What If Your Whiplash Didn’t Get Better?
There’s a common assumption about whiplash:
Give it a little time and eventually it will go away. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works for everyone.
For some people, what begins as a sore and stiff neck after a car accident develops into months of neck pain, headaches, restricted movement, tingling, numbness, or pins and needles traveling into the arm or hand.
At that point, patients often start wondering:
“Why am I still hurting—and is there anything that can actually help?”
In a follow up from their ground breaking 1996 study, Dr.’s Khan, Gargan, Cook and Bannister from the University Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Bristol asked essentially the same question. Instead of simply studying whether chiropractic helped chronic whiplash, they wanted to know something even more useful:
Which types of chronic whiplash patients were most likely to respond to chiropractic treatment?
They evaluated 93 patients with chronic whiplash symptoms and discovered something fascinating. They divided the sample into three groups. The answer depended heavily on what kind of symptoms the patient had.
74% of Chronic Whiplash Patients Improved
The patients received an average of 19.3 treatments over approximately 4.1 months. The treatment consisted of chiropractic spinal manipulation using a high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust directed at specific vertebral segments.
The big result?
69 of the 93 patients improved following chiropractic treatment.
But things get even more interesting when we look at which patients improved.
Neck Pain and Restricted Motion: 72% Improved
The first group consisted of people with neck pain—often spreading across the neck and shoulders in what the researchers called a “coat-hanger” distribution—along with restricted neck movement.
Of these patients:
72% benefited from chiropractic spinal manipulation.
Even better, 24% became asymptomatic, while another 24% improved by two grades on the researchers’ symptom scale.
Not bad for the neck that was supposedly going to “just get better.”
Tingling or Numbness? The Results Were Even More Interesting
The second group may be particularly relevant to people experiencing neurological symptoms after a car accident.
These patients had neck pain and restricted movement accompanied by symptoms such as: Tingling. Numbness. Pins and needles. Altered sensation in the arm or hand.
In this group, 30 of 32 patients—94%—responded positively to chiropractic manipulation.
Additionally, 38% became asymptomatic, and 43% improved by two symptom grades.
Interestingly, the researchers noted that although neurological findings had traditionally been associated with a poorer prognosis, these patients demonstrated the greatest improvement in disability in their study.
Not Every Whiplash Patient Is the Same
Chiropractic didn’t help everybody equally.
A third group consisted of patients with severe neck pain but full neck movement and without neurological findings following a specific nerve distribution. This type of distribution indicates damage to the vertebral discs.
Only 27% of this group improved.
That’s an important lesson. The question shouldn’t simply be: “Do you have whiplash?”
A better question is:
“What structures were injured, what symptoms do you have, and what type of whiplash patient are you?”
That’s why a thorough examination matters. In our office we perform our 3D Neurobiostructural examination which is designed to locate the cause of your problem so we can address it in the right way. We have non-surgical spinal decompression to address disc injuries with our two types of spinal decompression tables.
Whiplash Isn’t Always a Two-Week Problem
The researchers noted previous literature suggesting that only 57% of injured patients make a full recovery and that symptom resolution may take as long as two years. They also reported that approximately 8% could remain disabled by their symptoms.
So if you’re still hurting months after a Boston car accident, don’t assume you’re imagining it—and don’t assume nothing can be done simply because time has passed.
At Charles Street Family Chiropractic in Boston, we have 36 years of experience evaluating and treating patients suffering from car-crash and whiplash injuries.
