Whiplash Injury Car Accident Diagnosis
Your health care provider will ask questions about the event along with your symptoms. You could also be asked questions that help your doctor know just how severe your symptoms are and how frequently they happen. Your health care provider will also need to understand whether it is possible to perform regular everyday tasks.
Evaluation in Car Accident Whiplash Cases
During the test, your doctor will have to touch and move your head, arms, and neck. You’ll Be asked to proceed and execute easy tasks so that your Physician can assess the:
- Range of movement in your neck and shoulders
- Amount of activity that causes pain or an increase in pain
- Tenderness on your neck, back, or shoulders
- Reflexes, strength, and feeling in your limbs
Imaging Tests after Whiplash Injury
A whiplash injury is not apparent on imaging evaluations. However, your doctor will probably order a couple of imaging tests to rule out other conditions that may be making your neck pain worse. Imaging tests include:
X-rays: Fractures, dislocations, or arthritis could be recognized by X-rays of their neck taken from several angles.
Computerized tomography (CT): This distinctive sort of X-ray can create cross-sectional pictures of bone and reveal potential bone damage.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This imaging test employs radio waves and a magnetic field to generate detailed 3D pictures. Along with bone fractures, MRI scans may detect some soft tissue injuries, such as damage to the spinal cord, ligaments, or disks.
Whiplash Treatment Aims:
- Control pain
- Restore normal movement in your neck
- Get you back to regular activities
- Prevent long-term disability
Your treatment program will be contingent on the magnitude of your whiplash injury. Some patients use over-the-counter pills and at-home therapy. Others might require prescription medicines, specialized pain injections, or physiotherapy.
Pain management for Whiplash Injury
Your Physician may recommend one or more of these options to reduce pain:
Rest
Rest may be helpful for a day or two following your accident, but also, too much bed rest can delay recovery.
Heat or cold
Either cold or heat applied to the neck for 20 minutes every 3 hours or so may help you feel less pain.
Over-the-counter pain medicines
Over-the-counter pain relievers, like acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), may control mild whiplash pain.
Prescription Medicines
Individuals with more-severe pain might be given types of antidepressants that have been demonstrated to ease nerve pain.
Muscle relaxants
Short-term usage of those drugs can be recommended to loosen tight muscles and soothe the pain. The medication can also cause you to feel sleepy. It could be used to help restore normal sleep when pain prevents you from getting a good night’s rest.
Injections for Whiplash
A precise injection of numbing medication into painful muscle areas might be utilized to reduce pain so that you can perform physical therapy. Certain joints within the neck can also be injected to improve your range of motion and reduce pain.
Exercise
Your doctor will probably prescribe a set of stretching and stretching exercises that you perform in your home. These exercises will help restore the range of motion on your neck and return to your regular activities. Applying moist heat to the painful area or using a hot shower could be recommended before exercise.
Whiplash Exercises can include:
- Rotating your cervical spine in both directions
- Tilting your head side to side
- Bending your neck toward your feet.
- Rolling your shoulders
- Physical Therapy for Whiplash
In case you’ve got ongoing whiplash pain or want assistance with range-of-motion exercises. Your Physician may suggest that you find a physical therapist. Physical therapy can help you feel much better and might prevent additional harm. Your physical therapist will lead you through exercises to strengthen your muscles, and improve posture and restore normal movement. Sometimes, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) can be utilized. TENS applies a gentle electrical current into the epidermis. Limited research indicates this therapy may temporarily alleviate neck pain and enhance muscular strength. The number of physical treatment sessions required will differ from person to person. Your physical therapist may also make a personalized exercise regimen that you could do in your home.
Foam collars for whiplash injury
Soft foam cervical collars were once commonly used for whiplash accidents to maintain the neck and head still. But, various studies have proven that maintaining the neck still for extended stretches of time may diminish muscle power and interfere with healing. However, the use of a collar to restrict movement might help lessen pain shortly following your injury and help you sleep through the night. Tips for utilizing a collar change, though. Some experts suggest restricting use to no longer than 72 hours, but others limit use to 3 hours every day for a couple of weeks. Your Physician can guide you on how to utilize the collar correctly and for how long.
Alternative medicine
Nontraditional treatments have been attempted to deal with whiplash pain, but how well they help is not entirely understood. Some include:
Acupuncture
Acupuncture involves inserting ultrafine needles throughout particular areas in your skin. It could provide some relief from neck pain.
Chiropractic care
A chiropractor performs joint manipulation methods. There’s some evidence that chiropractic care might offer pain relief when paired with exercise or physical treatment. Manipulation of the spine can cause issues, such as numbness or dizziness, and infrequently harm to spinal tissues.
Massage
A neck massage can offer temporary relief of neck pain in whiplash injury.
Mind-body remedies
Exercises that include gentle motions and a focus on breathing and mindfulness, like tai chi, qi gong, and yoga, can help alleviate stiffness and pain.
Prepare for your whiplash evaluation
If you have been in an auto accident, you may get care on the scene or at an emergency room. But a whiplash injury may not cause symptoms instantly. In case you have neck pain and other symptoms following an accident, see your Physician or an accident and injury care clinic as soon as possible. Be ready to explain in detail the function which might have triggered your symptoms and also to answer the following questions:
- How do you rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10?
- Does motion cause the pain to worsen?
- What other symptoms are you experiencing?
- How long after the accident did the symptoms appear?
- Have you ever had neck pain previously, or do you encounter it frequently?
- Have you attempted any medicines or other treatments to alleviate the pain?
- If this is the case, what was the result?
- What medicines do you regularly take, such as dietary supplements and herbal medications?