Recognizing Whiplash Symptoms

While car accidents are the usual culprits, whiplash can also strike during high-impact sports, amusement park rides, or sudden falls. Some common symptoms include:

• Neck stiffness and pain
• Discomfort in the arms, upper back, and shoulders
• Blurred vision
• Headaches, especially at the back of the head
• Difficulty concentrating
• Extreme fatigue
• Dizziness or vertigo

If any of these sound familiar, it might be time to explore chiropractic care for whiplash.

Chiropractic Care for Whiplash in Colorado Springs

At Bear Creek Chiropractic, we offer a variety of targeted techniques to alleviate whiplash pain and kickstart your healing process. Here’s how we can help:

Spinal Manipulation: Often referred to as chiropractic adjustments, spinal manipulation helps correct misaligned neck joints. We use gentle movements—either swift, precise thrusts or slow, mobilizing motions—to restore proper alignment. For those tricky cases involving herniated or bulging discs, our flexion-distraction technique offers a gentle, non-thrusting approach to ease disc-related issues.

Muscle Stimulation and Relaxation: Whiplash can leave your muscles in knots, so we focus on loosening things up with gentle stretches and repeated contractions of those tight spots. If the tension is particularly stubborn, we’ll apply more vigorous stretching or gentle finger pressure to bring relief.

Trigger Point Therapy: We pinpoint specific tight, painful muscle spots and apply direct pressure to release tension and restore normal motion in your spine. It’s like hitting the reset button for your muscles.

Interferential Electrical Stimulation: This fancy-sounding method uses low-frequency electrical currents to stimulate injured neck muscles, reducing pain and inflammation. For more severe injuries, we may turn to therapeutic ultrasound to boost blood circulation, reduce muscle spasms, and alleviate stiffness.

McKenzie Exercises and Stabilization: Designed to improve disc stability, McKenzie exercises involve both in-clinic and at-home movements. We also use stabilization techniques to correct faulty movement patterns, enhancing your nervous system’s ability to control and stabilize your neck muscles.

Soft Tissue Therapies: Since whiplash involves soft tissue injury, we incorporate therapies like therapeutic massage, muscle energy therapy, and stretch-and-resist techniques to restore proper muscle function and ease tension.

Instrument-Assisted Therapy: Using specialized hand-held devices, we apply gentle force without thrusting into the spine. Techniques such as the Graston technique involve gentle strokes over injured areas to stimulate healing, benefiting both whiplash patients and those with degenerative joint issues.

Chiropractic Advice on Ergonomics: We’ll guide you on how to minimize body strain in your daily activities, whether at work or play. Our tips address factors that might exacerbate whiplash symptoms and teach you strategies for reducing stress and improving posture.