Personal Injury often describes an injury caused by a car accident.  When you think of personal injury the first thing that comes to mind is whiplash. Surprisingly, the speed of the cars involved in the accident or the amount of physical damage to the car may not relate to the intensity of neck injury. Speeds as low as 15 miles per hour can produce enough energy to cause whiplash in a passenger in your car, whether or not they are wearing a seat belt.

What is Whiplash?
Whiplash is the common non-medical name for a soft tissue injury to the neck because of sudden hyper extension and flexion. The injury is referred to as "whiplash" due to the neck or back being thrown forwards and/or backwards at a rapid speed. This causes the fibres of the neck muscles to tear, resulting in pain and often a decreased range of movement.

Who suffers from Whiplash?
Though whiplash is most frequently associated with being rear ended in a car accident, it can also occur in a myriad of other ways such as from amusement park rides, (especially roller coasters), sports injuries, accidental falls, assaults, and  even child abuse such as in shaken baby syndrome. Any injury where the head is pushed or jerked beyond its normal range of motion can result in whiplash.

What are the Symptoms of Whiplash?
Whiplash most commonly causes neck pain, shoulder and/or back pain, headaches, dizziness, burning or prickling sensations, muscle and ligament injuries, blurred vision, nausea, numbness, and ringing in the ears. In severe cases, there may be memory loss, nervousness, irritability, impaired concentration,  disturbed sleep, fatigue and depression. Symptoms such as neck pain may be present immediately after injury or may be delayed for several days so it is always important to be checked over immediately after an injury.

What can chiropractic do?

The goal of chiropractic is to restore movement loss, overcome muscle damage and resulting weakness, diminish your pain and speed your recovery back to a normal lifestyle. The chiropractor will take a patient history and gather details of the accident, such as what type of collision was it, patient’s head position at time of impact, the force of impact, etc. The chiropractor will also ask questions regarding pain, such as where it is, how movement affects it, and the degree of pain and will also gather a complete list of your symptoms.  Next comes the examination that will help determine the extent of your injuries.  The chiropractor will diagnose the source of your pain from the whiplash injury and determine the best course of action to bring about maximum recovery in the shortest period of time.