Whiplash happens when rapid and sudden movements force your neck and upper spine to move in awkward ways. Whiplash typically occurs after a car accident, a hit in sports, or after a hit to the neck or head. These injuries can lead to stiffness, pinched nerves, or loss of mobility. While the symptoms of whiplash can vary from person to person, finding the right whiplash treatment will help limit inflammation or compression of the spine that leads to pain.
The Grades Of Whiplash
Whiplash is graded on a scale of the symptoms and pain you experience to determine what whiplash treatment will be best. Grant Chiropractic doesn’t believe in just giving you a bandaid or typical treatment that won’t solve your symptoms. We believe in providing the care and attention each patient deserves.
- Grade 0: A grade 0 is when you won’t feel any pain or experience symptoms. The signs may not become prevalent yet but could come up later.
- Grade 1: Tenderness and stiffness are part of Grade 1 whiplash. You may experience pain when trying to move your neck too far in either direction.
- Grade 2: A patient may experience acute pain at this stage, including muscle spasms, swelling, and sensitivity to the touch.
- Grade 3: Grade 3 may come with all the symptoms of Grade 2 while also adding numbness, vision blurring, and dizziness. The swelling in the spine can cause disruptions in other parts of your body.
- Grade 4: This is the highest grade because it causes the most symptoms across multiple areas of your body. Nausea, irritability, fatigue, difficulty swallowing, and other symptoms from the other Grades. This Grade of whiplash should be treated immediately.
Techniques Used By Grant Chiropractic
If you are looking into chiropractic care, you may be wondering what treatment will look like. Our team utilizes evidence-based techniques to ensure your health needs are met.
Therapeutic Massage
One method used by chiropractors to treat whiplash is therapeutic massage. Releasing the tension in your neck will limit pain while using your neck muscles. Chiropractors can complete massage either with their hands or with different machines. Whiplash pain is often accompanied by stiffness and muscle spasms, which will be remedied by professional massage.
Spinal Manipulation
The most widely used technique in chiropractic treatment is spinal manipulation. This is used for whiplash because the spinal discs in the neck can become misaligned during a car crash, hit, or workplace accident. Chiropractors will find which spinal discs were affected and stretch the soft tissue to help revert the spine to its original range of motion. A gentle thrusting will be done to the spine to stimulate the central nervous system. There are some subcategories of manipulation, including trigger point therapy, flexion distraction technique, and manual resistance and joint stretching techniques.
Benefits Of Chiropractic Treatment For Whiplash
When you seek chiropractic care for your whiplash, there are certain benefits that will last beyond the timeline of when you are receiving treatment. Because chiropractic focuses on treating the root problem, your body can experience more well-rounded health.
Limit Neck Pain And Other Symptoms
Realigning the spine can help reduce pain in other areas of the body and your neck. While you are seeking chiropractic care for your whiplash pain, the methods used in treatment may help lessen lower back pain and headaches. Adjusting the spine can help your body better communicate with the brain to navigate pain or chronic conditions.
Reduces The Risk Of Surgery
Chiropractic care is effective for most patients and can help them avoid the need for painkillers or surgery. While whiplash rarely requires surgery, leaving it untreated can lead to major problems. Consistent chiropractic care can help you have healthy muscles and allow your body to heal itself. When your spine communicates properly with the brain, muscles, and nerves, the body operates more efficiently. We can help you avoid surgery by allowing the body to heal fully and avoid unnecessary inflammation.
Whiplash Treatments From Grant Chiropractic
Our chiropractic office offers multiple services and techniques to expedite the healing process. After experiencing whiplash, it is important to find the right kind of chiropractic treatment to mitigate your specific symptoms.
Our chiropractor can implement any of the following techniques:
• Specific spinal adjustments.
• Massage therapy
• Physiotherapy
• LASER therapy, not just laser but biofeedback-guided laser therapy.
• Spinal traction
• Non-surgical spinal decompression
• Cox – Leander flexion distraction
• Shockwave therapy
• Ultrasound – therapeutic
• Trans-electrical neural stimulation
• Strength training, rehab center
What Is Whiplash?
Whiplash is one of the most common injuries associated with automobile collisions.
Imagine being struck from behind.
Your vehicle moves forward, but your body initially reacts differently. Your torso is pushed into the seat while your head and neck continue moving relative to your body. Your head can then move backward and forward very rapidly.
Think of your car seat almost like a diving board. You body is forced backward into the seat and then rapidly whipped forward again.
That rapid sequence of movement can place significant stress on the muscles, ligaments, joints, discs, and other tissues of the neck and upper body.
This rapid motion is commonly referred to as whiplash.
Symptoms can include:
- Neck pain
- Headaches
- Shoulder pain
- Upper back pain
- Jaw discomfort
- Dizziness
- Arm numbness or tingling
- Muscle tightness
- Reduced range of motion
The encouraging news is that many people recover very well with appropriate conservative care.
At Grant Chiropractic, we carefully evaluate your condition and develop a treatment plan based on your individual findings.
Why Does My Neck Hurt After a Car Accident?
Think of Your Head Like a Bowling Ball on a Stick
Your head weighs roughly 10–12 pounds in an average adult—about the weight of a bowling ball.
Now imagine trying to hold a bowling ball on top of a flexible stick while suddenly accelerating the stick forward and backward.
That’s a simplified way to understand the challenge your neck faces during a collision.
Your neck has the remarkable job of supporting your head while allowing it to move in many different directions.
During a collision, the head can develop significant momentum while the neck and body are moving in opposite directions.
The result can place stress on:
- Muscles
- Ligaments
- Joints
- Discs
- Nerves
- Other supporting tissues
The body’s natural response may include muscle tightening and guarding around the injured area.
At Grant Chiropractic, our goal is to determine which structures have been affected and develop a treatment plan designed to restore comfortable movement and function.
