Neck Pain after Car Accident is Not Purely Whiplash
According to M. Curatolo, et al., “The mechanisms underlying chronic pain after whiplash injury are usually unclear.”1 Unanswered questions surround whiplashespecially when no bones are broken. There is lack of evidence correlating speed, impact, size of vehicle, and severity of injury to chronic pain that shows up much later. A patient having fresh tissue injuries directly from whiplash unfortunately is a candidate for developing into a chronic sufferer, which can devastate their life.
Early treatment can be very beneficial in reducing not only current pain but help prevent long term chronic pain. Often after injury we change our posture and begin to have our head carried forward. This then puts extra load on the muscles, tendons, joints. Over time this becomes a habit and then it is hard to break the pain cycle.
I see this pattern very frequently occur at my Waterbury Office at St. Mary’s Hospital medical building.