Cocoa Beach Chiropractic Orthopedist

Most sprains and strains typically take six weeks to recover, provided the patient receives proper care, which may include self-management strategies. However, something is different about a whiplash associated disorders (WAD) injury in that many patients do not recover. At the Whiplash 2017 Symposium held in Australia, Dr. Michele Sterling stated, “Whiplash associated disorders are a costly burden to Australian society. Up to 50% of people who experience a whiplash injury will never fully recover. Whiplash is resistant to treatment and no early management approach has yet been shown to prevent chronic pain. We are hoping this study will provide a promising treatment for chronic pain.” Experts in the field presented important information about the development and prevention of disorders associated with a WAD injury such as chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression after trauma. The University of North Carolina’s Dr. Samuel McLean reported that app...

Millions of people are injured in car crashes each year in the US, and many of these “minor” collisions result in long-term symptoms and disability. In fact, research shows that a significant number of people have pain from a crash even 10-15 years later. Chiropractic is one of the best ways to treat and heal from these types of injuries. Chiropractic works by restoring the normal function of your spine, allowing the tissues to heal and become pain-free. If you’ve been in a car crash, here’s how chiropractic can help you: 1. Chiropractic Reduces Inflammation During an auto collision, the ligaments and muscles that make up your spine can be stretched or experience micro-tears. X-rays or MRI scans usually aren’t sophisticated enough to diagnose these kinds of injuries, but this tissue damage causes the area to become inflamed. Many times, an auto injury patient won’t feel much discomfort immediately after the crash, but t...

Whiplash can result from a number of causes, not just from motor vehicle accidents. A fall on the ice or a slippery floor, a sports-related injury, or even one of those rides that throws you around at the county fair can result in the same type of injury. Whiplash occurs when the head is literally “whipped” either forwards and backwards or from side to side. It can include hitting the head but often does not. Symptoms vary considerably and therefore the term, “whiplash associated disorders” or WAD has been adopted, based on the clinical presentation of the patient and on the specific tissues injured. Common symptoms include neck pain, loss of motion, headache, and sometimes arm pain or numbness resulting in difficulty driving, working, sleeping, and concentrating. Spinal manipulation of the neck has been found to be highly effective in the treatment of whiplash or WAD, and hence, Chiropractic is often the recommended first order of treatment for patients suffering fro...

Whiplash pain can be much different from other types of injuries. When a car accident is severe, the pain will come on right away. If the injury produces a mild or moderate sprain, sometimes it takes a few days for the pain and inflammation to reach its maximum extent. Sometimes it is stiffness that is the prominent symptom and the patient notices this in the first few weeks after the accident. A delay in pain is often seen in low speed collisions where typically there is very less damage to the vehicles. There are a lot of factors that determine the extent of injury following a low speed whiplash. One of these is the neck posture prior to impact. Was the head turned? This can occur if the patient was looking at the rear view mirror during the collision. Low speed collisions can occur in parking lots. If the patient was turned to see if a space was clear, this can make a simple trauma result in a significant injury. Besides the position of the patient prior to the coll...

Even though whiplash or whiplash associated disorders (WAD) is very common, it remains poorly understood. Recent studies report that up to 60% of people may still have pain six months after their injury. Why is that? Investigations have shown there are changes in the muscle and muscle function in the neck and shoulder regions in chronic WAD patients. Symptoms often include balance problems as well as increased sensitivity to a variety of stimuli including pressure, light vibration, and temperature. Interestingly, this hypersensitivity not only occurs in the injured area, but also in areas away from the neck such as the front of the lower leg or the shin bone. This can only be explained by some type of neurobiological processing of pain within the central nervous system, which includes the spinal cord and brain. It’s not surprising that when pain continues for lengthy time frames, people with these symptoms may also experience psychological distress. The confusing thing...

Whiplash and headaches are a very common duo that frequently occur after motor vehicle collisions. The good news is that most headaches that arise immediately following a head injury (or shortly thereafter) usually improve after minutes or days. But unfortunately for some, these headaches may persist over the longer term and even become a permanent part of life. Researchers use the terms “post-traumatic” and “post-concussive” headache to describe long-term, intractable headaches associated with trauma. Given the back-and-forth, to-and-fro (and every combination in between) mechanism of injury in car crashes, it’s easy to understand why headaches develop. What isn’t so easy to appreciate is why most clear out while others don’t and become chronic. Mild brain injuries are essentially a concussion (also referred to as mild traumatic brain injury or mTBI). This is usually a brief disturbance of brain function causing loss of consciousness or transient difficulty in thought proc...