A sudden force that thrusts the head back and forth in a whip-like motion (acceleration- deceleration motion) can injure the bones, muscles, disks, ligaments, and nerves.
Acceleration - Deceleration cervical injuries commonly known as whiplash, neck injuries are very often seen in car accidents, result from sharp hyperflextension and hyperextension that damages muscle, ligaments, disks and nerve tissues.
Symptoms:
Severe neck pain, if the injury is mild the pain may delayed 12 to 24 hours.
Dizziness, gait disturbances.
Vomiting.
Headache, nuchal rigidity.
Rigidity or numbness in the arms.
Treatment:
Our clinic uses a new injury herbal patch that is applied on the neck area, and a bandage to keep the medicine applied. In this case do not use any massage therapy or Chiropractic treatment. Bed rest will help to speed the recovery of injury, Physical Therapy may also aggravate the problem, Do not do any exercise at this time.
Acupuncture may relieve some pain but we do not choose the point of the neck area to avoid discomfort from needles. X-ray's are recommended after injury especially if the patient noted some severe pain right after injury, or if the symptoms are not getting better in a week.
