At New Century Spine Centers in San Diego, many people come in for treatment of whiplash from car accidents. Some days more car accidents occur than others. Here are the top 10 deadliest days of the year to drive (in order of most deadly to less deadly): July 4, July 3, December 23, December 24, December 22, August 3, January 1, September 1, September 2, August 4.
The time of day is also an important factor. The deadliest times of the day to drive are: 3pm-6pm, 6pm-9pm, and 9pm-midnight, noon-3 pm, midnight-3am. This is something to consider when driving to avoid increasing your chance of getting an accident in San Diego.
This is important so you can be aware and drive more carefully on these days and times. But, it is also important because we have just passed some of those top days! If you’ve recently been involved in an automobile accident, here’s something you should know: Whiplash is a very common car accident injury. Whiplash is an injury to your neck caused by a rapid back and forth motion of your head. This can cause neck pain now or in the future.
With the many different treatments available the best evidence after reviewing research from 1980-2000 revealed that manual therapies and exercise was the most effective approach. Manual therapies performed primarily by doctors of chiropractic are the most very satisfying form of treatment for whiplash conditions.
Like all doctors’ offices and chiropractic offices, care may vary from office to office. So if you are looking for a Chiropractor who offers short term, affordable injury care, or if you have questions, call New Century Spine Centers in San Diego at 619-630-9153. You can be seen immediately with no obligation to extensive treatment plans. Dr. Dirk Kancilia and Dr. Mike Pritsker can help you get out of pain. Whether you’re searching for short term relief or long term correction, the chiropractors at New Century Spine Centers in San Diego may be able to help you with your injuries.
Want to find out more about low back pain, then visit New Century Spine Centers site on how to choose the best chiropractor for your needs.
Chronic headaches are a mystery to most of us. Chiropractors regularly treat them. Why they occur seems to be the most common question. Some patients’ headaches can be easily explained but many seem to get headaches for no apparent reason. An often-overlooked cause of headaches is the spine and spinal trauma. How does this occur?
There are delicate attachments of connective tissue that link muscles in your neck areas around your spinal cord. One theory to the headaches is that tension can develop in these structures producing headaches and head pain. Another possibility to headaches is that they may be due to forward head posture.
Forward head posture occurs when the head is thrust forward in the classic bad posture pose. This is a little like a turtle neck. It is also sometimes referred to as a military neck. This can remove the natural curve in the neck causing undue stress on the spine and head. Since the head is quite heavy weighing approximately 10-14 pounds, the muscles have to counter this weight. When the neck muscles resist the load of the head, they can develop tensions, knots, trigger points, and sometimes spasms in the neck. Normally the head is more balanced over both the shoulders.
Another neck problem that may cause headaches is a joint injury/sprain that can occur after whiplash trauma from a car accident. Over some time, this may lead to joint blockage where there is not the normal free and fluid motion from side to side. Quite often other joints must compensate for this lack of movement with hypermobility of the joints. Your muscles can become tense in these areas to protect the spine from unnatural movements overall.
These types of disorders are very common in society. They should be ruled out before leaning towards using medications over the long term. It is always important to have an accurate diagnosis before proceeding with any treatment. If your headaches have become chronic long-term and just never seem to go away, it is a sign that you are not getting to the cause of the problem.
Correcting neck disorders when they occur is always a best bet when it comes to treatment. Headache can sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. If there is history of neck trauma in your past, the neck can and should be a part of your headache management strategy. At the minimum the neck needs to be examined by the proper physician.
Chiropractic care for the neck has been shown in multiple clinical trials to help patients with both tension-type and migraine headaches. In these studies, the neck or cervical spine is adjusted based on local problems of poor posture and mobility. To find out more information, headache sufferers can contact the chiropractors at New Century Spine Centers in San Diego at 619-630-9153.
Learn more about headaches. Stop by the back pain website site where you can get free information about chiropractic care and what it can do for you.
