Whiplash is one of the most common injuries suffered in San Francisco car accidents. Whiplash is a soft tissue injury that is sometimes called a “neck sprain” or “neck strain.” The injury occurs due to neck damage, including injuries to intervertebral joints, disks and nerve roots.
There is a large medical consensus that whiplash is one of the costliest types of car accident injuries. Even relatively mild cases of whiplash have an 18 percent chance of growing into chronic pain issues that can last years after a car accident.
The causes of chronic whiplash pain are often unclear and there is little evidence to tie such chronic injuries to a particular car accident’s speed, impact or severity.
Symptoms of whiplash include neck pain, stiffness, dizziness and shoulder or back pain. Other common whiplash symptoms include depression, nervousness, irritability, sleep issues and fatigue. All of these symptoms can severely impact a car accident victim’s ability to work and have been found to decrease a person’s quality of life.
Treatment for car crash whiplash injuries includes anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, pain medications, physical therapy and, in severe cases, the use of a cervical collar.
Some physicians stress the importance of proper exercises in the early stages of whiplash recovery. These exercises can prevent “disuse syndrome,” which may cause muscles to atrophy.
Source: Dynamic Chiropractic, “The Illusive Root of Whiplash Associated Disorder,” Allen Woodruff, April, 15, 2013