What is Whiplash?
Whiplash occurs when the head is violently snapped back and forth. Since your neck is the most flexible part of the spine, it is more vulnerable to
injury.
Four Major Types of Injury Occur:
1. Muscle Injury:
During an accident your muscles are often stretched or strained. This can lead to painful swelling and tenderness in the muscles of the neck and shoulders.
As the muscles are stretched, so are the nerves. Nerves can be stretched too far or "pinched." This occurs more often if your head was turned during the impact or your headrest was not positioned properly.
3. Joint Injury
The key to the movement in your neck is the joints located in each of your cervical vertebrae. They allow the bones to move smoothly over each other. Injury to these joints may cause pain in the area of the affected joint and/or pain in other areas of the body such as the arms and shoulders.
4. Disc Injury
Discs function as shock absorbers and spacers between the vertebrae. They make space for the sensitive nerves to exit the spinal cord. A whiplash injury can cause these discs to bulge, herniate or rupture, which may lead to painful nerve irritation.
Whiplash can also occur from sport impact, slips, and falls.
