Whiplash Injury

Common Car Accident Injuries in Meridian, Idaho

The top three injuries resulting from auto accidents in Meridian are whiplash, headaches, and soft tissue injuries. Let’s explore these injuries in more detail and offer essential tips on getting chiropractic and medical treatment after a car accident.

Whiplash: Myth or Reality?

Whiplash is a term describing injuries to the soft tissues of the neck, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and discs. These injuries often occur when a car suddenly decelerates or stops, causing the neck to whip backward and forward in an extension-flexion movement. Whiplash can also involve joint injuries between the neck vertebrae, the discs, and the nerve roots extending from the spinal cord.

Symptoms of whiplash can include neck and upper back pain or stiffness, shoulder pain, headaches, dizziness, and even burning sensations in the neck, shoulders, or arms. Severe whiplash can also lead to memory issues, difficulty concentrating, trouble sleeping, fatigue, and depression. These symptoms can develop immediately or take days to appear, often worsening over time.

Getting Immediate Chiropractic Attention

If you experience neck pain or any other symptoms after a car accident, seek chiropractic treatment promptly. Even if the pain is not severe initially, it may worsen and indicate a serious injury. Dr. Pickman and his Meridian Car Accident Chiropractic team offer comprehensive care, including extensive chiropractic, orthopedic, and neurological exams, to diagnose and treat hidden injuries.

Four Stages Of Car Crash Whiplash Cause and Effect

A rear-end car collision often results in the body experiencing rapid and strong acceleration and deceleration within a time frame of less than half a second. This leads to the occurrence of whiplash damage, which can be divided into four distinct phases:

The term “whiplash” was initially coined in 1928 to describe an injury mechanism characterized by a quick and excessive extension followed by an immediate neck flexion, leading to damage in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, particularly those supporting the head. Currently, it is understood that whiplash injuries often occur not due to excessive extension or flexion beyond normal physiological limitations but rather due to a very quick extension and flexion that leads to damage.

Whiplash injuries are a highly controversial topic in health care due to their complex nature and significant influence on individuals’ lives. Unlike a fractured bone, which can be easily confirmed through an x-ray and treated according to established medical guidelines, whiplash injuries present a complex combination of damage to the nervous system, muscles, joints, and connective tissues. Diagnosing such injuries is challenging due to their unpredictable nature and treating them can be even more difficult. To facilitate your comprehension of whiplash injuries and their appropriate treatment, it is vital to dedicate some time to elucidating the mechanics behind the occurrence of such injuries.

One crucial point at Meridian Car Accident Chiropractic is that we vehemently believe that the trauma of whiplash should not be considered “just a soft tissue injury.” Let me be very clear: I would rather suffer a broken arm or leg than suffer whiplash trauma.

The Four Phases of a Whiplash Injury

During a rear-end automobile collision, your body experiences sudden and forceful acceleration and deceleration. Indeed, the entirety of a whiplash injury’s four phases transpire in under half a second! During each stage, a distinct force is exerted on the body, which adds to the overall harm. Due to the abrupt and vigorous motion, significant damage can occur to your neck and spine’s vertebrae, nerves, discs, muscles, and ligaments.

Phase 1

In the initial stage, the force exerted on your car causes it to move away from its original position, resulting in your mid-back being pressed firmly into the back of your seat. Consequently, this leads to an upward tension exerted on your cervical spine, causing compression of your discs and joints. As the seat back propels your torso forward, your head moves in the opposite direction, generating a shearing force on your neck. When your head restraint is correctly fitted, it restricts the amount your head can move backward. Nevertheless, the majority of spinal damage will occur before your head makes contact with the head restraint. Research has indicated that head restraints merely decrease the likelihood of harm by a range of 11-20 percent.

Phase 2

In phase two, the acceleration of your torso reaches its maximum, which is one and a half times to two times greater than your vehicle’s. Remarkably, your head is like a bowling ball on top of your neck. This non-movement of your head is the setup for a whiplash disaster because, on the impact, your head immediately moves backward. Within seconds, your vehicle’s seat “slingshots” your head in a Whip-like fashion, causing a dysfunctional or inverted “S” curve in your neck or cervical spine. Adding insult to injury, your seat upright continues to push forward, causing continued whiplash-like movement, which causes a shearing force throughout the different levels of the vertebrae in your neck. The anatomy of the facet joints is just not set up to withstand this type of trauma.

This happens so quickly and with such force that the neurological protective mechanisms have no chance to initiate or fire, and your muscular system, ligaments, and tendons do not and can not protect you from this whiplash.

Phase 3

In the third phase, the momentum of trauma causes your toro to compress downward in your vehicle seat, all while your head and neck are being forced forward with maximum force in milli-seconds. Now, add to the trauma that your vehicle is slowing down, adding insult to insult. To make things worse, your seatbelt now kicks in, tightens against your chest, and adds a different set of traumatic forces. There are several scenarios that take place upon impact in addition to what is described above. These have to do with your applying pressure to the brake pedal or not applying pressure to the brake pedal.

It could be worse. You may have your head turned to look at something in the car, be changing the radio channel, or worse, putting on make-up! If your head and neck are turned upon impact, the trauma to your neck and head are much worse.

