Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Assess your situation
• Method 2 of 3: Dealing with short-term whiplash
• Method 3 of 3: Dealing with long-term whiplash
• Warnings

Whiplash is a term that describes an injury to the tendons, ligaments and muscles of the neck and spine as a result of sudden or forceful movement of the head or body. Whiplash is so called because the body suddenly stops and the head and neck are thrown forward like a whip. Most cases of whiplash arise in car accidents. If you think you have whiplash, there are a few ways to assess your situation and treat the injury.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Assess your situation

1. Recognize the symptoms. Whiplash is a condition involving damage to the soft tissue and ligaments around the top of the spine. If you've been in an accident or injury, you can get symptoms right away. However, it is also possible that the symptoms do not start to appear until after a few days. Symptoms of whiplash include a stiff or painful neck, headache that starts in the top of the neck, difficulty in moving your neck, pain in the shoulders, arms and upper back, tingling in the arms due to nerve damage, fatigue, dizziness, depression, blurred vision, ringing or ringing in the ears, insomnia, and problems with memory and concentration.
2. Go to the doctor. If you have neck pain after an accident, injury, or sports injury, it's important to go to the hospital or doctor right away. You need to make sure you don't have a fracture or other damage to your neck. Also see your doctor right away to have you examined if the symptoms do not appear until later, in the days after the accident.
   • If you are not in pain, or the doctor sends you home without major treatment, you may need to go back again. The injury may not be recognizable as whiplash until a few hours after the accident. Even if your neck hurts only slightly, you should start treatment within a day of the accident.
   • Check for swelling or bruising on your neck. Keep a close eye on this. If symptoms get worse and you have difficulty moving your neck, go to the hospital immediately. If you do not go to hospital, you can become incapacitated for work for a long time.
   • If you received a severe blow to the head or been unconscious after the accident, call an ambulance right away or have someone take you to the hospital.
3. Let yourself be examined extensively. Have the doctor take X-rays so that your bones are viewed. You need to make sure there is no fracture in your neck or spine. If the X-rays look normal, but you still have pain in your neck, an MRI scan may look at the soft tissue in the neck. If the MRI is normal, but the pain remains, the doctor may perform a CT scan. The body is examined even better with computer technology, where the images can be viewed from different angles.
   • Your doctor can use these tests to assess the severity of the injury before recommending appropriate treatment.
4. Assess your injury against Croft's classification system. To find out how bad your whiplash is, compare it to other possible levels of injury. This system was invented by Dr. Croft and ranks the whiplash from level 1 to level 5. Level 1 means minimal whiplash with no movement restriction, ligament damage, or nerve damage. Treatment of this takes up to 10 weeks. Level 2 means that you experience mild movement restriction, but no damage to the ligaments and no damage to the nerves. Treatment can last up to 29 weeks. Level 3 means moderate movement restriction, minor ligament damage and neurological symptoms. Treatment can last up to 56 weeks. Level 4 is said to be moderately severe, with limited movement, ligament damage, neurological symptoms, and broken or crooked vertebrae. At level 4, constant treatment is needed, without it being clear how long it will last. Level 5 is serious, requiring surgery and rehabilitation.

