Updated
Whiplash is a neck injury linked to a sudden jolt of the head. It can follow a car accident, a fall or a sports injury, and neck pain, stiffness, headache, and shoulder or arm muscle symptoms may take hours to appear.
A chiropractor at our Clarksville office starts with the whole picture, from how you got hurt to what's shown up since. If the findings call for a medical assessment, we'll refer you for one.
Which whiplash symptoms need medical care first?
After a blow or jolt to the head or body, the concussion danger signs the CDC lists include a headache that's getting worse, repeated vomiting, seizures, slurred speech, unusual confusion, weakness, unequal pupils, and trouble waking up. Any of them means calling 911 or going to an emergency room.
After whiplash, tingling, weakness, difficulty sitting upright or walking, or an electric-shock feeling through the neck, back, arms or legs needs urgent medical assessment, according to the NHS. Please don't wait for a routine appointment with us.
A suspected neck fracture or spinal cord injury needs emergency assessment and the right imaging under the spinal injury guideline from NICE, which writes clinical guidelines for England's NHS. Routine chiropractic treatment has to wait.
What does a whiplash assessment involve?
A whiplash assessment covers how the injury happened, how your neck moves, signs of nerve involvement, and other injuries. Imaging is for specific concerns, such as a suspected fracture, and Australia's SIRA whiplash guidelines say uncomplicated whiplash doesn't routinely need an MRI or CT scan.
If you've already been to an emergency room or your own doctor, bring the discharge instructions and any reports. We'll weigh what they found alongside what's changed since and any symptoms beyond your neck.
It helps to have these details handy:
- The date of the injury and how it happened.
- When each symptom started, and if it's changing.
- What you can and can't do comfortably now.
- Any medicines, rehab or other treatment you've tried.
- What you've been told about going back to work, driving or sport.
After a car accident, our auto accident care guide covers follow-up and the symptoms that may need a concussion check. Neck pain is the most common symptom of whiplash, and our neck pain guide covers it in more depth.
Staying active after whiplash
Many people recover from whiplash within a few months, although symptoms can last longer. The NHS advice is to keep up your usual activities as best you can instead of long stretches of rest, and to skip a neck collar unless a health professional recommends one.
What you want back after whiplash is often something small, like turning your head far enough to check a blind spot. If a symptom changes, or part of the plan is hard to keep up with, we want to hear about it, and the plan can change. Any of the warning signs above still means medical care first.
Whiplash treatment and the evidence behind it
We offer hands-on care, so here's what the published guidance says about it for whiplash. The SIRA guidelines recommend suitable neck exercises and staying active. They rate the evidence for manual therapy (hands-on treatment) as limited, and say it needs cautious use and review against measurable benefit.
According to the NIH's safety summary on spinal manipulation, manipulation can cause soreness or headache, and serious neurological complications have been reported, though how often isn't known. Neck manipulation is also associated with tears in the arteries of the neck that can cause a stroke.
What we'll go over before whiplash treatment starts
After the exam, we'll go over what we found before we recommend anything. Any plan is built around your injury and your goals, and it may include short-term care and longer-term options, from neck exercises and active rehab to a referral to a medical doctor.
If we are not able to help you with your problem or are unable to reduce your pain levels, we will make sure to give you a recommendation to another experienced provider. If your neck has been stiff since a fender bender or other auto accident, with none of the warning signs above and any emergency check it needed done, that's what a first visit is for.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Comprehensive physiotherapy exercise programme or advice for chronic whiplash (PROMISE): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial
172 people with grade I or II whiplash lasting more than three months.
What it foundAn intensive exercise program did not improve pain more than an advice session with telephone support at the measured follow-ups.
What it can't tell usIt compares two specific approaches to chronic whiplash. It isn't evidence that all exercise is useless, and it doesn't cover every acute injury.
Publication details & citation
Michaleff et al. Comprehensive physiotherapy exercise programme or advice for chronic whiplash (PROMISE): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2014. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60457-8.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.