whiplash injuries Archives - Hometown Family Wellness Center

May 11 2020

Freehold NJ Chiropractor Helps Whiplash and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Many people suffer from chronic pain after an auto accident. Not only do you experience the injury but there is an experience of stress due to the pain and inactivity due to the pain and recovery. Leading whiplash researchers have recently released new information finding that you are at higher risk of developing long-term symptoms as a result of the stress experienced from a car accident. The more chronic a problem is, the more it will affect the quality of your daily living. It will affect the activities you do, ability to spend time with family and friends, and affect things as simple as work and sleep.

44 patients were evaluated in a research study. They had whiplash injuries from an accident in the month before. Each went thru a physical exam, an MRI to evaluate the structure of the muscles, and testing for post-traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD.

The patients that had both high initial pain levels and signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were most likely to develop chronic pain. The patients with PTSD didn’t only have injury to the spine but they also had obvious changes in the structure of the supporting muscles in the neck and upper back. The damage to the spine extended beyond just the bones, nerves and discs, but the reaction to the stress creates a pathological change in the muscles.

Early intervention is the key to prevent chronicity of the pain and scar tissue that develops with whiplash. Many times, accident victims don’t get evaluated after the accident due to the lack of or minimal amount of pain they are experiencing. As research proves, the earlier you get checked, you can avoid future problems that can show up weeks, months and even years down the road. Many times people come into our office with neck pain, numbness and tinglings, headaches or other symptoms that they don’t know how they started, but upon consultation and evaluation it is almost always related to a previous car accident, sports related, or other activity where the head is whipped quickly.

Many people seek medical care that just prescribe medications that temporarily cover up the symptoms of pain. These medications do not help heal the muscles, tendons and ligaments. If you take medicine for pain relief, you will have a false sense of security that you are better and will do activities that will further damage the tissues. On top of that you have to consider all of the side effects of the medications.

As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, we make sure your body heals optimally so we can restore your spine to it’s natural function. We fully evaluate your condition to find the cause of the problem and using chiropractic techniques, we correct the problem without the harmful effects of medication. Then you will be pain free and can enjoy your normal activities once again! Chiropractic has been found to have one of the highest success rates in treating whiplash and PTSD, which can help you reduce the possibility of having chronic pain in the future.

To find out more about our office, Hometown Family Wellness Center and Dr. Russell Brokstein, go to www.ChiropractorFreehold.com. We have been helping patients for over 13 years with injuries sustained in auto accidents. If you live in Freehold, NJ, or the surrounding towns of Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Jackson, Morganville and other communities in Monmouth County New Jersey share this information with others and make sure you get your spine checked immediately after any injury to prevent chronic problems.

References:

Elliott, James, and Ashley Pedler, Justin Kenardy, Graham Galloway, Gwendolen Jull, Michele Sterling. The Temporal Development of Fatty Infiltrates in the Neck Muscles Following Whiplash Injury: An Association with Pain and Posttraumatic Stress. PLoS ONE. 2011; 6 (6): e21194. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021194.

Ogura, Takeshi and Manabu Tashiro, Mehedi,Shoichi Watanuki, Katsuhiko Shibuya, Keiichiro Yamaguchi, Masatoshi Itoh, Hiroshi Fukuda, Kazuhiko Yanai. Cerebral Metabolic Changes in Men After Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation for Neck Pain. Alternative Therapies. 2011, November/December; 17 (6): 12-17

May 11 2020

Whiplash Leads to Referred Pain Explains Chiropractor in Freehold NJ

Many people experience whiplash injuries after an auto accident or other trauma where the head and neck experiences a sudden abnormal motion or force that causes it to go beyond it’s normal range of motion. The muscles, tendon and ligaments become damaged. Car accidents are a common cause of whiplash but it can be a result of playing sports and accidental falls. Other terms used to describe whiplash are acceleration flexion-extension neck injury and soft tissue cervical hyperextension injury. Many doctors simply explain it to a patient as cervical sprain or cervical strain.

Neck pain and headaches are just 2 of the common symptoms people experience when they have a whiplash injury. Whiplash can also result in arm pain, numbness and tingling, shoulder pain, neck pain, dizziness, nauseousness and even TMJ.

One of the difficult aspects of whiplash is that the symptoms don’t present immediately after the trauma. A lot of times it comes on days, weeks, months to even years down the road. This is one reason why it’s very important to get evaluated after any trauma.

In 2008 a study was done that showed these symptoms are related to the injury to the neck thru referred pain. Referred pain originates in one area but is felt in another area. The pain signals from the injured tissues activate other nerves in the spinal cord and brain. These nerves cause the brain to perceive pain in other areas that these nerves control.

