Whiplash is a common but painful neck injury

Your neck is a very flexible part of your body. Think of how many different ways you can move your head. All of that movement is made possible by your neck. When you are involved in a car accident, the flexibility of your neck can lead to an injury known as whiplash. This is because the extreme movements of your neck during the accident might injure the structures, such as the discs, ligaments and muscles, that are part of your neck.

In the past, whiplash injuries were treated in a very conservative manner. The treatment consisted of wearing a cervical collar, or neck brace, for a prolonged period of time. It is now known that this type of conservative treatment can considerably lengthen the recovery time associated with a whiplash injury.

Nowadays, the treatment for whiplash is to get moving and start exercising as soon as possible after the injury. Almost 90 percent of whiplash injuries can heal in days to weeks without any intensive treatments. Generally, activities to strengthen the neck muscles are used to treat whiplash. Those treatments are often coupled with pain relief methods like using ice or heat.

It is vital that you seek medical care if you have neck pain after an accident. Testing is necessary to rule out conditions like fractured bones or damaged joints before you start on a treatment program.

Once you have obtained medical care for your whiplash, you might decide to learn about how you can seek compensation. Exploring your options, such as filing a lawsuit, is the first step that is necessary if you plan on trying to minimize the cost you have to pay because of the accident.

Source: Manitoba Physiotherapy Association, “Whiplash – The Most Common Neck Injury,” accessed July 16, 2015