Car accidents- they happen all the time, and while they can range from minor to major in their severity, one thing that we commonly see as a result of car accidents is whiplash. Whiplash is an injury that causes trauma to the neck, usually due to the jerking of the head and neck, as can frequently happen with car accidents. If you get rear ended and your car flies forward, the jerking of your body forward caused by the impact can create this trauma. According to statistics, almost 3 million people experience whiplash each year, so it’s far from a rare neck injury, but it can be quite painful. Whiplash is characterized by pain in the neck and soft tissue areas around it, and can cause subluxations in the spine, which is basically when the vertebrae are shifted out of their correct position.
This trauma on the neck can lead to strains, tears, and pressure on the brain stem, which connects your brain to the spinal cord. Pressure on the brain stem can impede the communication of the nerves, the brain, and the body, and can cause a host of health issues. So, if you get into a car accident or experience trauma, whether through a sports injury, fall, or something else, we highly recommend seeking out a neck pain chiropractor or upper cervical chiropractor in Athens, so you can receive treatment as soon as possible. It’s always better to get treated sooner rather than later, so scar tissue doesn’t begin to form around the injury.
After a painful injury, you have numerous treatment options available, like pain medication, muscle relaxers, and other prescription medication. While those treatment options can provide some pain relief, we recommend visiting an Athens chiropractor as well, so an upper cervical and neck specialist can see if there’s any underlying issues or misalignments occurring. If there are parts of the upper cervical spine that are misaligned, you may experience chronic pain, migraines, vertigo, etc until the spine is back into proper alignment. When you visit us at Athens Upper Cervical Chiropractic after a serious injury or accident, we’ll take x-rays and 3D images of your spine to see if anything has shifted, and pinpoint exactly where issues may be stemming from. Because every body and every injury is different, once we assess the x-rays to see where the damage is occurring, we can form a personalized treatment plan, based completely on the data.
We’ll use gentle adjustments and regular x-rays to monitor the injury, and see the progress being made from visit to visit, leading hopefully to getting you pain free as soon as possible. While the spine and the brain stem is an extremely complicated area, using specialized equipment like our top of the line x-ray and 3D imaging technology has helped us to get very detailed and specific with our adjustments, helping us to greatly improve hundreds of patients’ lives. Going through a car accident or other traumatic injury is no easy task, but thankfully, there is relief to be found. If you or a loved one are experiencing neck pain, seek treatment now. Call Athens Upper Cervical Chiropractic today.