Most whiplash cases occur when someone is involved in a motor vehicle accident. Whiplash symptoms include neck pain from the skull down into the shoulder blades, headaches, dizziness, and even tingling or numbness down the arms into the hands. It is imperative that whiplash cases be seen about early and often. Whiplash can have lasting effects for years if not treated correctly. I like to care for these conditions in 3 phases. The first phase is mobility /pain based phase. In this phase we will be adjusting the spine to make sure proper joint mobility and alignment begin to be corrected. We use electrotherapy, dry needling, graston, and or active release techniques to decreased muscle tension. Traction therapy is used to improve mobility as well. The goal of this phase is to increase range of motion and decrease pain. Our second phase is a stability phase. We will continue adjustments to improve range of motion, and we will add stability exercises to help with ligaments and tendons that have been injured. We will also add in decompression therapy in this phase to help heal injured discs. I like to start this later than phase 1 due to the fact that it can be provocative to the injury at first ( this is learned from experience).
Our third phase is our strengthening phase. In this phase our goal is to make you stronger than you were before the injury. We will crank up the exercises in order to reach this goal. We often continue decompression and adjustments in this phase.
Each phase of care is dependent on the person involved. Some phases are shorter than others, but the outcome is all the same. I healthier version of YOU!