Whiplash injuries can cause you to have a concussion and headaches. Most commonly, we see whiplash injuries after a car accident or slip and fall.
What is whiplash?
Whiplash is a term describing a medical condition in which there is a force induced on the body causing the spine to move in one direction followed quickly by the opposite direction in a whip-like fashion.
The most obvious example is whiplash after a car accident. If you were rear-ended in your car, the force of the collision makes your head move backwards quickly, followed immediately by your head moving forward quickly. The whiplike motion creates high shear forces on the spine and surrounding tissues leading to overload and damage.
What is damaged in whiplash?
Muscles are torn
Ligaments are torn
Discs can be ruptured
Nerves can be pinched or torn
Vertebrae joints can be damaged
Can Whiplash Cause a Concussion?
Yes, whiplash can cause a person to have a concussion.
Due to the quick motion from back to front or side to side, the brain will move too much within the skull causing the brain to make contact with the inside of the skull. When the brain makes contact with the skull it can cause bruising or damage to the brain. This damage is a concussion.
Concussion can happen even if you do not hit your head in the accident.
Symptoms of a Concussion
Mental fog feeling
Headache
Increased irritability
Blurry Vision
Double Vision
Increased sleep
Decreased sleep
Forgetting details
Loss of consciousness
Confusion
Lack of concentration
Nausea
Depression
Ringing in ears
How to Fix a Concussion?
Concussions first need to be evaluated by a trained professional. This is very important as a serious concussion can be a medical emergency that could require immediate medical intervention if there is bleeding in the brain.
Most concussions are mild and can be helped with some help from our chiropractors or massage therapist. The symptoms of concussion injuries respond well to conservative care like the kind we specialize in at our office with massage therapy, laser therapy, mobilization methods, active release technique and physical therapy.
If you think you have a concussion, call our office for an evaluation.
Can Whiplash cause Headaches?
Yes, you can get a headache from a whiplash injury.
The most common symptom of whiplash is a headache. This is due to the strain of the muscles on the back of your neck being damaged in the accident. When your head moves backward and then forward or side to side quickly, the small muscles of the neck are strained or pulled apart. These small muscles are designed to help you perform small movements like turning your head and cannot handle the force of the accident.
The damage to the muscles leads to pain and inflammation which causes headaches.
How to Fix Headaches after Whiplash
At Boulder Sports Chiropractic, we have a number of ways to treat headaches and eliminate your pain. Generally, we need to work on the muscles of the neck to decrease tension and spasm. We do this using massage therapy, active release technique, laser therapy, and dry needling. Following that we can give you physical therapy exercises to rebuild the strength lost after the damage.
The good news is that most cases of whiplash are treatable in our office. Using a combination of chiropractic, massage, and physical therapy, we can design a treatment plan specifically addressing your injury needs. Seeing a chiropractor for whiplash is helpful for decreasing pain, inflammation, and stiffness. Massage therapy for whiplash is helpful to decreasing muscle spasms. Physical therapy for whiplash is helpful to restore strength and stability to damaged muscles.
Whiplash injuries often do not fully heal on their own.
Here’s the bad news, often these injuries will not fully heal on their own and some whiplash injuries are permanent and can leave you with permanent loss of function or disability. The more severe whiplash traumas result in severe injury that may require more invasive intervention such as surgery or injections. While these injuries represent a small percentage of the injuries, it is a possibility. So schedule an appointment for an evaluation with us if you have recently suffered trauma.
If you were in a car accident and are looking for fast and lasting pain relief from whiplash, concussion, and headaches, call or e-mail us today. Ask us about how you can use automobile insurance to fully pay for your treatment - $0 out of pocket costs to you.