Whiplash: A Forceful Neck Injury

Whiplash is a powerful force. Like the sudden, sharp snap of a whip, it hurls your head backwards (hyperextension) and forward (hyper flexion), injuring your neck. A car accident, sports injury, or simply a push from behind - all can cause a whiplash injury. You can also have "hidden whiplash," since symptoms don't always appear right away. Chiropractors are spine specialists uniquely trained to diagnose and treat whiplash, relieve its symptoms, and help prevent more serious injuries from developing.

Your head is delicately balanced on the top of your neck, held by fragile structures. The snapping motion of whiplash damages your neck, upsetting its balance. Then your neck can't easily move or support your head. A wide array of symptoms may follow in the wake of whiplash: neck and shoulder pain, headache, stiffness, or dizziness. If left untreated, more serious problems may develop.

Under your chiropractor's care, you can bring back the balance your neck needs to work smoothly. A chiropractic evaluation helps your chiropractor diagnose a whiplash injury. While helping to heal your injured neck, chiropractic treatment also can relieve your symptoms. And early treatment helps prevent more permanent damage. You, too, can play a part with self-care, which aids healing and reduces your chances of future injury.

Understanding Whiplash

Your neck does much more than simply connect your head to the rest of your body. Without your neck, you couldn't hold up your head, or turn it easily from one side to the other. Many complex parts of your neck work together to perform a delicate balancing act. But your neck is a fragile part of your body, as well. When the powerful force of whiplash strikes, your head is tossed around like the head of a flimsy rag doll. Your neck can be seriously injured. Then it is unable to move and support your head the way it normally does. If not corrected early, whiplash can lead to other problems, such as arthritic degeneration.

When you look at a balanced spine from the side, it is aligned in three natural curves; your neck's curve is one of them. From the front or back, a balanced spine is lined up straight down the middle of your back. When your spine is aligned, your weight is eventually distributed, making your back less likely to be injured.

Maintaining your neck's balance requires an aligned spine and healthy neck anatomy. Your neck's anatomy has many fragile, complex parts. Some make up the spinal column itself, such as vertebrae and joints. Others - like muscles and ligaments - help support and move your head and neck, or run throughout your neck, such as spinal nerves.