Secret #: Home Remedies For Whiplash
Finding relief from the pain is perhaps everyones #1 concern. It hurts like the dickens and before you can sleep, you want relief from the pain.
If your whiplash is fairly recent, you can start by using Tylenol to help ease the pain. Be very careful with the dosing as too much Tylenol can be harmful and even deadly.
One of the main sources of pain comes from inflammation. There are a variety of anti-inflammatory supplements that you can take to help stop inflammation, thereby limiting pain. Some of the best anti-inflammatory supplements include:
- Green Tea
- Rosemary
- Sage
Your chiropractor can help to determine which of these, or one of the many other types of anti-inflammatory supplements might work best for you and how you should take them. They might also recommend an anti-inflammatory diet.
You can use a neck brace to help relieve some of the pressure from your neck, but dont use it for more than a few hours a day or for more than 3 or 4 days. Relying on a neck brace will not help the muscles and soft tissues heal but instead causes them to become weak and even more susceptible to pain.
Ice therapy will be very helpful to you in the first few days after your injury. Use ice packs or cold packs for 15 on, then 15 minutes off for 3 or 4 hours every day. This will help reduce the swelling and offer some much-needed pain relief. Ice will only be effective for 2 or 3 days, then you will need to follow your chiropractors treatment plan.
When To Seek Medical Attention
If the pain spreads to your shoulders and/or arms if it becomes painful and difficult to move your head if you experience numbness, tingling or weakness or if the pain is severe and interfering with everyday life, you should seek help from your physician or a physiotherapist. Your whiplash symptoms can be dramatically improved with proper physiotherapy and medical advice.
How Long Does Whiplash Last
A common question is how long does whiplash last’? Whiplash recovery times can vary from person to person – everyone is different, and the injury sustained can vary depending on the accident itself, but NHS guidance states that sufferers will usually get better within 2 to 3 months.
What is whiplash?
Whiplash is a neck injury caused by a sudden movement of the head jerking forwards, backwards or sideways.
When you first experience whiplash injury, whether you were driving or a passenger in a vehicle, you might find that your injuries are both painful and limiting to your range of movement.
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Getting A Good Nights Sleep When You Have A Whiplash Injury
One thing many of our patients at our Ealing chiropractor clinic The Spine & Joint Centre, have in common is the challenge of getting a good nights sleep. When you have an injury like whiplash, however, it can be extremely difficult to get comfortable and find the rest you need to recover properly.
Some sleeping positions might actually put more stress on the affected area and make things worse. Here we take a closer look at what you need to do to promote a decent nights sleep when you are in pain and discomfort.
What Can I Do During The Day To Help Reduce The Pain
During the day its important to pay attention to any extra strain that may be placed upon the body. A proper posture should be focused on throughout the day, especially when working at a desk for more than 50% of the day.
Proper shoes with extra comfort will help in keeping that proper balance when walking and sitting. The right shoes will also assist with the maintaining of a proper alignment and good posture throughout the body.
Stretching on a daily basis is also a brilliant way to loosen the muscles in the neck and relieve whiplash pain. There are plenty of simple neck pain stretches you can do to help manage whiplash and other neck pain problems. Stretching will alleviate the pain throughout the day and its also a good idea to do some stretches immediately before you go to bed. However, its important that you dont overexert yourself when stretching because you can do some more damage. Always start slowly with a small stretch and if you notice an increase in pain, stop right away.
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Support With Neck Pillows
There are certain types of pillows specifically designed to address certain sleep positions. If you find that sleeping on your side or stomach may make your pain worse, then consider investing in a neck pillow that provides more support. Neck pillows with built-in support have a concave structure to them that helps keep the neck stable whether you are sleeping on your back or side. A neck pillow also provides more support by keeping the spine in your neck and back in a more neutral alignment.
Key Points About Whiplash
- Car accidents, contact sports, and physical abuse are common causes of whiplash.
- Symptoms of whiplash range from pain and stiffness in your neck to trouble sleeping and headaches.
- Your doctor can diagnose whiplash in a clinic visit by evaluating your symptoms. In some cases, your doctor will use diagnostic imaging to determine if you have a more severe cause of your pain.
