You had a minor car accident on your way to work a few days ago. There was no major damage to the cars and everyone involved was OK. Today you have a splitting headache. This is a classic sign of your body's delayed response to an injury. A trip to an auto accident chiropractor who specializes in whiplash injuries will get rid of the pain. Here is why you're in pain now and what the chiropractor can do to relieve you of those headaches.
Why You Have Pain Now From an Accident Days Ago
During the accident, your head was suddenly forced backward, then forward sharply. This is a whiplash injury and results in small tears in the neck and upper back muscles. The muscles and other soft tissues in that area become inflamed to cushion your neck from more damage. As the inflammation goes away in your neck, the pain from the muscle trauma appears. The pain starts in your neck, where the damage occurred, but travels up into your head, causing the headaches you now have.
Treatment of Whiplash
The chiropractor is intimate with the anatomy of the neck and upper back and focuses on bones, muscles, tendons and nerves in that area. They will use non-invasive techniques to reduce inflammation further and any irritation to the nerves causing your pain.
Spinal Manipulation
Your chiropractor will look for signs that the vertebrae in your neck have become misaligned due to the accident. Small changes in the alignment, called a subluxation, put pressure on the muscles and nerves around the neck. Often occurring in the first two vertebrae in your neck, the doctor will gently move your spine around to re-position the vertebrae back into their natural locations.
Active Release Technique (ART)
This is one of the trigger point therapy techniques used by a chiropractor. The doctor will identify muscles in your neck that are still tense from the accident and gently massage them in the direction of their normal movement. This causes those muscles to relax, which increases circulation and reduces swelling. As the inflammation goes away, so does the irritation of nerves which are causing your headaches.
Myofascial Release Technique (MRT)
Some muscles become so tense that they form a hard knot under the skin. These muscles may cause painful spasms as long as they are tense. When the chiropractor identifies one of these muscle knots, they place direct and steady pressure on it until it begins to relax. They will then massage the muscle along its normal path of movement to complete the relaxation. The spasms and pain go away as the muscle relaxes. Contact a chiropractor--like one from Citrus Chiropractic Group--for more information or assistance.
Share15 February 2016
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