Phase 4

Of all the stages of whiplash, this one is likely the most harmful. In the fourth stage, your seatbelt and shoulder straps are restraining your torso while allowing your head to freely move forward. As a result, your neck will flex forward violently, putting stress on your ligaments and muscles while potentially rupturing spinal discs and misaligning your vertebrae. When your brain hits the inside of your skull, it can cause mild to severe brain injuries, as well as stretching and irritation of your spinal cord and nerve roots. Without a seatbelt, you run the risk of suffering a concussion or a more serious brain injury when you hit the windshield or steering wheel.

Injuries Resulting from Whiplash Trauma

As mentioned earlier, whiplash injuries can present themselves in several forms, such as neck discomfort, headaches, fatigue, upper back and shoulder pain, cognitive problems, and lower back pain. Given the multitude of factors that contribute to whiplash trauma, including the direction and speed of impact, as well as gender, age, and physical condition, it is not possible to anticipate the specific symptoms that each person may experience. In addition, symptoms of whiplash typically exhibit a delayed onset, frequently appearing weeks or even months after the incident. Nevertheless, there are several disorders that are highly prevalent among those who have experienced whiplash trauma.

Neck Pain

Over 90 percent of patients regard it as the most prevalent complaint in whiplash trauma. Frequently, this discomfort extends horizontally from the shoulders, upwards towards the head, and downwards between the shoulder blades. Whiplash injuries typically impact all the structures in the neck, such as the facet joints and intervertebral discs, along with the muscles, ligaments, and nerves.

Neck discomfort that occurs after an automobile collision is most commonly caused by facet joint pain. The sensation is typically experienced on the nape of the neck, somewhat off-center to the right or left, and is sensitive when touched. X-rays and MRIs are not capable of visualizing facet joint discomfort. The diagnosis can only be made through tactile examination of the affected area.

Neck pain, particularly persistent pain, is often caused by disc injury. The annulus, which forms the outer wall of the disc, consists of bundles of fibers that are susceptible to tearing in the event of a whiplash injury. These tears may cause the deterioration or protrusion of the spinal discs, leading to the irritation or compression of the nerves in that region. Typically, this compression or irritation causes pain to spread to the arms, shoulders, and upper back, and can lead to muscle weakening.

The primary cause of discomfort in the initial weeks after a whiplash injury is the harm inflicted on the muscles and ligaments in the neck and upper back. This damage is also responsible for the stiffness and limited range of motion that you may suffer. However, once the muscles have an opportunity to recover, they often do not induce as much physical discomfort as they contribute to irregular motion. Ligament damage frequently leads to atypical motion and instability.

Understanding Spinal Ligament Injury from Whiplash Trauma

Spinal ligament injury is a critical condition arising from whiplash trauma, which commonly occurs in car accidents or other sudden impacts. This injury involves damage to the ligaments connecting the bones of the spine, disrupting the normal stability and range of motion in the affected area.

• Symptoms of Spinal Ligament Injury
• The main symptoms of a spinal ligament injury include:
• Persistent neck pain and stiffness
• Reduced range of motion in the neck
• Pain that worsens with movement
• Headaches, often starting at the base of the skull
• Tenderness or pain in the shoulder, upper back, or arms
• Numbness or tingling in the arms

These symptoms can vary in intensity and might not appear immediately after the accident, making it crucial for individuals involved in car accidents to seek prompt medical evaluation even if no immediate discomfort is felt.

Spinal ligament injury from whiplash is such a serious condition that it requires accurate diagnosis and treatment. At Meridian Idaho Car Accident Chiropractic, we’ve dedicated our practice to diagnosing, managing, and treating spinal ligament injuries from whiplash, emphasizing the importance of specialized care and early intervention. Your body will heal most fractures faster and stronger than the bone was pre-injury. Whereas soft tissue injuries take up to four or five times longer to heal, soft tissues have a tendency to heal with scar tissue, which in the long run renders them in a relatively “weaker” tissue than pre-injury status.

Headaches

With an impact on over 80% of the population, headaches rank second most common complaint among whiplash victims, right behind neck discomfort. Although some headaches are due to damage to the brain itself, the majority are due to injuries to the cervical spine’s ligaments, muscles, and facet joints, which manifest as head pain. Treatment of the neck’s supporting structures can thus help reduce headache frequency and intensity.

TMJ Problems

Whiplash can cause temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), a condition that is less prevalent yet extremely painful. Discomfort, clicking, or popping sounds made by the jaw when moving the jaw are the most common symptoms of TMJ. Teeth grinding, jaw pain, earaches, and trouble chewing are all symptoms of TMJ dysfunction that, if left untreated, can progress to more severe forms of the disorder. TMJ dysfunction is one of the reasons we have incorporated digital Motion X-ray diagnostics into our protocols. Many practitioners just don’t pay attention to TMJ complaints because they tend not to have a way to diagnose TMJ problems. Rest assured, we can perform a digital motion study of your TMJ and do it bilaterally, meaning both sides. The DMX procedure allows us to see the TMJ movement and instantly compare the movement of the non-affected side to the affected side. We often show the DMX studies to our patients, and they can pick out the dysfunctional movement on their first viewing of the DMX study.

Seeking Professional Help

It’s important to seek chiropractic or medical attention immediately after a car accident to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment. Delays can lead to missed opportunities for necessary healthcare coverage from your insurance, potentially impacting your long-term health and financial well-being. We highly recommend that you seek chiropractic care promptly and consult a personal injury attorney to handle your insurance claims effectively.