Injuries

Car Accident Chiropractor in Tucson AZ

Whiplash at Tanque Verde Chiropractic Clinic in Tucson, AZ

The name whiplash tells you what happens. The head and neck get whipped back and then forward, the way a whip cracks. Most car accidents are rear-end collisions, and whiplash is one of the most common results — though it also comes from falls, contact sports and other kinds of trauma.

Plenty of people walk away from a collision without realising their neck was injured at all, and only connect the dots weeks or months later when the problem has become persistent and started causing others. If your neck was injured in an accident here in Tucson AZ, this page will help you work out whether you are dealing with whiplash and what chiropractic care can do about it.

What to know about whiplash

What Whiplash Does to the Neck

When the neck is whipped back to front — in a collision, during contact sports such as football, or occasionally through an assault or other physical trauma — several things can happen to the spine and the soft tissue around it. Whiplash describes the impact; the damage it leaves behind can include disc bulges and herniation, subluxations (vertebrae left out of alignment), injured bones in the spine, irritated or damaged nerves, and pulled ligaments and muscles in the neck.

Chiropractic Care for Whiplash

Because whiplash lands almost entirely on the spine and the nerves and tissue around it, chiropractic care is a natural fit. Chiropractors are trained to identify where whiplash pain is actually coming from and to build a plan around that finding.

The care itself is gentle and non-invasive. Through small, precise adjustments, patients find substantial relief from whiplash pain and get onto a path toward full recovery. Call our team at Tanque Verde Chiropractic Clinic in Tucson AZ to find out what that would look like for you.

When to seek care for whiplash in Tucson AZ

Whiplash injuries run from mild to severe, and they are worse when the headrest sat too low. If the impact was hard, or the headrest was low, there is a real possibility of broken bone or damaged tissue and you should be examined and x-rayed. Even after a mild impact, get checked if you have any of these:

Neck pain, or pain through the shoulder, upper back and arm
Headaches, dizziness or blurred vision
Pain when turning your head, or an inability to turn it fully
Numbness or tingling in the arms, hands or fingers
Ringing in the ears, unusual tiredness or difficulty sleeping
Low mood following the accident

Those symptoms are wide-ranging and not all of them look like a neck injury at first glance. Even if a doctor has cleared you, ongoing pain can still be whiplash-related and may need correcting. The sooner it is treated, the less chance it has of becoming a long-term problem — call (520) 749-2929 to get your spine checked.

Common questions

Whiplash is the injury caused when the head and neck are thrown backward and then forward rapidly, most often in a rear-end collision. The term describes the mechanism; the actual damage can include disc bulges or herniation, misaligned vertebrae, injured bones, irritated nerves and torn ligaments and muscles.

Neck pain, shoulder and upper back pain, headaches, blurred vision, pain or restriction when turning the head, dizziness, tiredness, numbness or tingling into the arms and hands, ringing in the ears, difficulty sleeping and low mood are all reported. They do not all appear at once, and not all of them obviously point back to the neck.

If the impact was severe, or your headrest was positioned low, an examination with x-rays is strongly recommended, because bone or tissue damage is possible. Even after a milder impact an examination is the only way to know what you are actually dealing with.

As soon as possible. Whiplash symptoms often surface weeks or months later, and the earlier the injury is addressed, the smaller the chance it turns into a lasting problem.

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