- Rest, ice, and OTC medications are the first-line therapies for whiplash. If your case is more severe, you may need injections, prescription medications, or physical therapy.
- Most patients fully recover within three months.
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How Your Ealing Chiropractor Can Help Treat Whiplash
Whiplash can develop into a chronic condition for some people and its important to get a proper diagnosis and find out what treatment options are available. Gentle manipulation and management with select exercises should help improve issues with pain and move you more quickly towards recovery.
As with any injury, all people are different which is why it is important to get a full consultation that investigates all aspects of your injury. If chiropractic manipulation is suitable, you should expect your pain to ease and your condition to improve, that includes hopefully getting a better nights sleep.
If you have a whiplash injury and live in Ealing or the surrounding area, contact our chiropractor clinic today to book an appointment.
What Are The Symptoms
Symptoms of whiplash are pain and stiffness in the neck and sometimes in the muscles in your head, chest, shoulders, and arms. You also may have a headache, feel dizzy, and have pain in your back.
You may not have any symptoms until the day after your injury. Or your symptoms may go away but then return a few days later.
You may have a more serious injury if you have:
- Severe pain in your neck.
- Pain down one or both arms.
- Pain that comes back after being gone for a few days.
- Numbness or tingling in your hands, arms, chest, or legs.
- Weakness in your arms, hands, or legs.
- Inability to move your head.
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Chiropractic Treatment: Neck Pain And Whiplash
June 3, 2015 by Dr.D.C.Hurd
Whiplash is a generic term used to describe a hyper extension and flexion injury to the neck. It is a soft tissue injury to the neck. Often associated with car accidents , whiplash is a serious injury.
Did you know that whiplash injuries arent limited to car accidents? While whiplash can occur after an automobile accident, it can also be caused by a fall, a sports injury, or anytime theres a sudden jolt of the head.
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Have You Received Adequate Compensation From Your Insurer
There are many cases where victims only discover the full extent of their injuries much later after the accident occurred. They realize that the accident benefits paid by the insurer are inadequate to cover all the damages incurred. To determine if youve received sufficient accident benefits to cover all your medical care needs, you must consult a lawyer. The claims adjuster is likely to try and minimize the payout by failing to assess your injuries correctly. If this has happened to you, you can dispute it with the insurer or pursue a lawsuit with the help of a personal injury lawyer. Even though there is no exact formula for calculating how much compensation youll receive for the whiplash injury, an experienced lawyer will advise you on what a reasonable range is based on the facts of your case.
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Signs That You Might Have Whiplash And How To Treat It
Accidents can leave you devastated, shaken, and scared. Its not uncommon for people to walk away from an accident feeling completely fineonly to realize theyve suffered injuries that impact them hours, days, or even weeks later. This is because some vehicle injurieslike whiplasharent immediately noticeable.
Whiplash occurs when the neck muscles suffer a strain and stretch due to forceful, rapid back-and-forth, or side-to-side movement of your neck. Although whiplash is often caused by road traffic accidents, it can also result from sports-related collisions, physical abuse or assault, falls, and other types of trauma. If left untreated or ignored, whiplash can cause permanent damage to neck ligaments, tendons, and muscles leading to long-term suffering.
According to James McKiernan Law, a team of San Luis Obispo accident lawyers, whiplash can occur even in minor car accidents and low-speed collisions. Therefore, its best to watch out for signs. Here are five common signs to keep an eye out for:
How To Sleep With Whiplash
Posted byDr. Brent Wells on Nov 12, 2019 7:13:00 AM
Sleep is very important to the body and without the proper amount of sleep the body wont function properly as it should.
The overall quality of life is kept stable and is better when the body gets adequate and appropriate rest. Our mental health is also affected much when and if we arent getting enough sleep for the body.
Our bodies have a natural way of recuperating overnight preparing us for the next day. While your sleep is important however there are certain conditions sometimes health, mental, emotional or physical that cause that rest to be affected.
Sleep deprivation hinders the healing of muscle injuries that need time to heal. Lots of healing takes place overnight. The lack of adequate sleep never helps the body to get better when there is an imbalance. As a chiropractor for whiplash in Juneau, Alaska., Id like to share a few things you can do to help.
