Whiplash

Whiplash is a general term that is used for neck injury.  In whiplash, injury is caused due to jerk beyond its normal range of motion. These types of injuries occur usually during car accidents, the collisions of the cars. Formally when this type of accident happens, the passenger’s head severely jerks in backward position and the rest of the body moves forward forcefully. This backward and forward motion of your head badly damages neck muscles and soft tissues that support the head, neck and jaws. All this sudden happens to you can change your life in a snap. Extension- flexion injury is a term used for this injury.

To understand the fact of Whiplash you should know that the weight of human head is fifteen pounds which is equal to the weight of bowling ball. When a jolt attacks to your bowling ball (head), the 500-600 pounds of force strike on your neck and it cause damage to your muscles and nerves. One more thing is that women have small and vulnerable neck muscles so the damage towards women are high in ratio. This is how whiplash damages your jaw, neck and head muscles and nerves in both male and female.

the obvious thing is you first go with X-RAY for the identification of injuries but unluckily the small injuries occur during the accident do not appear on X-RAYs. So, at this point it is hard to determine the full damage. In order to identify the whiplash injury, you should examine these following symptoms that they may arise or.

• Pain and stiffness in neck.
• Decreased range of motion in neck.
• Headache.
• Numbness of the head and face.
• Blurry vision.
• Pain behind the eyes.
• Problem to balance your body and head.
• Difficulty in swallowing.
• Ringing sound in the ears.
• Sever pain in jaw.
• Difficulty in chewing food.

These are not clear symptoms that you are able to determine them at the time of accident. They can appear after months even but once they appear they are very painful and constant.

WHIPLASH and TMJ

Vertebrae are composed of small seven bones which supports head and this is called cervical spine. Discs are there between the vertebrae which are usually called pads of cartilage. These discs are used for shock absorbing during spinal movement. Disc usually performs the function of cushions. To maintain the balance of the head at the top of the spine multiple muscles of neck, jaw, back and shoulders are involved. When this type of unfortunate incident happens, the neck is force to move beyond its normal force and the muscles may damage, stretch and tear. All the muscles which are inter related that are jaw muscles, neck muscles, neck muscles and back muscles are affected by this whiplash. This could be a worse condition for you to recover from this pain.

Some important points that would show you damage to your jaw muscles.

• Feeling of pain in or around the jaws.
• Clicking and bursting of the jaw joints.
• Difficulty in opening of mouth.
• Difficulty in chewing and bringing teeth together.

Treatment for Whiplash.

At the time of accident, it is hard to identify whiplash or TMJ. So, many often this injury would be ignored at the first stage of treatment. The treatment for this injury is being denied by many insurance companies unfortunately this is true. The treatment of whiplash is very important for the patient’s health. If it would have ignored or not recognized then it will become sever health issue. But in case the whiplash is recognized as soon after the accident and the treatment of whiplash begins as soon as possible then it is beneficial for patient’s health and wealth. At this point many insurance companies offer the whiplash treatment with in the 90 days of injury.

Necessary treatments for whiplash may include:

• Orthopedic treatment.
• Physical therapy.
• Chiropractic treatment.
• Evaluation by a dentist. A specialist who is trained in TMJ/Facial Pain.
• He/she may recommend some or all of the following treatments:
• Trigger point injections.
• Orthotic appliance.
• Proper Medication.
• Particular TMJ exercises.

The earlier it suspected, easier to treat. So, consult the good health care service or any specialist at the time of accident. It will easier to treat whiplash at the earlier stage.