In this patient education video, Dr. James Sigafoose discusses the physics of whiplash trauma, educating your patient on what happens when this type of trauma occurs. In only 9-10 minutes Dr. Sigafoose goes through everything, but the most important aspect of this video is that he teaches your patient, that even though they may be a Personal Injury patient, their trauma is a chiropractic condition.

Whiplash Type Injury / Whiplash Associated Disorder.

Chiropractic treatment has been a great source of relief for many people who have suffered from whiplash. What exactly is whiplash and how does chiropractic help?

What is Whiplash?

Whiplash is a description of how the injury has been sustained. It is not a disease and not in itself a diagnosis. Rather it is a descriptive term that describes the mechanism of injury. Anytime the spine is unexpectedly moved in one direction and then it rebounds in the opposite direction there is the possibility of developing a whiplash type injury. It can happen in a backwards and forwards direction or it can be in a side to side motion. Of course whiplash type injuries are not limited to motor vehicle accidents alone; Sports injuries, knocks falls and slips can all produce a whiplash type injury. The term “whiplash type injury” is used to describe any injury mechanism where there is sudden excessive extension followed by an immediate excessive flexion of the neck that results in damage to the muscles, ligaments and tendons. We now know that whiplash type injuries frequently do not result from just excessive extension or excessive flexion (extension and flexion beyond normal limits of motion), but rather an extremely rapid extension and flexion that causes the damage.

What part of the spine is damaged in whiplash?

Most whiplash sufferers have misaligned vertebrae in their spine. Whiplash type injuries usually involve a combination of nervous system, muscles, joints and connective tissue damage. There are different degrees of whiplash type injuries and in order to decide the appropriate treatment, it is important to understand the mechanics of how whiplash type injuries occur.

Chiropractic Management and Treatment Whiplash Type Injuries:

Chiropractic care is a useful way of treating whiplash. There are a number of different treatment modalities that your Back to Health chiropractor might consider.

1. The main treatment a chiropractor would provide would be gentle spinal adjustments and or manipulation to the spine as required to reduce inflammation and irritation to the nervous system.
2. Massage, stretching and strengthening exercises for neck muscles are based on the specific muscles that are involved.
3. Relative rest. It is important in the initial phase of treatment to reduce     exercise and movements that aggravate the problem to minimum and reduce inflammation, whilst at the same time continuing with other activities that do not affect the condition such as swimmming and other low impact aerobic activities. this is a concept often termed relative rest.

My favorite part of this entire video is that Dr. Sigafoose sticks to his chiropractic philosophy and does not take the Whiplash trauma into the medical realm. As always this video and all of the patient education videos are available for immediate digital download at Sigafoose.com. Next week we will be going over Dr. Sigafoose’s last video called, “If You Don’t Know Subluxation, You Don’t Know Chiropractic.”