In a Swedish study, researchers induced referred pain in whiplash patients and pain free people to see if they had a different referred pain response. 12 of the subjects were experiencing whiplash while the other 12 had no pain and were the control group. The test subjects controlled the electrical stimulation levels that were used on the shoulder and upper arm to elicit referred pain. There was a dramatic difference between the whiplash patients and the control group:

a) The pain free control group needed 3 times the amount of stimulation to reach the pain levels the whiplash patients experienced. The whiplash group was more sensitive.

b) The whiplash patients experienced a significantly wider area of referred pain than the pain free group which reported limited amounts of referred pain.

c) The type of referred pain was different in both groups. The control group experienced referred pain that was always distal to the point of stimulation while the whiplash group experienced referred pain that was more proximal to the stimulation closer to the center of the body.

This study helps us further understand the whiplash injury as other studies have also shown that the central nervous system becomes sensitive and over stimulated because of the injury to the spine. More recent research is showing patients who are experiencing central sensitivity are more likely to experience chronic long term pain and symptoms.

As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, I have been treating whiplash patients for 14 years. These studies are proof that early treatment after an auto accident or other trauma is extremely important to prevent chronic, long term problems. In our office, Hometown Family Wellness Center, we use state of the art computerized technology to help examine the spine, nerves and surrounding muscles to show how severe the underlying condition is and whether it is acute or chronic. The earlier you are treated for the injury, we can correct the problem so you can continue to enjoy a normal, healthy active lifestyle and prevent further problems down the road. Chiropractic finds the cause and treats it so you can be pain free once again without drugs and surgery.

For more information go to www.ChiropractorFreehold.com or call our office at 732-780-0044.
1. Kosek E, Januszewska A. Mechanisms of pain referral in patients with whiplash associated disorder.
European Journal of Pain 2008;12:650-660.
2. Walton DM, Macdermid JC, Nielson W, Teasell RW, Reese H, Levesque L. Pressure pain threshold
testing demonstrates predictive ability in people with acute whiplash. Journal of Orthopedic & Sports
Physical Therapy 2011;41(9):658-65.

May 11 2020

Whiplash or Auto Injury? Freehold NJ Chiropractor Shares Multiple Studies

Multiple Studies Confirm Positive Outcomes of Chiropractic Care for Whiplash Injuries!

My name is Dr. Russell Brokstein and as owner of Hometown Family Wellness Center in Freehold, New Jersey, I see many patients every year that have been in car accidents. Some have pain immediately after the auto accident, others don’t experience the pains and problems months to even years down the road.

One thing many people experience is whiplash. According to the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, “Whiplash is defined as an injury to the cervical spine caused by an abrupt jerking motion of the head, backward or forward, often occurring from rear on-set automobile accidents and amusement rides or the result of falls, accidents and sporting activities.”

It takes just a 3 to 5 miles per hour bumper hit to cause trauma to the spine and cause whiplash. Many times, patients in these instances of low impact trauma don’t know they had damage that occurred until years down the road as the problem progressively got worse.

1 out of 15 adult Americans suffers from the annoying and sometimes debilitating long-term effects of whiplash injury, usually in the form of neck stiffness and pain. Others can develop headaches, migraines, numbness and tingling or even shoulder pain.

Many scientific studies have confirmed the benefits of chiropractic care when treating whiplash injuries. Arthur C. Croft, D.C. of the Spine Research Institute states, “While chiropractic care in the acute stage can often stave off this unpleasant outcome, two of the studies have shown that even in the chronic stage, chiropractic intervention can provide up to 90 percent relief for these sufferers.”

One study in the journal Injury reports: “93 percent of the 28 patients studied retrospectively were found to have a statistically significant improvement following chiropractic care.”

A follow up study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine concluded that, “Whiplash injuries are common. Chiropractic is the only PROVEN effective treatment in chronic cases. Our study enables patients to be classified at initial assessment in order to target those patients who will benefit from such treatment.”

Many things can be done to help prevent cases of whiplash, including driving carefully and wearing proper restraints like seatbelts and positioning your headrest at the right level. Whiplash can also occur during sporting events and other activities and it’s extremely important to wear the correct safety equipment and head gear.

Chiropractic care is a well established and proven effective treatment in providing considerable relief with the highest outcomes in correcting whiplash. Unlike medical treatment which just prescribes pain medications, muscle relaxers and injections that might temporarily cover up symptoms but have many side effects, chiropractic care corrects the cause of the problems. Chiropractic allows the patients to get back to normal daily activities.

It’s important to get checked after any type of trauma to the body. The quicker you get checked, you can prevent progression to a chronic condition. You can have serious consequences down the road even if you do not feel pain right away!

For more information about Dr. Russell Brokstein go to his website by clicking here: www.ChiropractorFreehold.com

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