Whiplash Treatment | Wauwatosa

You’ve experienced a motor vehicle accident.

Most motor vehicle accidents whip our heads backward and forward so quickly we don’t even know it happened. Then, we start to feel the pain and dysfunction. This pain can come immediately or sometimes days even weeks later. An accident stretches, tears and injures your body– your head, neck, back, and soft tissue systems. A Chiropractor can restore function to a more normal state after an accident. If after your accident all you take is medication, you aren’t treating the problem, only the symptom. If you try and stop your medication you may actually feel worse. Uncorrected whiplash can result in your body trying to adapt to an unbalanced and misaligned spine and neck, so you begin to feel the pain and impairment in other areas of your body, even arthritic degeneration can begin to set in.

Chiropractic can help!

Dr. Corinne A. Kennedy, of Kennedy Chiropractic, has over 25 years experience working with personal injury cases. She can help you too!

SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT

Click here or call our office today.

Now what?

Like most victims, you went to a Medical Doctor or a hospital after your accident. They may have helped you with your immediate emergency pain, but you still feel pain and you worry about the impact the accident now has on your daily life, your job and your family. Getting well again means recovering the life you enjoyed before your accident. We all desire to feel full of energy and capable of doing whatever we want, but your accident may have changed your normal activities. You do not have to accept those impairments and limitations without getting the best help possible.

Why a chiropractor?

Medical Doctors are trained to handle emergency care, diagnose diseases and prescribe medicine. They may lack the training and skills to assess and treat persistent damage left from a motor vehicle accident. Motor vehicle accidents can inflict huge impacts and injury on your joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, soft tissue, neck and back. MDs often prescribe medications to cover the pain, none of which addresses the pain you are feeling in your body’s structures caused by the accident.

Chiropractors are the only doctors licensed to diagnose, adjust, treat joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, soft tissue systems, necks, backs and spinal misalignments such as those caused by the massive forces created in a motor vehicle accident. Chiropractors understand how these misalignments to the normal biomechanics of the body can impinge on your nerves and blood flow causing pain and restricting your daily comfort and normal functions. Chiropractic services can complement the treatment provided by your MD.

Why do I hurt so much?

You hurt because the auto accident you had shot massive forces into your body. You absorbed an immense amount of force when the vehicles crashed into each other. Your body is much like your crunched car; it can neither function fully or normally with its structure jolted and wrenched out of place. Not only did this abrupt movement of the accident knock the spine out of alignment, but it also strains the neck and back muscles, causing further stiffness, soreness, and pain.

Symptoms

If you or someone else you know has been treated in an emergency room for an accident and still has the following:

Sore muscles
Headaches
Taking medication
Suffer from anxiety
Difficult time moving your body
Feel fatigue, low energy
Suffer backache, neck pain
Cannot stand up straight
Difficulty walking or moving your legs/arms
Feel stiff
Lack of strength
Difficulty sleeping
Lost normal activities and function to every day life

Then you may need a chiropractor.

How will I pay for my care?

Your auto insurance most likely provides a “Medical Pay” provision for you as an accident victim. This provision provides for payments to health care providers of your choice, including Chiropractic Doctors.

WE CAN ARRANGE FOR DELAYED PAYMENT THROUGH YOUR ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT

At Kennedy Chiropractic, our office can defer your payment until your accident lawsuit has been settled. Then we will have your health care costs paid from the money you receive in the settlement from your accident.

LET OUR OFFICE MAKE THE ARRANGEMENTS

Our office will directly work with your auto insurance and/or your Attorney to relieve you of the hassles and red tape of submitting insurance claim forms. This way, you work on getting better and concentrate on your care, not the cost of getting care.

CALL US TODAY. DON’T DELAY. WHY LIVE ANOTHER DAY IN PAIN?

What’s Whiplash?

Whiplash is when the head is suddenly jerked back and forth beyond its normal limits, the muscles and ligaments supporting the head and spine can be stretched or torn. The discs between the spinal bones can bulge, tear or rupture. Vertebrae can be forced out of their normal position, reducing range of motion. Whiplash can be caused by a collision that occurs during a sporting event, slip and fall or automobile accident. The resulting instability of the spine and soft tissue can contribute to headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, pain in the shoulders, arms and hands, reduced ability to turn and bend, neck and low back pain. Symptoms may not appear for weeks or even months later.

Whiplash Treatment:

Cervical Traction Unit
Perform a spinal manipulation (adjustment) to improve spinal function and to alleviate irritation of the central nervous system.
Perform 1 or more chiropractic therapies.
Provide nutritional advice as well as exercise and stretching information.

Whiplash Injury Treatment & Tips

Whiplash is the result of traumatic back and forth movement in the neck, often resulting from a motor vehicle accident. Neck and back stiffness often follow in the days after the trauma before evolving into neck pain. You may also experience symptoms like headaches, tingling in the arm, and/or feelings of depression. Depending on the severity of the injury, symptoms can last for days, week, or even months.

If you have recently been in a motor vehicle accident, it is important to see your doctor immediately, even if you don’t believe you have whiplash or other injury symptoms. Your doctor will be able to tell you whether or not you need additional treatment to get your body back to its normal functioning.

Treatment for Whiplash-related Injuries

Common treatments for whiplash-related injuries include:

Physical therapy
Non-opioid pain medication
Changes to your daily routine
Massage
Chiropractic care

Because whiplash mainly affects the body’s soft tissues and joints, chiropractic is often an effective treatment. A chiropractor will start by evaluating your spine as a whole, identifying problem areas, and applying a variety of techniques to align the spine and joints and relieve pain. Techniques may include hands-on manipulation, instrument-assisted manipulation, massage, manual joint stretching and therapy.

If you live in or near Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and are experiencing whiplash-related injury symptoms, we can help.

What You Can Do to Lessen the Symptoms of Whiplash

In addition to following your doctor’s recommendations and making an appointment with a chiropractor, here are some tips for managing symptoms related to whiplash injury:

Keep moving! Without overdoing it after your injury, do what you can to ensure you are up and moving around as much as possible. This could simply mean walking to a coworker’s desk instead of sending an email, or taking time every hour to stand and lightly stretch. Be sure to listen to your body and only perform movements that feel “right,” without pushing your body too much.
See a physical therapist. Because you are likely injured, a physical therapy can assess your unique situation and recommend exercises you can do at home to help you strengthen the areas affected by whiplash injury. If you follow their instructions and are consistent in performing these exercises, you should start to see improvement relatively quickly.
Improve your posture. Following a whiplash injury, your body may compensate for pain or decreased mobility with poor posture. A physical therapist can recommend exercises to strengthen depleted muscles and improve posture, and a chiropractor can help with pain management so you can get back to normal. Day-to-day, be sure to keep your spine in alignment by keeping your chin parallel to the ground, shoulders aligned over the hips, and abdominal muscles pulled in to support the lower back.

Chronic whiplash is diagnosed when symptoms persist for more than three months. In these cases, a doctor can prescribe a combined treatment. Regular chiropractic adjustments can help with pain management and improved mobility, helping you get back to normal as quickly as possible.

For questions, or to schedule a consultation, contact Dr. Corinne Kennedy at Kennedy Chiropractic today.