Injuries aren’t planned but we can help with the pain.

Many people will seek out chiropractic care in Muskegon, MI after having an auto injury. A common auto injury, whiplash, occurs when the head and neck are whipped from back to front, similar to how a whip is cracked. The majority of car accidents are rear-ended collisions with whiplash being a common result. Whiplash can also occur from other kinds of trauma, accidents, abuse, and falls.

Many people in Muskegon, MI who have been involved in an accident don’t even realize they have received a whiplash injury until weeks or months later when the problem becomes persistent and leads to other issues. If your neck has been injured in an accident or other incident, this article will help you to understand if you have a whiplash injury and how chiropractic care can help you to treat it.

When the neck is whipped from back to front during a car accident, while playing contact sports such as football, or occasionally from an assault or other physical trauma, a number of things can happen to the spine and surrounding soft tissue. Whiplash describes the initial impact, but the results can include:

• Disc bulges and herniation
• Subluxations (misalignment of the vertebrae in the spine),
• Injured bones in the spine,
• Irritated and damaged nerves
• Pulled ligaments and muscles in the neck

The Symptoms of Whiplash

Whiplash injuries can range from mild to very severe. Injuries tend to be more significant when your headrest is positioned too low. If the impact was quite severe or the headrest was low there is the possibility that bones are broken or tissue is damaged. It is highly recommended that you see a chiropractor and receive a thorough examination and x-rays. Even if the impact seemed mild, you may have whiplash if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

As you can see there is a wide range of symptoms and not all of them may be immediately traceable to whiplash. Even if you have been cleared by a doctor, your pain could still be related to whiplash and you may need treatment to correct the problem. If you have recently been injured it’s important to get your spine checked as soon as possible. The sooner that you start treating the issue the less chance you have of it developing into a long-term problem.

Care for Whiplash

Because the majority of whiplash incidents impact the spine and the surrounding nerves and tissues, chiropractic care is an excellent avenue for treatment. Chiropractic doctors are skilled in assessing the source of the pain associated with a whiplash injury and determining a plan for effective treatment. Chiropractic treatments are gentle and non-invasive. Through small adjustments, people find great relief from the pain associated with whiplash and are set on a road to full recovery. Call our team at Alive Chiropractic to discover how chiropractic care can help you recover from whiplash.

Are you living with a slipped disc or other disc injury in Muskegon, MI? If you have a suspicion that your chronic back pain is being caused by a disc injury, or you have received a diagnosis that confirms you are dealing with this kind of issue, you will probably benefit from the best chiropractic care in Muskegon, MI you can find.

Whether the pain is mild or severe, it is important to deal with it promptly so that the issue does not progress and cause more permanent damage. The following article discusses some of the symptoms of disc injuries with the aim of helping you to understand what you are dealing with. It also goes over how chiropractic care may give you immediate relief from the pain and discomfort associated with a disc injury, as well as possible long-term recovery.

Signs and Symptoms of a Disc Injury

All of the above issues tend to result in considerable back pain, numbness, and limitation in range of motion due to the irritation of the nerve roots at the point where the injury occurs and the impact this has on the surrounding tissues. A number of distressing symptoms can arise from this nerve irritation and damage, including but not limited to:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Weak legs or feet
• Leg and foot pain, numbness, and tingling (also known as sciatica)
• Loss of bladder or bowel control
  

Disc Injury Treatment

The little pads that lie between your vertebrae are called the intervertebral discs. Each of these discs has a tough outer ring and a soft gel-like center. Your disc’s job is to both join and to separate your vertebrae from one another. These discs act as cushions, or shock absorbers, so that the bones don’t make contact with each other as you move around, carry large objects, and bend over. Without the discs, you would literally be unable to move your upper torso. Here are a few of the different kinds of disc injuries that make movements of the upper torso painful and difficult:

• A protruding disc occurs when the disc becomes asymmetrical and the gel is pushed out or bulging.
• A herniated disc is when the disc material has ruptured to the point that the gel pushes outward.
• A disc extrusion is the worst type of disc injury. This is when the gel balloons extensively into the area outside the vertebrae or breaks off from the disc.