How to Recover from a Whiplash Injury Caused by a Car Accident

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According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, whiplash is one of the most common injuries in a car accident. Whiplash injury results in the most auto insurance claims, with benefits totaling $8.8 billion. Whiplash is the second most frequent pain condition after back injuries in the United States, with more than 5.8 million automobile accidents annually.

What Is Whiplash?

When a person’s head moves quickly and jerks back and forth, they experience whiplash. This injury often occurs after a rear-end car accident. Also, it can be caused by sports-related injuries, physical abuse, or fun park rides.

When the soft tissues of your neck, like muscles and ligaments, stretch beyond their normal range of motion, whiplash results. It’s essential to keep track of physical changes in the days after any accident or other injury-causing event because your symptoms may not appear for a while.

Although you can consider whiplash a benign condition, it can still result in long-term pain and suffering.

Whiplash Injury Recovery Time

Pain associated with whiplash injuries usually appears immediately after the impact or days later. Sometimes symptoms do not appear for weeks or months. If you’ve been in an accident and are experiencing whiplash-related neck symptoms, you should expect the pain to last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Most patients recover quickly and are pain-free, and resume their normal activities. Unfortunately, whiplash can cause persistent neck pain in some people, reducing their quality of life. For example, one study found that more than 40% of people with grade II whiplash still have pain years after the accident and suffer psychological, social, and financial consequences.

Recovery Treatment from a Whiplash Injury

Whiplash pain may not appear for several hours or even days after the collision. But once it starts, it can be crippling. Here are some possible ways to recover from whiplash.

Visit Doctor for Medical Treatment

After a car injury, it is crucial to see a doctor as soon as possible. Your doctor will perform a physical examination and provide you with treatment recommendations. X-rays and other tests are usually not needed for whiplash.

Additional medical remedies contain:

Using heat or ice on the damaged area
Using pharmaceutical painkillers for more severe damages
Muscular-relaxing medications to treat muscle spasms

Doctors provide these medical treatments after examining the condition of the whiplash injury.

Do Exercise in Physical Therapy Treatment

The recovery process greatly benefits from physical therapy. Your doctor can recommend a specialist for you. In addition, rehabilitation may contain the following:

Neck exercises to increase flexibility and strength
Maintaining the correct neck position
Mastering relaxation techniques will prevent neck muscle strain and speed up the healing process

A foam collar may also provide to support your neck. Only spend up to three hours wearing the collar at a time. Use them only during the first several days after your accident. However, many doctors no longer recommend wearing a collar because wearing it for too long can hinder healing.

Other Effective Pain Relieve Treatment Methods

Alternative pain relief methods may be something you want to explore as well. There are several:

A chiropractor
A massage can help relieve some tension in the neck muscles
Electrical nerve stimulation, which uses a small electrical current and can reduce neck pain
Acupuncture, but no studies have shown it can reduce neck pain

Whiplash recovery takes persistence and time. You can heal your neck if you work with your doctor to prevent future damage. Your neck will heal with rest and movement, allowing you to return to normal activities within a few weeks. These treatments are very expensive. If your injury was caused by someone else, you could hold them accountable for your expenses. Consult an attorney to know what you can do to recover the losses you incurred. You shouldn’t have to pay for the damages that were caused by someone else.