The statistics on the persistance of neck pain following a whiplash-type injury are pretty disheartening. Depending on the study you read, up to 90% of patients may experience some type of symptoms 10 years later. This leads to a few comments from me.
First, I think this stresses just how important it is to address both the soft tissue AND the articular components of any type of injury. Physical therapists stress exercises to strengthen the muscles injured. Chiropractors generally address the movement of the joints in the neck following the injury. Quite frankly, as someone who addresses the fascial, muscular and tendonous as well as the joint problems that occur after an injury, I feel that almost all cases are not treated with a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects. If all a chiropractor does is adjust, you miss the soft tissue component. If all that is done is strengthening, you miss the articular component as well as the soft tissue pathology that occurs!! (strengthening does NOT address the problems that develop in the fascia as a result of the injury).
The other aspect of this is that you should never, ever wait to get treatment after an injury. The longer you wait, the more difficult that problem is going to be to fix.
This particular study confirms what anyone that deals with residual problems from a car accident. If you do the right tests, you do indeed find problems. Researchers found increased activity in the area of the 2nd cervical vertebrae that indicated inflammation was present. This was years after the injury.
If you’ve had an injury recently, or have been dealing with a problem that started years ago, find a chiropractor that has a strong