Chiropractic and whiplash

Whiplash is an injury done to the cervical spine, and is caused by a jerking motion of the head. When the head is thrown backward or forward, whiplash can occur. You can get whiplash in other ways besides accidents, such as by playing sports or even from a sudden sneeze. Whiplash is a painful injury, and many times people have to go to a chiropractor service for whiplash to get help. A chiropractor can put the spine back in alignment so that the rest of the body can heal.

What Are the Symptoms of Whiplash?

If you have had problems after an accident such as headaches, head and neck pain, stiff neck or muscle spasms, you could have whiplash. You will be able to recognize these signs quite easily and you will find in a case of whiplash, you have restricted head motion. You can’t turn your head all the way in the directions you want, so this is one reason you should seek a chiropractor service for whiplash. You can also have equilibrium problems and a loss of hearing and you may experience ringing in the ears which are all signs of whiplash.

If you are feeling lightheaded and excessively tired or even find yourself blacking out, it is a for sure sign you have most likely hurt your neck. If you are experiencing any nerve pain or nerve inflammation in the area of your neck you should get checked as well. Cold hands and feet are often a symptom, so is numbness in the arms, hands, shoulders, feet or legs. Periods of unexplained depression and anxiety could be a factor as well as irritability. You will find it hard to concentrate and may have a poor memory, another sign of whiplash is the pain between the shoulders; there may be low back pain, tremors, and rapid heartbeat.

If you have these problems, you need to contact a chiropractor service for whiplash. The chiropractor will work with you in a variety of ways, and they will align the spine to help with the restricted head motion. This can help you to get your balance back and hopefully the hearing will get better with less ringing in the ears. With the alignment, it should cure some of the eyestrain and you won’t want to sleep the pain away. The numbness should go away, the pain should ease and nerve inflammation should get better.

HealthPoint Chiropractic

12831 Route 30W Suites B

Irwin, PA 15642

Phone: 724-864-6560

Web: www.healthpointclinic.com

 

HealthPoint chiropractic treatment of back pain

www.healthpointclinic.com

You go to your family doctor with low back and leg pain and ask about seeing a chiropractor. "Oh, no," says the doctor," they'll try to pop it back into place which will not only be painful, but make matters much worse." Is this true? What is the chiropractic approach to treating a "slipped disc"?

Chiropractic is conservative care, which means it is non-surgical and drugless. In treating low back "slipped discs", most spine experts agree that conservative care should be tried before surgery is considered, except in severe cases.

Chiropractic care has a long history of successfully providing conservative care for disc conditions - and no, chiropractors don't try to "pop a disc back in place". 

 

What is a "slipped" disc?
The disc is a circle of cartilage between each vertebra in the spine that acts as both a shock absorber and a shock distributor. If you jump up and down, imagine what would happen to the stack of bony vertebra that make up the spine without the cushioning of the discs. Move your back side to side. Again, you can visualize the give and take of the discs between the vertebrae. Without discs, the spine simply could not function.

Discs don't really "slip". Instead, they bulge, herniate, or rupture. Saying a disc has "slipped" does suggest that something has "slipped out" and is not where it's supposed to be, which is what happens in disc injuries.

Discs are made up of concentric circles or rings of fibrous material with a tough gelatinous center. When cracks or fissures occur in the fibrous rings, the gelatinous material in the center can begin to push out. A number of different factors may cause the disc to "slip".

 

How do chiropractors diagnose what went wrong?
What has happened to our poor accountant who now is experiencing acute back and leg pain? Apparently the cracks and fissures in his disc, the dehydration, the poor mechanics, the lifting - and perhaps even the sneeze - has caused the disc to slip just enough to press against the nerve that exits next to the disc. This has caused inflammation of the nerve, which can then cause pain along the path of the nerve into the leg. 

How does the chiropractor determine whether this is a "slipped disc"?
Careful history taking, vital signs, and orthopedic and neurological testing are standards of practice in chiropractic offices. Are the reflexes intact? Is there loss of muscle strength or signs of muscle wasting? Is there loss of sensation along an area supplied by a particular nerve? These are vital questions that the orthopaedic and neurological exam can help answer.

Chiropractors utilize other diagnostic procedures that are unique to chiropractic and establish the foundation for a program of care. Chiropractors look carefully at posture and perform a postural analysis of the patient. They use techniques such as motion and static palpation to determine exact areas of restrictions in spinal joint motion. They palpate muscles and perform muscle testing, as well as perform tests for pelvic balance and determine whether there is a "short leg".

X-rays of the low back are taken, or the chiropractor might send the patient to an x-ray facility for these films. Depending on the findings, the chiropractor may call for an MRI or other imaging study of the back. 

HeathPoint Chiropractic
12381 Route 30
Irwin, PA 15642
www.healthpointclinic.com
Phone: 724-864-6560