Whiplash is a type of neck injury that occurs when the neck bends forward forcibly and backward or vice versa. These types of injuries range from mild to severe, depending on how you were injured. Most first responders and medical personnel treat whiplash as an emergency because it involves a neck injury. Healthcare providers also approach these injuries with caution until they can confirm, treat, and stabilize your neck.

This article will explain everything you need to know about whiplash, including how long it will take to heal.

What causes whiplash?

Whiplash occurs when your movement speed or the direction you’re traveling changes quickly. Some of the most common events or activities that can lead to whiplash include:

• Car crashes
• Roller coasters
• Falls
• Sports injuries (including football, hockey, rugby, etc.)

While these are common causes of whiplash, they can happen in many other ways.

Whiplash symptoms

Whiplash symptoms depend on your injury’s severity and how much you hyperextended or compressed your neck. The more you extend or compress your neck, the greater the injury you will have.

Another thing to consider with whiplash is timing. Some whiplash symptoms appear immediately after the crash, while others can take hours or even days to show up. Since whiplash can have serious effects, medical professionals have created a grading system known as the Quebec Classification of Whiplash-Associated Disorders. It goes as follows:

• Grade 0: No injury
• Grade 1: Pain only
• Grade 2: Pain plus signs of injury
• Grade 3: Pain plus signs of injury and neurological effects
• Grade 4: Severe pain and signs of serious or dangerous neurological effects

Treating whiplash

You can choose to try and treat your whiplash yourself or seek medical care.

Self-care for whiplash

If your whiplash symptoms are mild, some self-care options you can try include:

• Rest
• Ice and/or heat
• Over-the-counter (OTC) medications

Medical care for whiplash

If your pain or related symptoms from whiplash are severe, you should seek medical treatment. Some treatments that can be used include:

• Physical therapy. You can seek treatment from a trained physical therapist or qualified health professional to help improve your neck’s strength and flexibility.
• Acupuncture. Research has shown that acupuncture can help treat whiplash by increasing a person’s range of movement. This involves placing thin needles into strategic parts of the body. When done by a licensed acupuncturist, the treatment is safe and has little to no pain.
• Massage therapy. This treatment can be combined with others and helps reduce pain by soothing muscle tension and spasms.
• Manual manipulation. A chiropractor or other certified medical professional uses their hands to make manual spine adjustments to increase the range of motion and reduce pain.

Healing timeline for whiplash

Recovery time for whiplash depends on the treatment involved and factors like the cause of your whiplash, personal circumstances, health history, and severity of the injury. Your healthcare provider can tell you a more likely timeline for your recovery.

Book an appointment with Amla Healing Arts

The exact amount of time it takes to heal from whiplash will vary from person to person because of the severity of the injury, but you can get started healing your whiplash with holistic neck pain relief and acupuncture.

At Amla Healing Arts, I can provide you with a personalized plan to help you get relief from lingering neck pain from whiplash. Give us a call today at 201-265-1698 to book your appointment. If you have more questions before getting started, you can send a message through the online contact form. I look forward to working with you and helping you find natural healing to ease your pain.