Whiplash is a lot more complicated than most people think. As an injury, it is real; despite the bad press it gets. For anyone out there who has actually suffered with a genuine whiplash injury, you’ll know that it is not always just a bit of neck ache. It can be debilitating, and it can have a significant effect on your everyday life. I should know, as I have had the injury myself.
Causes
Whiplash is most commonly caused by car accidents. A sudden impact can cause your neck and back to jerk forwards and backwards or sideways. This sudden movement can stretch the ligaments and muscles in your neck, back and shoulders beyond their normal range of movement; thus causing an injury.
Most people will feel fine immediately after the accident as whiplash will commonly take a few hours to manifest itself.
Diagnosis
If you visit your doctor or a health professional they can usually diagnose a whiplash injury. Many will often refer to it as soft tissue injuries to the affected areas.
Whiplash can be felt by an expert – normally you will feel tight, and your range of movement may also be restricted as well.
Treatment
There is no fast cure for whiplash. In fact, most doctors of health professionals you see can really do little about it. It’s still useful to have an appointment as we can use your medical records as evidence of the injury. But other than recommend some simple exercises and anti-inflammatory and / or pain medication, they can’t really do much.
Physiotherapy is often the key to as quicker recovery as possible. You can actually include private physiotherapy as part of a whiplash claim for personal injury compensation. In fact, we as a firm will sort out the funding for it so you don’t have to pay for it upfront. We will then recover the treatment fees directly from the other side.
As I said earlier, I have suffered with whiplash myself, and I firmly believe that physio is a great help. I think it has definitely helped me. My physio, without any prompt form me, was able to identify the worse areas and concentrate on alleviating the stiffness and swelling.
