Whiplash and Soft Tissue Injuries

Whiplash is an injury to the neck often referred to as a neck strain. It is caused by sudden backward or forward jerking motion of the head. Vertebrae in the cervical spine, discs, ligaments or nerve roots may be damaged. Whiplash is frequently caused by car accidents, but can also be caused by falls, or other trauma to the head and upper torso.

Whiplash injuries can be really hard to overcome and take many months to recover from. Sometimes these injuries will resolve themselves on their own, but other times it takes weeks or months of consistent medical care from a chiropractor, massage therapist, chiropractor, or combination thereof to really make someone feel like they did before their injury. Symptoms include:

• Neck pain and stiffness
• Pain in the shoulders and upper back
• Pain or numbness in the arm or hand
• Pain in the lower back
• Dizziness Inability to concentrate or loss of memory
• Unusual fatigue and disruptive sleep patterns

COMMON CAUSES FOR WHIPLASH INJURIES

If you have been the victim of a whiplash injury, the chances are that you have been injured in one of the following ways:

• Car accident
• Truck accident
• Motorcycle accident
• Bus accident
• Crosswalk accident

All of these accidents can cause you tremendous suffering for your whiplash injury or soft tissue injury. If you have been injured by a car accident or truck accident felt the effects of a whiplash or soft tissue injury, you need to seek immediate medical care.

SOFT TISSUE INJURIES

Whiplash can also be called soft tissue injuries, or another way to think of it, whiplash injuries can also lead to soft tissue injuries. Many people in the medical community and insurance industry refer to whiplash as a soft tissue injury. What is a soft tissue injury? If there is a rapid change in one direction that leads to your body absorbing the force of impact. Soft tissue injuries result in three different but common forms. The first is a sprain.

A sprain is common in particular after a car accident. It comes when there is a ligament that has been abnormally stretched or torn. Ligaments connect bones. The second is a contusion. A contusion is another name for a bruise. Severe forces or blows to the muscle fiber can cause a contusion.

These significant forces can crush fibers in the muscle, resulting in discoloration, such as black and blue bruises, in the area that was harmed. The third is a strain. A strain typically injures the muscles and tendons. Neck strains are also known as whiplash injuries as they are often usually interchangeably.