Category: Whiplash

Exercises to Recover from a Whiplash Injury

4/2/2023

It's time for PART 3 of the Whiplash Injury Blog Series!

This third and final section will discuss some of the top exercises for recovery, getting strong again and managing stiffness or pain if it continues to arise for you.

A quick recap: The past two sections of this series included the anatomy of a whiplash injury and a discussion on whiplash pain. Feel free to look back at those posts to review!

Whiplash Series Part 1

Whiplash Series Part 2

Now, let’s get to it.

*Disclaimer: exercises are tailored to each person. If something does not feel right to you, please reach out to your physiotherapist for assistance.

Exercises for recovering mobility

With a whiplash injury, range of motion (how far you can move) in the neck and upper back is often decreased.

Here are a few exercises that you can try to check on your range of motion and to help improve it.

1. Neck rotation

2. Neck extension and flexion (looking up and down)

3. Thoracic rotation

If you find that your range of motion is reduced or you have pain with performing these exercises, you can start by performing 8-10 gentle repetitions of these exercises in each direction 2-3 times per day. When looking down, sometimes it can feel good to let your head hang for a few seconds to allow the muscles in the back of the neck to lengthen and relax. You can try this 3-5 reps for 5 seconds.

Exercises to manage stiffness and pain

As discussed in the part 2 of this whiplash series, sometimes pain and discomfort can continue for a while after a whiplash injury. And it’s good to have some tools in the toolbelt to manage this discomfort while you are trying to reduce pain and get stronger again.

Here are a few exercises to try!

1. Trapezius stretch

2. Levator scapula stretch

3. Ball release

If you find that you have stiffness with the trapezius or levator scapula stretches above, you can try to perform 2 repetitions on each side, holding for up to 30 seconds.

As for the ball release, you can place a ball against the wall and find spots that are stiff in your upper back and bottom of your neck and either hold or roll the ball in these locations for 30 seconds to 2 minutes in duration, or until you feel like the area has released.

Exercises to get stronger after whiplash

Finally, once your range of motion becomes more comfortable, there are many exercises that you can perform to get stronger. I really love this part because I get to work with you to come up with exercises that get you back to doing what you love more comfortably (and maybe even better than you were doing before)! So here are just a few of MANY that we can do.

1. Overhead press

2. Bird dog with hip extension

3. Neutral row

Here, sets and reps can vary depending on what our goals are, but you can try to perform 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions every other day.

It is a privilege to help people recover from their injuries and get back to the lives that they want to live.

Whether you want to play baseball with your kids (and teach them a thing or two ;) ), get back to working out in the gym and feeling strong, or you want to sleep better at night and hold and play with your grandchildren, I am happy to help.

As I wrap up this blog series on recovering from whiplash injury, I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to read about an issue that affects so many.

I am passionate about working with people to get to back to living their lives comfortably, and helping them to achieve goals that they had before getting injured.

If you have questions or want to chat about anything, please feel free to reach out to me or one of my amazing colleagues. We are always happy to help!

Call Now

Yours in health,

~ Kristyn Froc, Physiotherapist

Kristyn Froc

PHYSIOTHERAPIST

Kristyn's Bio

0 Comments

Experiencing Pain After a Whiplash Injury

3/19/2023

0 Comments

Have you ever hurt your neck?

What about your jaw, upper back or low back?

These are just some of the areas that may be involved in a whiplash injury.

I have only experienced mild whiplash myself (knock on wood!) after falling off of horses or after jarring my neck doing things like playing volleyball or slipping on ice, but others experience whiplash injuries that can be much more limiting to their daily life and can take a while to recover from. In many cases, people can recover from a whiplash injury within 6 weeks, but in other cases, the pain and limitation can stick around for much longer.

Persistent symptoms after a whiplash injury

Headaches and neck pain are some of the most common symptoms that stick around after a whiplash injury. A systematic review of several studies looked at how often these issues occur and it concluded that- within 7 days of the injury- neck pain happens 84% of the time and headaches happen 60% of the time. After 12 months 38% of people still had neck pain and 38% of people still had headaches (1).

!!! Sorry, say that again? Pain that continues to exist a year after the injury for more than a third of the people who get a whiplash injury?!

This is unfortunately true. And pain like this that exists after tissues are healed can be quite troublesome for people!

People can find that their neck gets flared up at the slightest provocation, such as reaching out to place a dinner plate at the table. Tasks like lifting things overhead or looking down for long periods of time (like when reading or gardening) can become difficult. It can become quite frustrating for some, and for others, they become resigned to the fact that they can no longer do the things that they had enjoyed doing without worrying about pain.

So now what?

At this point, it is important that we not only consider the tissues involved in the area, but also the nervous system that provides the building blocks for our pain system. Sometimes our pain system becomes sensitive in the area that was injured, and it’s threshold of what causes pain becomes lower. Therefore, it doesn’t take as much to cause pain in the area.

And guess what else?
There are other additional factors that can influence our pain. Increased stress, anxiety, depression, presence of bowel disorders or autoimmune conditions are just some of the things that also cause our pain systems to become more sensitive. Therefore it is important to consider these things during your recovery.

So what can a person do about ongoing pain?

Learning about pain and healing of tissues is the first step. Sometimes understanding the pain system and how it works can help a person understand when pain means that we have to stop doing what we are doing, or if we are safe to gently challenge our pain to help ourselves to recover.

