You know, we are just not meant to go from 25+ MPH and come to a stop suddenly, that’s why! Blog, done… That’s all you need to know.
In all seriousness, everyone should be checked after auto accidents. Big, small, slow, fast, fatal, you name it, people should be checked. Whiplash is one of the major issues that happens after an auto accident, this is where your neck turns into a bobble head when undergoing impact. This can lead to headaches, dizziness, vertigo, neck pain, back pain, spinal cord injuries if bad enough – see our post on that: https://hmlfunctionalcare.com/what-are-spinal-cord-injury-symptoms/
Whiplash can be effectively treated with a mix of Chiropractic care and physical therapy. Chiropractors adjust the joints that are subluxated and not moving through their range of motion. This reduces inflammation, muscle spasm and pain. Combined with physical therapy, such as stretching, strengthening and other forms of manual therapy and you have a dangerous combination to combated whiplash in any form.
Keep in mind if the accident is severe enough whiplash can be practically considered a concussion. And to top that off, people can have concussions with their auto accidents – see our posts on concussions here: https://hmlfunctionalcare.com/how-to-know-if-you-have-a-concussion/ https://hmlfunctionalcare.com/how-to-tell-if-your-child-is-concussed-5-signs-of-a-concussion-in-kids/ And a lot like concussion, the effects of whiplash and accidents can give rise to debilitating symptoms years and decades down the road that can lead to disability.
Lastly, at HML we’re all about brain health and neurology. To throw the cherry on all of this is the fact that your neurology can change drastically with whiplash. “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around,” Thomas Edison said that believe it or not. When we injure ourselves in traumatic events such as automotive accidents or something similar, we not only injure muscles and joints and other soft tissues, but we change the input that those tissues give to the brain. We have things called mechano receptors, muscle spindles and other sensors on the body that tell the brain where the body is and they get injured as well. The brain wants to know where the body is and when that is disrupted by physical trauma, our brain function changes, and not for the better. If being in pain is not motivation enough to go get checked, then this alone should be!
Want to learn more? Contact us today to see how we can help!