. 

Those persons suffering with category 1 or 2 injuries should minimize rest, collar use, proceed with life’s activities and not be afraid to do desired activities.  Remember, blood flow is key as blood flow supplies oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and joints.  More aggressive type exercise and, utilizing chiropractic adjustments as soon as possible is very effective in the first two categories of the soft-tissue type injury.  Category 4 (fractures and dislocations) injuries require the use of a rigid collar usually for 4-6 weeks as rest/protection is imperative. Bones tend to heal better with limited motion as opposed to soft-tissue type injuries.  Category 3 demands careful monitoring by your chiropractor as neurological problems like arm pain, leg pain and numbness, muscle strength weakness, must be closely watched during the healing process.  The use of ice is helpful with all four categories of injury, especially if there is inflammation, and exercise training is important and can be started sooner in the first two categories of the injury.

What can you do if you sustain a whiplash injury?