If you’ve been in a fender bender or some other type of accident, you may be experiencing pain, aching, and soreness in your neck and shoulders. If so, you likely suffered whiplash. And if you’re worried that your only treatment option is strong painkillers, you needn’t worry.
Here at Premier Health Chiropractic & Wellness Center in Dallas, Texas, we provide chiropractic care that’s a drug-free option to soothe your whiplash symptoms and improve your mobility.
Practice founder Dr. H. Khayal offers cutting-edge chiropractic technologies such as the Ultralign G2, spinal decompression therapy, and cold laser therapy. Whiplash undoubtedly can be painful, but chiropractic care can treat your whiplash and help you get back to normal.
What causes whiplash?
Your neck contains important muscles that allow you to move your head in all directions. Whiplash occurs when your neck is suddenly thrust back and forth, straining those neck muscles and overstretching your ligaments.
Whiplash is most frequently associated with car accidents, for example, when the vehicle you’re in is rear-ended. However, a number of things can cause whiplash, such as contact sports, blows to the head, cycling or horseback accidents, and falls.
For most people, the first sign of whiplash is neck and upper back pain in the days or weeks after an injury. Depending on the severity of the whiplash, you may also experience stiffness, headaches, dizziness, shoulder pain, tingling, burning, and muscle spasms.
While many of these symptoms are normal, it’s important to contact Dr. Khayal immediately if you have weakness or numbness in your arms or moving your head is painful, as these symptoms could be a sign of a more serious problem.
How we diagnose whiplash
Because whiplash involves an injury to your sensitive neck and cervical spine area, it’s important to ensure that you don’t have any other serious injuries, such as a concussion or damage to your vertebral discs.
Usually, Dr. Khayal conducts a thorough patient history and physical exam to find out what caused your whiplash and how it’s affecting you. He may also examine the rest of your spine to check your mobility and joint health.
If needed, Dr. Khayal orders tests to rule out any other possible injuries and assess the severity of your condition.
How we treat whiplash
Patients may think their only option to treat whiplash is pain medication, but chiropractic care can treat your whiplash by returning your neck to a healthy alignment and encouraging your body to heal itself.
Dr. Khayal often uses massage therapy as well as hands-on adjustments to relieve your neck pain and other whiplash symptoms. Massage therapy relieves muscle tension in your neck by soothing and releasing the stressed muscle fibers, which can reduce stiffness and headaches.
After an accident, your spine may show signs of misalignment, bulging discs, or tightness. Dr. Khayal can use gentle adjustments to realign your cervical spine and improve your spinal health, which can help your whiplash symptoms resolve faster.
If you’ve been diagnosed with whiplash or are concerned that you have whiplash, chiropractic care can help reduce your pain and improve your mobility by getting to the root of the problem. To find out more, call our Dallas office at 972-713-9355 or request a free consultation today.