Whiplash can happen suddenly and createlong-term problems, such as chronic neck pain and restricted movements. If youhave been in a car accident, or recently experienced a sudden injury or traumaresulting in whiplash, it’s important to see a chiropractor in order to get aproper diagnosis and treatment plan.

How Does a Chiropractor Diagnose a Whiplash Injury?

If you think you may have a whiplash injury,getting a proper diagnosis and treatment from a professional chiropractor cannot only help get you out of pain, but can also prevent the risk of anylong-term issues associated with the injury.

When you go in for chiropractic care, thechiropractor will look at the spine as a whole. This is because even if you areonly experiencing neck pain due to whiplash, there could be other regions ofthe spine that have been affected and could make the pain even worse.

The chiropractor will look for areas ofrestricted movement, disk injury, muscle spasms, and ligament injury. There aremany techniques chiropractors use to determine the severity of a whiplashinjury, including:

Spinal manipulation: thischiropractic technique involves identifying the neck joints that are misalignedand using specific manipulations to bring them back into alignment.

Gentle adjustments: Ifthe joints in the neck are not in their proper place, the chiropractor can usegentle movements on the affected joint in order to ease them back into place.

Muscle stimulations or relaxations: This involves gentle stretches to the muscles that areexperiencing excess tension or contracting the muscle that is restricted.Finger pressure techniques can be applied to ease the pain due to tightmuscles.

Trigger point therapy: Achiropractor can identify specific spinal joints that are limited or have anabnormal motion due to whiplash. They will restore the joint motion by applyinggentle thrusts that stretch body tissues and stimulate the nervous system. Thisbrings the spine back into alignment and reduces the pain from a car accidentinjury.

Soft tissue therapy: Becausewhiplash involves the soft tissue, this type of treatment works to restoremuscle function through applying pressure or stretching muscles that have builtup excess tension.

Instrument-assisted therapy: This form of chiropractic treatment is a non-thrustingmethod that utilizes a specialized hand-held device. The chiropractor will useit to apply enough pressure in order to bring things back into alignment.Another way they can utilize the instrument to provide pain relief is toperform gentle repeated strokes over the injured area.

Setting up an appointment to see a chiropractorafter a car accident injury can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Theywill not only develop a treatment plan to help get you out of pain, but theycan also offer tips on things you can do at home to reduce strain and stress onthe body. These can include maintaining proper posture, icing your neck, andperforming specific exercises.

What Are the Common Risk Factors and Symptoms?

While whiplash is usually known as a caraccident injury, people can also get whiplash from sudden falls, high-impactsports, or amusement park rides. Some common whiplash symptoms are:

-         Neck pain and neck stiffness

-         Pain in the upper back, shoulder, orarms

-         Blurred vision

-         Headaches

-         Difficulty concentrating

-         Fatigue

-         Dizziness or vertigo

Chiropractic care is an effective method oftreatment that can provide pain relief from whiplash symptoms and a number ofother injuries and conditions, including low back pain, neck pain, hip pain,knee pain, tension headaches, scoliosis, and more.

If you or a loved one have been in a caraccident and are suffering from whiplash pain, give us a call today to discusshow chiropractic care might be the most effective treatment option for you.

Learn more about Palmercare Chiropractic Lakewood

Learn how chiropractic care can help with short leg syndrome