Whiplash is often a minor concern, causing pain, soreness or stiffness but no long-term effects. When it’s more severe, whiplash can cause long-term pain and complications. In the most extreme cases, whiplash can cause severe spinal injuries that can be permanently disabling or deadly.
When should I be worried about whiplash?
When to see a doctor. See your doctor if you have any neck pain or other whiplash symptoms after a car accident, sports injury or other traumatic injury. It’s important to get a prompt and accurate diagnosis and to rule out broken bones or other damage that can cause or worsen symptoms.
What does whiplash do to you?
Whiplash happens when your head is suddenly jolted backwards and forwards in a whip like movement. This can cause some of the muscles and ligaments in your neck to stretch.
What happens if whiplash is not treated?
Because a whiplash injury is a strain on your neck muscles as well as the tendons and ligaments in your neck, untreated whiplash can lead to spinal misalignment. When your spine is out of alignment, you can experience chronic structural problems, literally from your head to your feet.
Is it bad to get whiplash Related Questions
Can you survive whiplash?
While most people recover from whiplash after a few months, there is the potential for it to turn into a chronic neck pain problem that they must deal with for the rest of their lives. Whiplash is a neck injury from a forceful and fast back-and-forth movement.
What whiplash feels like?
you have tingling or pins and needles on 1 or both sides of your body. you have problems with walking or sitting upright. you have a sudden “electric shock” feeling in your neck and back which may also go into your arms and legs. your arms or legs feel weak.
What makes whiplash worse?
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.
How do you fix whiplash?
Either heat or cold applied to the neck for 15 minutes every three hours or so can help you feel better. Over-the-counter pain medications. Over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), often can control mild to moderate whiplash pain.
Who is at risk for whiplash?
Although whiplash may occur equally between men and women, many studies show that women are twice as likely to experience a whiplash injury when involved in a crash. Whiplash injury may occur at any age, young or old. The likelihood of experiencing whiplash following a motor vehicle collision increases with age.
Is whiplash lifelong?
Doctors now know that whiplash pain can mean lifelong pain and disability if the associated injuries are not properly cared for when they occur.
Is whiplash a big deal?
If you suffered a soft tissue injury to your neck from a car accident or some other event, you might wonder how dangerous whiplash is. A whiplash injury (or something that initially feels like a whiplash) could be the first symptom of a potentially paralyzing or fatal neck fracture.
Does whiplash go away by itself?
Q: How long does whiplash last? A: A vast majority of neck pain goes away within a few days, and even more within three months. But studies show that between 12% and 50% of people still have persistent neck pain after a year.
Is it safe to sleep with whiplash?
Try sleeping on a special neck pillow. Place it under your neck, not under your head. Placing a tightly rolled-up towel under your neck while you sleep will also work. If you use a neck pillow or rolled towel, do not use your regular pillow at the same time.
Can whiplash get worse over time?
When your initial injury occurs, there are physical changes to the cervical spine and cervicocranial junction (where the base of the skull meets the neck). If those changes are not corrected through proper pain management treatment, the discomfort will persist and can worsen over time.
Can you ignore whiplash?
Untreated whiplash can have long-term effects Without proper treatment, whiplash can lead to severe or chronic pain. Torn muscles or ligaments that don’t heal properly can limit the range of motion in your neck and cause pressure in the neck and shoulders. Left untreated, whiplash can cause: Chronic headaches.
Does whiplash show up on xray?
The difficulty with diagnosing whiplash is that it does not really show up on an X-ray, CT scan or an MRI scan. The diagnosis is usually made by asking the patient how they feel and then proceeding from there. People usually have pain in the back of their neck and they find that the pain is worse when they move.
Can whiplash affect your brain?
Research has shown that whiplash may cause brain changes that cannot be seen in tests. Victims could have symptoms of brain damage that don’t show up immediately. Certain parts of the brain may be impacted more during whiplash.
What is the longest whiplash can last?
Moderate cases of whiplash can last up to six months. Severe cases of whiplash can last for a year or be considered semi-permanent because it will not go fully away until the appropriate treatments are administered. Whiplash symptoms that last the longest tend to be migraines and seemingly random neck pains.
Is massage good for whiplash?
As it turns out, massage can be a great way to manage the aches associated with whiplash. By loosening tight muscles and increasing blood circulation in the neck and shoulders, massage techniques for whiplash can offer some much-needed relief.
What are the stages of whiplash?
Grade 0: No complaints about the neck. Grade I: Neck complaint of pain, stiffness or tenderness only. Grade II: Neck complaint AND musculoskeletal sign(s). Grade III: Neck complaint AND neurological sign(s). Grade IV: Neck complaint AND fracture or dislocation.