It doesn't have to be a horrific car crash!

We can never relive the feeling of being in the car crash, fall or accident, to experience what we felt, the forces going through our body. This is one of the big oversights when looking at recurrent neck or back pain. The effects or likelihood of whiplash are often ignored, apart from in the cases where the damage was so glaringly obvious.

In practice to give an example of this, I was treating, about 3 years ago, a young man for chronic neck and back pain. And as usual (particularly with younger men) he'd never had any "real traumas" but wasn't sure how this pain had begun.

Treatment took a little while as this was before we started using technology in practice, so were limited to the usual, manipulations & adjustments to the spine. It transpired after a few weeks, that there was an accident when he was in his teens, but it was "only minor". But it involved a car hitting a tree head on, and his head going through the windscreen. Windscreens are hard, and to penetrate them with the anti-shatter technology is quite a feat for a head.

I'm sure you're thinking, well thats silly, I'd remember that sort of thing. But time and time again, people forget or don't consider these details relevant.

Getting To The Point...

The pain you experience with whiplash is often not instant, possibly because of the heightened adrenaline your body pumps out during the event. But think of it without the sense numbing hormones and ask yourself, what has my body been through?

If you might have had whiplash the worst cases in some respect are the ones that aren't bad enough to force you to seek immediate medical care. These cases progress over time to become chronic, thanks to festering tissue damage healing poorly and becoming chronic as well as longer term degenerative changes occurring in the neck faster than they otherwise should do.

It is very easy to get the right examination and treatment early to avoid a problem building up.

If you are concerned about the possibility you might have whiplash contact us today (here), or if you'd like to learn more about this condition, click here.

Michael Fatica

The Mayfair Clinic.

London.