Neck Pain & Whiplash Injuries

Car accidents, blows to the back in sports, and on-the-job injuries can easily leave you with a whiplash injury. While symptoms are often felt immediately, pain may be delayed for days, months, or, in rare cases, even years. In fact, many people wake up with neck pain without being aware of ever having a head or neck injury. The most common symptom of whiplash (affecting 62% to 92% of those injured) is neck pain, and it usually begins between two hours and two days after the accident. This is often the result of tightened muscles that react to either muscle tears or excessive movement of joints from ligament damage. The muscles tighten in an effort to splint up and support the head, limiting the excessive movement. While muscle relaxants and pain killers can relieve some of the discomfort of these muscle spasms, these medications will only cover up symptoms, failing to address the cause of the problem.

An estimated 66% to 70% of those suffering from whiplash complain of headaches. The pain may be on one side or both, on- again/-off again or constant, in one location or more diffuse. These headaches, like neck pain, are often the result of tightened, tensed muscles trying to keep the head stable and, like tension headaches, they are often felt behind the eyes.

Shoulder pain, often described as pain radiating down the back of the neck into the shoulder blade area, also may be the result of tensed muscles. Muscle tears often are described as burning, prickling or tingling pain. More severe disc damage may cause sharp pain with certain movements which are relieved by holding your hand over your head.

If you experience any of these symptoms, you may have a whiplash injury that, if left untreated, can cause far more serious problems months or years later.

Work-Related Injuries
(Workers Comp)

Workers' Compensation Insurance covers chiropractic care. Several studies in various states have repeatedly found that chiropractic care gets people back to work much sooner and at far lower cost than medical care for the same type of on-the-job back injuries.

Chiropractic care usually leads to fewer chronic cases, and gets people back on their feet and back to work sooner. That is great for the patient and reason enough to choose chiropractic care for work-related job injuries.

Workers comp injuries require the doctor and patient to keep good records and fill out paperwork properly. We will be happy to assist you in properly filling out this paperwork.