NECK PAIN
I WAS IN A CAR ACCIDENT, SENT TO THE CHIROPRACTOR. ALL HE REALLY DOES IS TURN MY HEAD TO THE SIDE WITH ALOT OF FORCE, SO HE CAN HEAR THE CRACK, WANT TO KNOW IF THAT IS REALLY A GOOD THING, BECAUSE MY NECK AND UPPER BACK HURT MORE SINCE THEN
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Dr. Brian
G. Briggs,
I am a Chiropractor in Seattle and I see a large number of auto accident patients in my practice. Because I have not examined you, I can only share my experiences with you. I have seen patients that initially have a slight worsening of their symptoms following treatment. This can be for many reasons. 1. Chiropractic adjustments are affective in part because of how the adjustments affect the mechanoreceptors and stretch receptors in the neck muscles and joints. If you were recently in the car accident, then this may come across as painful because the Chiropractor was moving your neck in a motion that hadn’t been moved previously.2. If the patient has never been treated before, they tend to tense their muscles (guarding). If they are not relaxed, this can cause a discomfort in the neck muscles post-treatment.However, this should not continue to happen after every treatment. In my experience, patients may be sore after the first 1-3 treatments, but after that time, they should only have relief.Hope this helps! Oh, and if you continue to experience that pain post-treatment, tell your chiropractor! I have suggested my patients to use ice post treatment for 15 minutes, which has always helped.