IS
ACCIDENT RELATED PAIN
DESTROYING YOUR
QUALITY OF LIFE?
A
Personal Letter from Drs. Brenda and Erik Slovin...
Whiplash pain after
an auto accident is a very common complaint. In fact, in the U.S. alone,
it is estimated that at least 1,000,000 people suffer accident-related
whiplash injury and pain every year. While neck pain following a whiplash
is the most common complaint, a wide range of other whiplash-related symptoms
can cause excruciating, long-term pain patterns.
Whiplash
Is Painfully Dangerous
The cervical
spine is where your spinal cord lives, and the spinal cord is the most
delicate tissue in your entire body. Even minor damage to the vertebrae
that surrounds, stabilizes and protects your fragile spinal cord can cause
a myriad of extremely painful symptoms as well as permanent tissue damage.
Whiplash inflicts painful crush damage to the first seven spinal vertebrae
running from the base of your brain to just past your shoulder blades.
If left untreated, the damage that is the root cause of whiplash-related
pain will escalate and result in a myriad of other health maladies, as
well as the danger of permanent tissue damage.
How Does Whiplash
Pain Manifest?
Neck pain occurs in
a large majority of whiplash injuries (between 62%-100%), and is the hallmark
symptom of whiplash. Approximately 70% of victims also report migraine-like
headaches.
This headache and neck pain may be on one side or both, on again-off again
or constant, in one spot or general. Both neck pain and headache are often
the result of tensed, strained or torn muscles and ligaments attempting
to stabilize your head and neck.
Shoulder pain is another frequent manifestation of whiplash injury. It
can be described as pain radiating down the back of the neck into the
shoulder blade area, and may also be the result of damaged muscles.
Muscle strain and tears are often described as a burning pain or a prickling,
tingling sensation.
In at least 60% of rear-end collisions, the spinal facet joints which
stabilize your spine and enable it to bend and twist at the same time
are subjected to crush damage. Severe spinal facet joint damage can cause
sharp pain with certain movements, and may radiate into the arms, hands
and fingers.
Approximately 45% of rear-end collision victims also report suffering
severe lower back pain. The pain associated with whiplash-related injuries
can range from acute to chronic.
What Is the Difference Between Acute And Chronic Pain?
Acute pain can begin suddenly as a sharp stabbing pain.
This type of pain comes and goes, and typically subsides within three
to six months. Soft tissue injury, such as a whiplash, is a known cause
of acute pain.
Chronic pain lasts much longer than six months, is persistent and, many
times, excruciatingly severe. Chronic pain not only attacks its victims
physically, it also wreaks emotional damage similar to Post-Traumatic
Syndrome Disorder.
Degenerative disc disease and unresolved injury—specifically, untreated
whiplash injury—are known causes of chronic pain.
It is important to note that once the nervous system has been damaged
by a whiplash-related injury, spinal nerves become highly susceptible
to a much lower threshold of pain.
..............................................................
Slovin Chiropractic Center
205 Main Avenue, Norwalk CT, 06851
Phone: 203-840-0000
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