How to Treat Whiplash

You're patiently stopped at a red light when some idiot on a cellphone rear ends your vehicle. What a hassle! In addition to the inconvenience of dealing with your damaged car you'll also likely be dealing with some significant neck pain and stiffness. Commonly referred to as whiplash this injury is the result of rapid acceleration and deceleration. This sudden motion stretches or tears muscle fibers and ligaments in the neck, shoulder and upper back leading to muscle spasms and discomfort. Fortunately, whiplash can often be successfully treated
with simple and inexpensive home remedies. How should you treat whiplash?

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Apply ice as soon as possible to the neck and shoulder area to treat whiplash. This can be done using either an ice bag or a bag of frozen vegetables. Doing this several times a day for a week will help reduce muscle swelling and discomfort. Avoid applying ice directly to the skin.

2. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Maintain good posture to treat whiplash. This should always be done but it's even more important when you treat whiplash. Poor posture tends to place more mechanical stress on injured neck and shoulder muscles causing more pain and discomfort. So stand up straight and keep your chest up and shoulders back.

3. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Minimize forward flexion of the neck to treat whiplash. This is part of maintaining good posture but it's so critical that it deserves special mention. Keep your head up and avoid letting your chin touch your chest. Much of our day is usually spent with the head and neck flexed forward (reading a book, checking out messages on the smartphone or looking at a computer monitor). This abnormal position places significant tension on damaged neck muscle fibers. When looking at or reading an object make sure that it remains at eye level.

4. Avoid repetitive arm work above your shoulders to treat whiplash. Try keeping your arms at or below your shoulders until the whiplash pain and stiffness have improved.

5. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Practice proper sleep techniques to treat whiplash. Do not sleep on your stomach. Avoid placing a mountain of pillows under your neck and back; this merely forces your neck into an uncomfortable forward flexed position. Instead of pillows consider making a modified neck roll with a bath towel and robe sash. Tie this supportive neck roll around your neck prior to sleeping.

6. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Avoid using supportive soft cervical collars to treat whiplash. They may seem to reduce neck discomfort and pain by taking pressure off the neck; however, continued use make neck muscles lazy and retards the rehabilitation process. The key to treating whiplash is to strengthen neck and shoulder muscles.

7. 
    
   How To Treat Whiplash

   Begin neck and shoulder stretching exercises as soon as possible to treat whiplash. Slight discomfort is typical at the beginning. Start with simple forward and lateral flexion and extension range of motion exercises as well as lateral rotation neck stretches. Do these repetitive exercises a full 15 minutes several times a day and gradually increase the duration of therapy. Try to identify and massage tender muscle points in the neck and shoulders.

Tips & Warnings

• If your whiplash pain fails to improve after several days than see your doctor.
• OTC anti-inflammatory agents such as naproxen and ibuprofen can help to treat whiplash pain.
• Physical therapy can be beneficial for whiplash that fails to improve.