Method 2 of 3: Dealing with short-term whiplash

1. Limit your activities. After your accident, you should rest for the first 24 hours. Use a firm mattress and a pillow that supports the neck. After this period, you can move slowly instead of staying in bed. Don't overdo it for the first few days after the accident, and do more and more as soon as the pain allows.
   • For the first 6 weeks to 6 months, don't try to lift anything heavy, depending on how severe your injury is.
   • Spread out your activities throughout the day. When doing household chores, don't lift the wet laundry out of the washing machine to put it in the dryer. Take frequent breaks so you can rest your neck. If you have to carry children, use a pushchair as much as possible, or change arms all the time.
2. Use ice to relieve the pain. For the first 48-72 hours after the accident, put ice on your neck, back, or shoulders. This will help with the pain and swelling. Ice works best if you put it on for 10-30 minutes at a time, once every hour. Do not put the ice directly on your skin. Wrap a towel around the ice so your skin isn't damaged by freezer burn.
   • Do not apply a warm compress at the beginning, as this can make the swelling worse.
3. Switch to heat. Switch to moist heat on the fourth day after the accident. This helps to restore the flexibility of your muscles. Put something warm on your neck for 10-30 minutes, every 2-3 hours. You can make a warm compress yourself. Fill a sock with 4 cups of uncooked rice. Button the sock. Place it in the microwave for 1-3 minutes.
   • If you want, you can sprinkle some essential oil over the rice to make it smell nice.
4. Take over-the-counter remedies for the pain. Your doctor can recommend painkillers. He may also suggest using anti-inflammatory drugs to help control pain and promote healing. Paracetamol is usually used for pain, but it does not relieve swelling. Anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen, aspirin and Aleve help with the pain and swelling. You can also combine paracetamol with anti-inflammatory painkillers, as they do not affect each other and combat pain in different ways.
5. Take any medications your doctor prescribes. If the injury is severe, your doctor can prescribe pain medication. These can be muscle relaxants, such as Valium, to reduce the cramps caused by the injury. For severe pain, opiates such as Oxycodone can also be prescribed.
   • If the medicines are used up, a follow-up appointment is necessary to assess whether you need further investigation.
6. Have steroid injections. In severe cases of whiplash, your doctor may give trigger point injections or an epidural to treat the injury. In steroid injections, the medication is injected to reduce pain from pinched nerves in the neck. The spine has nerves that run into the arms and legs. Injecting the medication into the epidural space reduces pain in those areas. The steroids also counteract nerve swelling. A total of 2-3 injections may be needed to control the pain.
   • Sometimes injections are also given in the joint surfaces. The joint surfaces that connect the vertebrae help you move, so you may need medication to reduce pain. Although they are not given as often as an epidural, they are effective. Trigger points are muscle knots that are inflamed. The doctor can inject a painkiller into these areas to reduce inflammation as well.
   • These stronger drugs and injections reduce pain so you can start working on repairing the soft tissues. You can do this with treatments such as physiotherapy.

Method 3 of 3: Dealing with long-term whiplash

1. See a physical therapist. Once you get the pain and inflammation under control, you can see a physical therapist. Physical therapy consists of many different techniques that can be used to restore movement of your neck and other areas affected by whiplash. It is often used to improve range of motion after whiplash. The physical therapist will teach you stretches and exercises to restore strength and range of motion to your neck, back, and arms. The exercises and stretching should not hurt. If it does, stop and talk to your doctor or physiotherapist.
   • Your physical therapist can show you neck exercises that you can do at home.
   • If you put a warm compress on your neck first, it will support the therapy.
   • Exercises commonly used in physical therapy include turning the neck from side to side, tilting your head from side to side, nodding back and forth, and rolling the shoulders.
2. Wear a neck brace or collar. Sometimes the doctor will recommend keeping the neck still with a soft collar. This is no longer recommended as standard in all cases of whiplash because there is evidence that moving back early is actually good. However, if you have had surgery, immobilization is necessary.
3. Go to a chiropractor. You may need to see a chiropractor to straighten the vertebrae. Most chiropractors follow the new protocol which states that it is good to start moving again soon. This protocol guides chiropractors in the treatment of patients with whiplash. They have discovered that it is better to start moving quickly again, and that recovery takes less time. This allows you to use your neck and back normally again.
4. Consider massage therapy. Massage therapy is great for soft tissue repair. Massage is especially helpful in the later stages of whiplash recovery, but it is not recommended at first. Massage improves blood flow to damaged muscles and ligaments and speeds up recovery. While recovering from whiplash, massage also relieves cramps.
5. Consider transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation (TENS). TENS is used to deliver small electrical impulses to the nerves in the affected areas. It disrupts the pain sensors in the brain. Although it is very expensive, there are no further disadvantages to using TENS. However, there is not yet enough evidence that it helps in mild cases of whiplash to recommend it for all patients.
6. Try acupuncture. Acupuncture can be used as a useful aid for people with whiplash. It reduces muscle tension, just like a massage. By inserting small needles into the body, the pain caused by tense muscles decreases and the blood flow improves. As a result, the tissue recovers more quickly after an injury.

Warnings

• While many people start to feel better after a few days, some people suffer from the effects of whiplash for months, and treatment can be a lengthy process.
• While most people view whiplash as a physical injury, psychological symptoms such as stress, anxiety, and depression can also occur. However, most psychological symptoms do not usually develop until after the physical, and in some cases, three months after the accident. If you find yourself experiencing stress or anxiety, see your doctor right away.
• Seek medical attention if your neck pain returns after you have healed, if the pain gets worse, if the pain spreads to your shoulders and arms, or if you have numbness, limp, or tingling in your arms or legs. Also call the doctor if you are unable to defecate or urinate, or if you cannot hold back your poo or pee.