Did you know that over 3 million Americans sustain whiplash injuries each year? Of those injuries, around 1.5 million Americans suffer chronic pain from whiplash, and about 300,000 of those people become disabled due to the pain of whiplash. The prestigious Mayo Clinic states that “whiplash is commonly caused by rear-end car accidents. But whiplash can also result from sports accidents, physical abuse and other types of traumas, such as a fall. Whiplash may be called a neck sprain or strain, but these terms also include other types of neck injuries.”
If you are one of the millions of people across the country who have experienced whiplash, discovering the best way to treat whiplash can play a major role in your health and long-term wellbeing. Unfortunately, many people choose to ignore the nagging pain associated with whiplash, and this can lead to debilitating pain and discomfort down the road. Here at O’Dell Family Chiropractic, we know that whiplash can be an extremely serious health problem, and our team of medical professionals can help you find the best pain relief for whiplash.
What is the Best Remedy for Whiplash?
Whiplash is a serious injury to the neck muscles that occurs due to rapid and unexpected movement of the neck, most often occurring during a traumatic event. Whiplash generally leads to short-term neck pain and severely restricted movement of your neck. Chiropractic care for whiplash is extremely important as your chiropractor is often able to provide many non-surgical treatment options for pain relief.
Surgery to the neck area can lead to several severe complications such as bleeding, infection of the surgical site, debilitating injury to the nerves or spinal cord, leakage of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), paralysis in the arms, and the unexpected degeneration of areas adjacent to the surgical site. When a chiropractor treats whiplash, however, he or she will be able to help reduce the pain and inflammation without any invasive surgical procedures.
Some of the possible treatments for whiplash that a chiropractor may rely on include:
- Prescribing gentle stretching and manual therapy techniques to reduce pain, strengthen the muscles, and gradually increase the range of movement.
- Gentle spinal specific adjustment that helps to restore normal motion to your neck’s facet joints.
- Flexion-distraction techniques to treat herniated disks that may have been further damaged by the whiplash incident.
- Instrument-assisted specific adjustment allows your chiropractor to apply gentle force without thrusting into the spine.
- Specific spinal specific adjustment can help your chiropractor identify which spinal joints are showing severe motion restriction.
- Other manual therapies that can help injured ligaments and muscles in your neck include the Graston technique, resistance techniques, manual joint stretching, trigger point therapy, and therapeutic massage.
- In cases where severe inflammation of the neck persists for long periods of time after the incident that caused the whiplash, your chiropractor may also opt for other remedies, including ultrasound treatment and interferential electrical stimulation. The former relies on low frequency electrical currents to stimulate your muscles and help reduce the inflammation causing pain and motion restrictions.
Why Choose O’Dell Family Chiropractic for your Whiplash Treatment?
As you can see, chiropractors have a variety of different therapies and remedies at their disposal to help treat the pain and inflammation that occur with whiplash. It is important, however, to find the best chiropractors with relevant experience in using these techniques and treatments to help people overcome the often-debilitating pain associated with whiplash.
At O’Dell Family Chiropractic, we provide chiropractic treatments to a range of health conditions, including whiplash. Our overarching goal is to help our patients maintain optimal spinal health and live an active, pain-free lifestyle. Our certified medical professionals use the latest technology in chiropractic care and a holistic approach to healing from injuries. Using chiropractic treatment in combination with spinal rehab such as NMR, we treat the body from the inside out.
We also believe that every case is different. For our patients suffering from whiplash, we always provide personalized treatment plans that respond to the specific problems being faced. We offer the leading chiropractic care in Webster and Rochester, and are here to help you live an active, pain-free life even after suffering severe whiplash. Learn more about our services and the ways chiropractic care benefits you by contacting us at 585-671-9210.
