Whiplash

Whiplash occurs when the neck and head are thrown forward and back or side to side in a violent manner. If a spine has been whipped out of its normal balanced alignment, the first sign of an injury will usually be soreness and stiffness of the neck and/or back muscles. Although these are usually the first signs, you can have whiplash without even realizing it. Symptoms such as aches and pain, headaches, numbness, nervousness, irritability, and depression may not be experienced until months or years after the accident. Research has found whiplash can occur at speeds as low as 4-5 mph.

The most critical damage occurs when the head movement is initiated at accelerations which exceed the body reflexes. Subsequently the head moves before the spinal muscle can react to protect itself. When the muscles do respond, it is too late and more damage is produced due to the violent contraction. These forces produce multiple subluxations which restrict motion at some spinal levels while other levels are left with hyper mobile (sprained) segments.

If the subluxations are not corrected the hyper mobile segments are placed under excessive undue stress as a result of the lack of motion at the subluxations. It is easy to ascertain that this will impede the healing of the hyper mobile segments due to the continual excessive strain while at the same time causing early degeneration of the subluxated vertebrae do to the lack of proper motion. This is why everyone who has been in a motor vehicle accident should have their spine evaluated by a chiropractor as soon as possible.

Chiropractic is the only profession that specifically addresses these misalignments. Through gentle realigning of the spinal bones, chiropractic can correct the damage done by whiplash and help the body heal itself.

All of our doctors have taken additional training from the world’s premiere whiplash educational facility, The Spine Research Institute of San Diego (http://srisd.com/consumer_site/).