Pain can also be influenced by hands on treatment and exercises that address our tissue mobility and strength or conditioning. Pain can also be reduced by making a plan to return to your life activities as appropriate, and your physical therapist can work with you to troubleshoot movements or practices that may be causing pain.

And if there is something else with your life or your health that may be contributing to your pain, we as physiotherapists can guide you in the direction of other health care providers who can help so that we can take an effective team approach to your recovery.

So if you are having issues with the pain or discomfort that you are experiencing after a whiplash injury distracting or interfering with your life, a chat with a physiotherapist may help.

Book Now

Yours in health,

~ Kristyn Froc, Physiotherapist

Kristyn Froc

PHYSIOTHERAPIST

Kristyn's Bio

References:
1. Al-Khazali, H. M., Ashina, H., Iljazi, A., Lipton, R. B., Ashina, M., Ashina, S., & Schytz, H. W. (2020). Neck pain and headache after whiplash injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain, 161(5), 880–888. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001805

0 Comments

The Anatomy of a Whiplash Injury

3/1/2023

0 Comments

Have you ever had a whiplash injury?

Perhaps it was from a car accident, or a slip and fall, or hitting your head on something by accident.

Unfortunately injuries like this can happen quite commonly, and I wanted to share some information about whiplash injuries in a 3 part series as we head into the slippery winter season so that you know what you are dealing with.

The main discussion with this blog will involved the anatomy of a whiplash injury, followed by whiplash injury pain information and whiplash exercises.

The Anatomy of A Whiplash Injury

Now let’s take a moment to consider what happens with our anatomy when we sustain a whiplash injury using the example of a car accident.

When our vehicle is impacted, whether we see the collision coming or not, our head (and body) will move in the direction of where the impact occurred.

So, if we are rear ended, our head and body will snap backwards towards the back of the car.

Then it will rebound in the forward direction.

What is the result of this whipping motion? Likely a sore neck and body, to say the least.

By BruceBlaus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44921287

This soreness can come from

muscular and ligamentous injury, as well as
joint jamming as some of our bony structures compress.

In some cases, people can even experience bone breaks and nerve injuries (1,2).

And why do all of these things happen?

When our head and body move quickly, our muscles will try to slow down that movement automatically as a part of our body’s protection mechanisms. Due to the force of an accident, injuries can result to:

muscles
ligaments and
bony structures

Since the force of the accident may overpower what our muscles are capable of stopping, our muscles can strain in the process.

And since our muscles cannot stop our movement, ligaments, which add stability between bones, are in place to stop the movement before further damage occurs. This can result in ligamentous sprains.

But if our muscles and our ligaments cannot stop the forces going through our bodies, bony structures can compress.

Some of the most commonly affected bony structures are our facet joints, which form at the attachment of each vertebra to the other on both the left and right sides.

Together, the injuries to the above structures are considered to be whiplash.

And everyone can experience these injuries differently.

How will Whiplash Feel?

Signs and symptoms of whiplash may include (1):

Neck and back pain and stiffness
Pain with head and neck/back movement
Loss of range of motion of the neck and/or back
Headaches
Tenderness or pain in the upper back, shoulders or arms
Numbness and/or tingling in the arms or hands
Fatigue
Dizziness

How Long Will Symptoms Last?

It can be a few weeks or it can be longer!

Most people who sustain a whiplash injury feel better within a few weeks, which makes sense, since healing of soft tissues (like muscles and ligaments) occurs in 6 weeks if there are not any complicating factors.

In some circumstances issues in the body following whiplash can persist for months or years (2).

What do Physiotherapists do to Help Someone with Whiplash?

Your physiotherapist will:

Discuss how you sustained your injury, your history of injuries and what your day to day life looks like
Examine the areas that are bothering you to determine which tissues are affected. This may include:
- neck
- jaw
- upper back
- lower back
- chest
- shoulder and arm
Provide hands-on treatment where appropriate
Develop an exercise program designed to regain your range of motion and eventually build strength in the affected areas with consideration of your daily life and what you like to do for exercise
Teach you about:
- which parts of your body are affected
- positions and postures that will be helpful and what things you should avoid
- signs that your body is recovering and signs of harm

Refer you for massage, acupuncture, chiropractic care or medical imaging as needed
Set out a plan for your recovery based on your goals

Whiplash is something that we at Donald Physiotherapy help people with very commonly there are many facets to consider when it comes to assisting someone with their recovery.

If you have had a whiplash injury or have more questions about whiplash, don’t hesitate to give us a shout.

This is a common injury for us to treat and we would be happy to help you.

And please stay tuned for the other two portions of this whiplash blog series.

Yours in health and recovery,

~ Kristyn Froc, Physiotherapist

Kristyn Froc

Physiotherapist

Kristyn's Bio

References:

Whiplash. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/whiplash/symptoms-causes/syc-20378921. Accessed January 17, 2021.
Sterner, Ylva; Toolanen, Göran et al. The Incidence of Whiplash Trauma and the Effects of Different Factors on Recovery. Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques: Apr 2003. Vol.16, no. 2;195-9.

0 Comments

Exercises to Recover from a Whiplash Injury

Experiencing Pain After a Whiplash Injury

The Anatomy of a Whiplash Injury

Author

Archives

Categories