Whiplash injuries can cause a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort in the months following the accident. Prompt treatment of those injuries is incredibly important in ensuring you can make a full recovery. You can acquire the level of care you need to recover from whiplash by going to a chiropractor. These professionals can use the following techniques to treat whiplash and help you start down the road to recovery.
Cervical Spine Adjustments
As whiplash occurs, everything from the muscles to the vertebrae withstands serious forces. These forces can knock your cervical spine out of alignment, resulting in pain that lasts well after the muscles have healed.
To treat this problem, chiropractors can perform minute adjustments that restore the curvature of your cervical spine. The adjustments help reduce pressure on the soft tissues to keep pain levels down and improve healing times.
Muscle Relaxation Techniques
Chiropractors go beyond adjustments to help muscles relax after a whiplash injury by using other supportive therapies. In treating neck pain, for example, they may use heat and ice therapy to relax the tight muscle fibers.
They may also use effective massage therapy techniques to help loosen tight muscles and increase blood flow to those areas for improved healing. With these techniques, your chiropractor can not only relieve your neck discomfort but also prevent referred pain to the head, shoulders, and back.
Therapeutic Exercises
The muscle stiffness caused by whiplash can often impact how far you can move your head, neck, and arms. Thankfully, chiropractors help resolve these range of motion limitations with therapeutic exercises. As you perform the exercises, you will slowly regain your ability to move without experiencing an increase in pain levels.
You will likely work on stretches at first that help lengthens the muscles and prime your body for movement. You may then move onto light weight bearing exercises that challenge your muscles a little more. Your chiropractor will help you push your body the perfect amount to promote healing without any setbacks.
If you need treatment for whiplash, prompt care from your chiropractor can help you start working toward a full recovery. To make an appointment, give us a call at 561-488-4000 and we will find a convenient time for you to come down.