Whiplash neck injury happens when a person's body jerks abruptly in one direction, followed by the other way. This musculoskeletal injury is most frequent after a car accident, generally a rear-end shunt, and usually affects the head on the body, resulting in microtrauma in the neck and consequent neck pain. Similarly, it is a frequent source of physical abuse, contact sports injuries, and amusement park rides.
Signs and symptoms like neck pain, muscle spasms, and muscle tension can take 24 hours or several days to manifest.
What are the Nine Common Symptoms of Whiplash?
Certain fairly common whiplash symptoms might develop. Your physical therapist will be able to relieve pain symptoms by addressing improper posture:
- dizziness
- constant fatigue
- headaches, often starting from the base of the skull
- tenderness over the neck muscles
- blurred vision
- persistent pains and aching in the back muscles and neck including shoulder pain
- reduced and painful neck movements with a reduced range of motion
- abnormal stiffness, worse in the morning
- sensory disturbance such as pins and needles or tingling.
Some people endure a severe stress reaction to the trauma with symptoms such as nightmares, intrusive thoughts about the incident, and finding themselves more irritable and quick to temper than is typical for them.
Physiotherapy is the most effective way to treat whiplash
Aside from pain medications, physiotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for whiplash recovery. These treatments help to offload your muscles and ease tension, while also enhancing mobility in the area and accelerating the healing process.
Your physiotherapist can use a range of physical therapy methods to help you alleviate whiplash symptoms and fully recover. These treatments and exercises will improve posture and include specialized stretches. Whiplash is sometimes characterized as soft tissue trauma to the neck. A neck sprain or strain occurs when tendons and ligaments are strained beyond their usual range of motion. During your initial session, your physiotherapist will assess the problem area and ask questions to discover what happened to the neck. Following the initial appointment, your physiotherapist will develop a personalized physiotherapy treatment plan.
Whiplash Physiotherapy Exercises
Physiotherapists will offer stretches and exercises to alleviate pain in the damaged muscles, strengthen the entire area, and improve blood circulation in the neck. This will allow you to resume regular movements.
Whiplash physiotherapy treatments are mostly passive and include manual therapies that have been shown to effectively treat whiplash symptoms and give pain relief.
- Electrotherapy
- Joint Mobilization
- Ultrasound
- Soft Tissue Massage
- Acupuncture
As part of your personalized recovery plan from a neck injury, your physiotherapist will show you some exercises to help you recover from whiplash. These exercises will help you return to a full range of motion. Keeping your neck flexible is critical to rehabilitation. It is recommended that you continue with your regular activities. Neck collars and braces are not suggested since they prevent you from moving your neck and regaining a proper range of motion. This prolongs what some people refer to as acute pain.
Getting enough pain relief with basic medicines is critical in the early stages since it allows you to move more freely. The most popular approaches for restoring intervertebral muscles are gentle stretching and manual therapy.
Other Whiplash Injury Treatments
In addition to taking Paracetamol or an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen, you may find that applying a cool compress to your neck helps to relieve pain and swelling, particularly in the first 2-3 days. After this, heat may be beneficial, but not within the first 48 hours. It is critical to continue moving despite the pain. It is critical to your whiplash treatment that you be able to manage the discomfort caused by the injury. This will allow you to resume your daily routines as quickly as possible. The capacity to regain your neck's normal range of motion will be critical to your recuperation. Physical therapy can make you feel better and potentially avoid additional injury.
How long it takes to recover from whiplash?
According to the data, most whiplash symptoms resolve within 6-12 months of injury, however, early physiotherapy can speed up the recovery process and ensure that the recovery is complete with a minimal chance of re-occurring symptoms in the future.
Medication prescribed to treat whiplash
Visit your doctor, who may diagnose and prescribe pain relief, or a local pharmacy for over-the-counter guidance and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) that may be beneficial to you.
