Whiplash Injury

A whiplash injury to the neck can be minor or extremely serious.  It’s vital to assess your symptoms and what has caused your whiplash injury before you visit or make a call to your doctor.  People who are involved in car accidents should always make an appointment immediately to see their doctor, no matter how minor or serious the car accident.  You always need to get checked out to see if there is any injury to the brain, head or neck.   It’s vital to make this appointment they day of the accident as most all whiplash symptoms will show up the following day and not the day of the actual car accident. 

Causes

Whiplash injuries can also be caused by a number of different sports injuries or diving related accidents because of the abrupt force to the neck and spine.  Whiplash can even be caused by someone forcefully pushing you, or if you are hit abruptly by a falling object from above.

Symptoms

The symptoms that are commonly felt by a patient who has just experienced whiplash are sudden headaches and throbbing pains in the head and neck accompanied by extreme pain in the back of the head.  The day after the whiplash injury it’s common that patients feel as if they were hit in the back of the head with an object.  This is the most common whiplash complaint. Patients may also complain of numbness in the neck, dizziness or drastic pain in between the arms or between the shoulders blades.  Other symptoms may include pain within the jaw or feeling very exhausted and faint after the injury.  Whiplash treatments vary and depend on the severity of the injury in which the patient is diagnosed.  In most cases adjustments, medication, or exercise will help the pain and soreness that is felt after experiencing the whiplash injury. If the whiplash is very severe it may also cause damage to the upper discs.  This may then require surgical repair to repair the damage associated with the discs in the intervertebral region.