Whiplash refers to a neck injury often resulting from a motor or car accident. A rear impact in car accidents usually causes whiplash, where the passenger who gets hit from behind has the highest risk of suffering from injury.
How Does Whiplash Occur?
Accident causing whiplash injuries happen when one vehicle (car A) hits another vehicle (car B) from behind, applying an intense force that gets transmitted from car A to car B. Unfortunately, these forces get transmitted to the passengers of car B, making them susceptible to body injuries, including whiplash.
Such vehicular accident happens due to many reasons, including drunk driving, speeding, brake and engine damage, distracted driving (i.e., using mobile phones), reckless driving, beating the red light, tailgating, and weather condition, such as rain and snow. Minor vehicular accidents, however, may not cause severe injuries to the passengers, only damage to the car.
Signs and Symptoms of Whiplash
When you have just experienced a car accident, and you feel sore in many places of your body, how would you know if you are suffering from whiplash? Here are some signs and symptoms that will tell you that you are:
- Noticeable pain and stiffness of the neck
- When you try to move your neck, the pain increases
- Loss of mobility and range of motion in the neck
- Tender pain in the shoulders, arms, or upper back
- Headaches that usually begin at the bottom of the skull
When you experience all or most of these symptoms, you should have your neck checked up right away to get cure and treatment for whiplash.
Treatment for Whiplash
In some cases, the pain from whiplash eventually disappears, especially when applied with some treatment. But, when the more severe cases get ignored, they may case complicated symptoms that may last for a longer period of time. If the whiplash pain or injury extends up to six months, it will be considered chronic whiplash which is a more severe condition.
Below is a list of effective cure, treatment, and prevention of whiplash.
- Keep your neck moving by doing a neck exercises and stretching that you can bear. Even if it’s painful, moving your neck from time to time will help in its recovery, while keeping it in still position may prolong symptoms.
- The use of pain killers, such as analgesic, and anti-inflammatory medicines may help relieve whiplash pain. Paracetamol, on the other hand, can cure mild neck pain. However, make sure to consume it regularly and not only when you feel the pain to guarantee its effectiveness. For more serious pain, seek advice from your doctor so he or she may prescribe a stronger pain relief medication.
- For whiplash injuries that last for weeks, you may want to undergo physiotherapy and/or chiropractic care. These treatments are hands-on approaches done by a therapist or chiropractor to restore mobility of the neck by applying force to the damaged nerves and muscles.
- Additionally, you may want to do self-care measures to gradually improve the condition of your neck. These include maintaining a good posture, sleeping in the right position, and engaging in regular exercise and stretching. However, make sure not do heavy physical activities yet and wait until you get better before you go back to your normal routine.
When you or a family member suffers from whiplash injury, it may seem too scary. But with proper care and treatment, you will realize that everything will get better and you or your loved one can go back to your normal lives again. Now, the next time you’re on the road, be very careful!