I can honestly say, without reservation or fear of someone disagreeing, that a whiplash injury is one of the most painful and most frustrating musculo-skeletal and soft tissue injury a person can receive in an auto accident.

Whiplash, or "hyperflexion-hyperextension injury," often occurs in auto accidents when the neck and head are thrown forward and back or side-to-side in a violent manner. Whiplash can also occur to a child from something as simple as falling off a bike or having their head whipped on a carnival ride. Not only does it cause a great deal of pain and immobility in the head, neck and upper back, but there is also muscle and tendon tearing that can take place. Swelling and muscle tension, spasm, and fatigue are additional common symptoms of whiplash. Headaches, hand and arm pain difficulty swallowing, and a feeling of confusion or disorientation are also associated with whiplash injuries.

The most critical damage that occurs is that, almost every time, the violent motion wrenches the bones of the upper spine out of normal alignment. These misalignments, called vertebral subluxations, create a chain of reactions in the body that further inhibit the body's ability to function normally. This lack of function extends to the body's ability to heal. Vertebral subluxations are not only part of the injury, but leaving them uncorrected contributes further to the injury because the body can't heal.

Why can't the body heal? Misalignments of the spinal bones put pressure on the nerves that exit from the brain. The brain uses the nerve system to control all function in all parts of the body, including the healing process. The quality of the nerve impulses which carry the "how to" healing directions from the brain are slowed down or distorted because of the misalignments. The soft tissues, which cannot heal without the brain's instructions, stay in a damaged, malfunctioning state.

Those unfortunate people who have received whiplash injuries will agree that the pain and disability can drag on for months, even as healing takes place. Frustration and tension increase as the whiplash victim tries to regain ability to carry out simple daily functions while enduring comments from people who don't understand the physical disability whiplash creates. People question whether the sufferer is rally in pain since the scars aren't visible and there is no cast to autograph, as with a broken arm. Whiplash victims know the damage and the pains are, unfortunately, very real.

Of course, there is HOPE! I often think if we all wore our spines on the outside of our bodies for a day (so we could see the damage process), people would be beating down our door, desperate for the help only chiropractic care can give.

Chiropractic is the only profession, which specifically addresses, the injury of the vertebral subluxation. We doctors of chiropractic work to gently realign the misaligned spinal bones that cause a continuation of the whiplash damage to the nerves and other tissues. Removing the misalignments, which interfere with the brain's communications to the damaged body tissues, is what allows the body to regain its optimum ability to function. When the brain can communicate with the body, the body can also HEAL.

We dedicate ourselves to evaluating your whiplash injury for the presence of spinal bone misalignment and doing our part to help you regain your health through chiropractic care. The benefits are obvious. Call us today.