Patients often ask if their symptoms could have been caused by a car accident, and how it is related.
Whiplash symptoms for an auto accident can vary widely depending on the severity of the accident and where the accident in relation to the passengers or driver.
Hit from behind
This often causes the persons upper body to lurch back and then forward. This can cause injury to the neck, or other parts of the spine.
Symptoms may include, neck aches/pain, headaches, upper or lower back aches/pain, even pain in the upper or lower extremities. Symptoms usually begin to occur within 24 hours, and may get worse over time, although some patients have said they didn’t notice much at all at first, but then problems started to occur weeks after the trauma.
Hit from the side (side-impact collisions)
The symptoms from this kind of impact can sometimes be similar to front or rear impact collisions, but can also include neck pain or back aches/pain that are worse on one side or the other. Arm and hip problems are also more common with these types of impacts. This is due to the way the body is designed, ligaments on the side of the spine aren’t really built to take the kind of force that an accident can cause. That means the symptoms can sometimes be more severe or harder to define.
At Butler Family Health Center, we have been successfully treating Denver patients with car accident and whiplash injuries for 17 years. We have helped many people recover quicker and better with chiropractic care.
If you have been in an auto accident, give us a call – we’re here to help.
Dr. Chris Butler, Chiropractor. Phone (303) 741-2444.