Diagnosis and Treatment of Whiplash at our Ramsey Pain Management Clinic

One of the most common conditions that we evaluate and treat at our Ramsey pain management clinic is a syndrome known as whiplash. In fact, it’s been estimated that as many as 2 million people or more experience this condition every year in the United States alone. Dr. Steven Ferrer and Dr. Kevin McElroy, along with the rest of their team at Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine, understand that finding fast and effective relief from your pain is important to you. That’s why we’ve dedicated our practice to providing our patients with a variety of comprehensive and multi-modal pain management strategies to help you recover from a whiplash injury as soon as possible.

Causes & Symptoms of Whiplash

When your body suddenly stops moving–such as during a car accident–your head tends to snap forward and backward. This rapid flexion and extension of your neck can lead to significant strain and damage to the structures within and around your cervical spine, including muscles, ligaments, nerves, and the discs between your spinal bones. When such damage occurs, a person can be said to have whiplash syndrome.

Whiplash syndrome can present with a variety of issues. The chief signs and symptoms include:

• Pain and tenderness in the neck and shoulders
• Neck stiffness
• Muscle spasms and/or tightness in the neck, shoulders, and upper back
• Numbness and tingling in the arms, hands, and/or fingers
• Headaches
• Ringing in the ears
• Difficulty sleeping

While whiplash is usually associated with car accidents, there are actual several other ways that a person can sustain such an injury, including slips, trips, falls, and work- or sports-related accidents. You may be more at risk for developing whiplash if you’re older, since your neck may be less flexible and less strong therefore not able to withstand such a force. People with a history of neck and back problems, including arthritis, may also be more at risk for developing whiplash.

How Our Ramsey Doctors Help People Recover From Their Whiplash Symptoms

It’s important to realize that even minor fender benders involving speeds as slow as 10 miles per hour can lead to a whiplash injury. Equally important is the fact that signs and symptoms of a whiplash injury often don’t present until days, weeks, and sometimes months following the traumatic event. This is because it can take some time for pain-masking stress hormones released during trauma (like cortisol) to return to their normal resting levels.

For this reason, our Ramsey pain management team always advises you or your loved ones to seek professional help following a car accident or similar event, even if you feel “fine.” Without a thorough examination and diagnostic imaging, you’ll never know for sure if you have an underlying injury brewing, which, if left untreated, could easily progress from a minor to a major problem.

Here are a few of the pain management services we provide to our patients with whiplash syndrome:

• Physical therapy
• Osteopathic manipulation
• Acupuncture
• Interventional pain injections

When managing whiplash, our overall goal is to control inflammation, prevent further tissue damage, provide pain relief, restore normal motion, and prevent recurring or chronic symptoms from developing. These treatment objectives are provided via a fully individualized plan of care that can meet the unique needs of each patient.

Is Your Whiplash Proving to be a Big Pain in the Neck? Visit Our Ramsey Pain Management Doctors for Help

Do you believe that your dysfunction is related to whiplash? If so, we encourage you to call Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine to schedule an appointment with one of our pain management doctors, Dr. Ferrer or Dr. McElroy. Our entire team is dedicated to helping you Call us now at (201) 962-9199.