Whiplash Injury Treatment Doctors in The Villages, Florida 

If you were involved in a Car Accident in The Villages, FL, our Auto Accident Chiropractors can help with your Whiplash recovery. 

What is Whiplash?

Whiplash is a neck strain or sprain that most often occurs during a motor vehicle collision when the head is harshly jerked forward and backward. 

When the ligaments and muscles in the neck are extended beyond their normal comfortable range of motion, a whiplash injury is very common.  

Whiplash is considered to be a soft tissue injury because it is usually treated by a chiropractor.

What is the cause of whiplash?

Whiplash can happen at any time. You could slip and fall or get hurt playing high impacts sports such as football, gymnastics, or boxing. It occurs because your neck is forcefully thrown in a fast movement beyond the normal range. It causes vertebrae, spinal discs, ligaments, muscles, nerves, and tissues in your neck to become injured.

In the event of physical abuse or assault whiplash often occurs.

The impact of being punched or shaken results in spraining your neck or upper back. Whiplash is the main injury encountered in shaken baby syndrome.  

However, rear-end collisions are the most common reasons for a person to have whiplash. The impact of a car accident typically jerks the people inside of the vehicle causing neck pain.

Whiplash typically occurs when a person's head is forcefully and quickly thrown backward and then forward over-stretching the ligaments and muscles.

The harsh movement can injure bones in the spine, discs, ligaments, muscles, nerves and other tissues of the neck and upper back. The neck is extremely vulnerable to this they of injury because of its ability to move in so many directions.

Want to learn more? Read our Complete Guide to Whiplash Injuries.

What are the most Common Whiplash Injury Symptoms?

An odd thing about whiplash is that more often than not you won't notice a whiplash injury until hours, or even days after the accident occurs. 

Some of the most common symptoms that a whiplash victim may experience include any of the following: 

• Loss of motion in the neck 
• Headaches
• Numbness in arms
• Dizziness 
• Fatigue 
• Neck stiffness or pain 
• Neck and back pain increases 
• Tender shoulders, arms or upper back 

Below is a list of symptoms that occur when someone is suffering from more chronic neck pain that lasts longer: 

• Trouble focusing 
• Hard time remembering 
• Hard to sleep
• Depression 
• Blurred vision 
• Irritability
• Ringing in the ear 

How do you Diagnose a Whiplash Injury?

When it comes to diagnosing a whiplash injury, there are three main steps; neurological, physical, and diagnostic images. 

Your Doctor will first need to ask you a series of questions to get a better understanding of the severity of your pain and how it is impacting your daily life. 

Your Doctor will then examine your range of motion, reflexes, the sensation in your limbs, and the tenderness to your shoulders neck and upper back. In some cases, they will have you perform tasks like walking, jumping, or sitting to observe the movement of your body. 

The Villages Chiropractor will check your entire spine for any misalignments. The chiropractor does this part of the exam by placing their hands on the patient to feel for all of these potential issues.

The last part of the exam is the diagnostic image testing such as an x-ray, computerized tomography (CT) or a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). X-rays are most commonly used to find fractures, dislocation or arthritis.

One of the nice things about an x-ray is that it can take images of your neck from various different angles. CT scans are special x-rays that take cross-sectional images of the bone. These images will tell the doctor if there any bone damage or subtle bone changes.

MRI scans use radio waves and a strong magnet to look soft tissues and cross-sections between the soft-tissues and bones.

Once these three parts are completed, the exam will be over and your Doctor will be able to properly diagnose your injury. Your doctor will then go over the specialized treatment plan they that put together based on your diagnosis. 

Click here to learn more about general Neck Pain. 

 How is whiplash Treated by a Chiropractor? 

Chiropractors have holistic views when it comes to treating car accident injuries, such as whiplash.  

They focus on joint and muscle dysfunction, faulty movement patterns and disc derangement. 

The main treatment chiropractors provide are spinal adjustments, which is a manual manipulation to the spine. The chiropractor will have the patient sit or lay down in the needed position for them to place their hands on the patient and apply a sudden firm force.

This force causes a pop noise and realigns the body.  Evidence proves that this type of treatment provides pain relief and works best when coupled with physical therapy exercises.

Some other forms of treatment than manipulation and exercise is muscle relaxation. Sometimes lifestyle adjustments are also necessary for a patient to the most out of their recovery process. 

How Long does a Whiplash Injury Take to Heal? 

The severity of the whiplash injury will determine the time it takes for the patient to recovery. The more severe the injury, the more time it typically will take for it to heal.

Some whiplash injuries are minor enough that it only takes a few days or a couple of weeks to fully heal, while on the other hand, some whiplash injuries could take several months or years to fully heal.  The most common time frame that our Chiropractors see is usually around three months for a patient to make a full recovery.  

How Can You  Prevent a Whiplash Injury?

Stretching your neck on a regular basis will help to improve your odds of not getting a neck sprain. Do strengthening exercises to help keep the muscles in you neck strong and limber.  

These things can help but ultimately whiplash occurs because of an accident so there is nothing that can completely prevent a whiplash injury other than not being in a car accident.

If you were involved in a Car Accident and believe you are suffering from a Whiplash injury, do not hesitate to contact our experienced Whiplash Injury Doctors in The Villages, Florida. 

Click below now for a free Whiplash Injury Consultation!