Chiro-practical
How Serious Are Whiplash Injuries?
You’ve probably either been in an auto accident in the past five years or you know someone who has. There are some very important facts about chronic whiplash injuries and your health you need to know.
Research has shown chiropractic adjustments affect two primary tissues in your neck: the disc, which works like a shock absorber, and the facet capsule, which is part of the joint between two vertebrae, or bones, in your neck. This becomes very important when trying to understand why you have pain after an auto accident and also why chiropractic care may help decrease or eliminate this pain.
The disc and the facet capsule are also the two areas in the neck considered the source for chronic spine pain. A rear-end collision will cause injury primarily to two areas in your spine: you guessed it-the disc and the facet capsule. As you can see, there’s very strong documented evidence telling us why it’s important to, at the very least, be checked by a chiropractor following a rear-end collision. Research showing the importance of being checked specifically by a chiropractor becomes even stronger with two studies released in 1996 and 1999. Both of these showed chronic whiplash patients who failed to respond to traditional medicine/physical therapy management responded well to chiropractic management.
Psychological distress, including sadness and overall depression, is common after whiplash injuries. It’s been theorized this distress is secondary to chronic pain. Dan Murphy, D.C., an expert in whiplash, said, "If pain is completely relieved, psychological distress disappears. If the pain recurs, psychological distress reappears, but is removed if the pain is once again relieved."
Whiplash injuries may cause a wide array of physical and mental difficulties. This has become big business for many professionals. A study conducted in 1999 and released in the journal, Spine, noted, "Over $29 billion per year is spent on whiplash injuries and litigation in the United States alone." The authors also said, "It can be reasonably and cautiously estimated that 15.5 million Americans currently have late (chronic) whiplash. Other authors have estimated chronic neck pain prevalence to be much higher."
The last study I’d like to mention, highly relevant to chronic whiplash cases, was released in The Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine in 1999 and came to a couple of important conclusions: Whiplash injuries are common, and chiropractic is the only proven effective treatment in chronic cases.
Whiplash injuries can cause years of pain and discomfort if not properly treated. There’s more than an adequate amount of scientific research that shows why you should be checked by a chiropractor if you think you may be suffering from a whiplash injury. TPW
Research has shown chiropractic adjustments affect two primary tissues in your neck: the disc, which works like a shock absorber, and the facet capsule, which is part of the joint between two vertebrae, or bones, in your neck. This becomes very important when trying to understand why you have pain after an auto accident and also why chiropractic care may help decrease or eliminate this pain.
The disc and the facet capsule are also the two areas in the neck considered the source for chronic spine pain. A rear-end collision will cause injury primarily to two areas in your spine: you guessed it-the disc and the facet capsule. As you can see, there’s very strong documented evidence telling us why it’s important to, at the very least, be checked by a chiropractor following a rear-end collision. Research showing the importance of being checked specifically by a chiropractor becomes even stronger with two studies released in 1996 and 1999. Both of these showed chronic whiplash patients who failed to respond to traditional medicine/physical therapy management responded well to chiropractic management.
Psychological distress, including sadness and overall depression, is common after whiplash injuries. It’s been theorized this distress is secondary to chronic pain. Dan Murphy, D.C., an expert in whiplash, said, "If pain is completely relieved, psychological distress disappears. If the pain recurs, psychological distress reappears, but is removed if the pain is once again relieved."
Whiplash injuries may cause a wide array of physical and mental difficulties. This has become big business for many professionals. A study conducted in 1999 and released in the journal, Spine, noted, "Over $29 billion per year is spent on whiplash injuries and litigation in the United States alone." The authors also said, "It can be reasonably and cautiously estimated that 15.5 million Americans currently have late (chronic) whiplash. Other authors have estimated chronic neck pain prevalence to be much higher."
The last study I’d like to mention, highly relevant to chronic whiplash cases, was released in The Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine in 1999 and came to a couple of important conclusions: Whiplash injuries are common, and chiropractic is the only proven effective treatment in chronic cases.
Whiplash injuries can cause years of pain and discomfort if not properly treated. There’s more than an adequate amount of scientific research that shows why you should be checked by a chiropractor if you think you may be suffering from a whiplash injury. TPW