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When It Comes To Whiplash Rest Equals Rust
You may not want to move around after a whiplash injury for fear of making the pain worse. But resting for more than a few days can cause the muscles in your neck, shoulders and back to get stiff and weak and actually prolong the pain.
To keep your neck healthy and flexible, Traynelis recommends returning to normal activity as soon as your doctor says its OK. Your doctor may also prescribe physical therapy to help alleviate symptoms and recondition the muscles.
Even if you have to ease into activity slowly, he says, dont let pain, or fear of pain, keep you from getting on with your life.
When To See A Chiropractor
After a car accident, sports accident, or any type of traumatic injury, its important to see your chiropractor right away, especially if you feel any type of neck pain. Your doctor will want to rule out broken bones or severe tissue damage that will need more extensive care.
Dont worry. If your chiropractor should discover that you need medical intervention that he cannot provide, he will refer you to a health care expert specializing in whatever other treatment you might need.
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How Do I Treat Whiplash At Home
Weve included 8 amazing exercises that help melt away tightness and pain after a whiplash injury, all of which you can do from the comfort of your home!
1.Chin tucks:
Purpose: to stretch the muscles in the cervical spine. It could be performed in a lying position or a seated position. To watch the video click here
How to be performed in a lying position? A. Lie on your back and look at the ceiling B. Move your chin toward the chest C. Hold 5 seconds to feel a comfortable stretch from your neck to the base of your head. D. Repeat it 10 times
How to be performed in a seated position? A. Sit in the correct sitting posture such as the below photo B. Look forward, move your head backward so your chin is tucked down while nothing beneath your head should move. C. Hold for 5 seconds D. Repeat it 10 times
2. Side to side head rotation:
Purpose: to decrease tightness and increase the mobility of the neck. It could be performed in a lying position or a seated position. To watch the video click here.
3.Side bending:
Purpose: to decrease tightness and increase the mobility of the neck. It can be performed in a lying position or seated position. To watch the video click here.
4.Scapular stabilization exercise:
Purpose: to relief the neck pain according to this research published in the Asian spine Journal Steps:
D. Repeat 10 times per day For watching the exercise and more isometric neck exercises, check this video.
7.The corner stretch:
Assessing Your Pain And Mobility
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Use Cold And Hot Compresses
Applying ice and heat to an injured area can help in a number of ways. Cold compresses help to soothe aches and pains with a numbing effect while also reducing any inflammation in the area. When you apply a hot compress, it helps the muscles to relax and you may be able to find a more comfortable position. Use cold and hot compresses on your neck, upper back, and shoulders before you go to sleep to help soothe any lingering pain and relax your muscles.
Use A Breathing Technique
Controlling your breath and focusing on this, switches the flight or fight response that is commonly turned on after a whiplash injury to the more appropriate and normal rest and digest response required for body repair and rejuvenation while you sleep. A breathing technique will relax you physically and mentally and set you up for a continuous sleep. Try the simple technique-its all you need. Dont be fooled by the simplicity, this method is fast and effective
- Breathe in for 3 seconds
- Breathe out for 3 seconds
- Continue for 5-10 minutes before sleep while you are lying on your back in bed
- Breathe in and out through your nose
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Best Sleeping Positions For Sleeping With Whiplash Injury:
Keeping a proper sleeping posture is very important for people suffering from whiplash. If a proper position is not implemented and maintained during sleep, the neck can become stiff and bring more pain. On the other hand, if the patients manage to sleep in a proper position, there will be less tension to the muscles and less neck pain to endure.
Stretch With Foam Rollers
Stretching your neck and upper back before you go to sleep can help prevent stiffness from developing throughout the night. Much of the pain associated with a whiplash injury is associated with how your muscles become sore and stiff after the initial injury. Gentle, therapeutic stretches with foam rollers can help you to prepare for a good nights sleep by easing tension in your aching muscles.
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Q: What Causes Whiplash
A: People associate whiplash with a motor vehicle collision, and that often is the cause. But it can also happen with a sports injury, physical abuse or by being punched. These all can cause an intense flexing and extension of the neck a movement similar to when you nod your head to say yes.
Whiplash happens when structures in your neck, including discs, ligaments, nerves or muscles, are damaged.
Sometimes a small vessel tears after an accident and releases inflammatory substances in the neck, causing swelling and pain.
