Whether you have been involved in a car accident or sustained your injury taking part in sport, whiplash is a debilitating injury and can stop you from doing both your job, chores around the house and from enjoying your hobbies.
When you sustain a whiplash injury, your neck is thrown initially backwards and then forwards and causes a transfer of force through in your neck muscles and is usually so great that the muscles fail to slow this movement down and causing damage to the muscles and ligaments that support the neck.
Most of our patients who come to see us after having sustained a whiplash injury have spent time waiting for it to sort itself out and sometimes not utilised the simplest things you can do to minimise the severity and loss of function sometimes associated with these kinds of injury.
Here are some simple tips and activities that can help you on your road to recovery:
- Stay Active – Your neck will benefit from normal movement and it is important to keep working if you can. You may need to alter some of the activities that you perform at work and ask your employer if you need help with this.
- Exercise – Exercise helps to reduce pain and the movment will help your body to recover naturally. The sooner you get moving the quicker you will recover.
- Control the pain – You can use pain killers or anti-inflammatories and these will allow you to get moving quicker and prevent any stiffness from setting in. Please ask your GP or Pharmacist if you are unsure about what to take and when.
- Hot or Cold – Use which one you prefer. Apply heat or use a cold pack wrapped in a damp towel for 15 minutes, they can both help to reduce pain and muscle spasm
If you find that your symptoms are not settling with this then physiotherapy can be very helpful in enhancing your recovery. Through Advice and Education, Massage and Manipulation and by the use of other modalities such as Acupuncture or electrotherapy we can help to return you to full function as soon as possible.
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