Pain in the neck, shoulders, head or the base of the skull that occurs after a motor vehicle accident is often called “whiplash.” It’s a common term that most patients hear following a car accident. Most patients with whiplash recover in a few weeks or at most, a few months. However, 15 to 20% of people develop chronic pain. Whiplash is not a trivial problem, because once it has occurred, only 70% have recovered completely by one year and only 82% have recovered completely by two years. In addition to neck pain, there are many symptoms associated with the whiplash syndrome and include sleep problems, poor concentration and memory, blurry vision, ringing in the ears, fatigue, and weakness.
The therapy for acceleration deceleration injury syndromes depends on the stage and degree of the problem and which structures have been injured. Therapy can vary from chiropractic care, physical therapy, orthopedic intervention and more. In addition to soft tissue injury, ache that persists after four to six months is usually due to injury to the facet joints, one or more discs, or both. The diagnosis can usually be made by injections, MRI, and X-rays. Therapy is usually successful, but may require physical therapy, injections, and occasionally surgery.
The term acceleration deceleration injury is confusing to many. This is because it is both a mechanism of injury and the symptoms caused by a car collision. It is due to a traumatic event that causes the head to move suddenly in a whipping motion in one direction and then recoil in the other direction. The most common cause of acceleration deceleration injury is a motor vehicle collision in which one vehicle is struck from behind by another. However, it can occur when a car stops abruptly after striking a pole, a wall, or another car, and can also occur after a side impact.
Significant damage to ligaments, discs, and joints can occur even if the swings of extension and flexion are not excessive, but often the neck is forced to the extreme ends of normal range or beyond. Because the trauma is usually sudden, occupants of the car are not prepared for the impact. The muscles are relaxed, which allows more forces on the discs, ligaments and joints. Perhaps the most important fact about whiplash is that significant pain and structural damage can occur even in low velocity crashes.
It is the patient with persistent ache without any other specific findings on examination or specialized tests that presents the most problems for the patient himself or herself, the doctors, and the legal system. In the first few weeks to months after motor vehicle collision, it is often impossible to determine the exact cause or causes of the ache. The symptoms and signs are not sufficiently specific. In almost every instance, the muscles and ligaments have been strained and may be inflamed, painful, and tender. However after about 3 months, primary muscle or other soft tissue injuries usually have healed entirely.
In a research study by Drs. Bogduk and Aprill, in 23% of patients, facet joints alone were the cause of pain, in 20% of patients the discs alone were the cause of pain, and in 41% of patients both the facet joints and discs were contributing. They were not able to identify the source of the pain in only 17% of their patients. The most common causes of persistent pain in whiplash are the facet joints and the discs. There is a poor correlation between the radiographic appearance of the joints and whether they are painful. Some joints which look bad are painless while other joints that look normal can be proven to be a source of pain. Only facet injections can determine whether the joint is painful.
Many acceleration deceleration injury patients have symptoms which seem unexplainable, such as headaches, ache in the shoulders, between the shoulder blades, or in one or both arms. These symptoms can significantly impact activities of daily living. There may be fatigue, dizziness, problems with vision, ringing in the ears, heaviness in the arms, and low back ache. There can be poor concentration or memory, change in emotions with irritability, depression or short temper, and sleep disturbance. Dizziness occurs in one-quarter to one-half of people with acceleration deceleration injury. Again, researchers are not sure of the cause. The most likely explanation is an injury to the part of the inner ear that regulates balance. Problems with memory and concentration can be due to the ache itself, depression, medications, or trauma to the brain. Visual disturbances occur in 10 to 30% of acceleration deceleration injury patients and blurred vision is the most common.
Most people who suffer neck pain after a whiplash injury will recover by six months. However, a small percentage of people continue to have pain even after the accident. Most patients destined to recover completely will have done so by three to four months. After that the rate of recovery slows markedly. By 2 years, almost all patients have reached their individual maximum improvement. About 18% continued to have significant pain two years after the accident! Patients who did not get well tended to be of older age. They had pain which began sooner after the accident. They also had their head rotated to either side at the time of impact.
Common sense would tell us the greater the pain and impairment, the larger the legal settlement or award might be. Rarely, patients may exaggerate their symptoms or be faking. However, a bigger question is whether the potential for money from a legal settlement can unconsciously prolong or worsen the pain. This is called “secondary gain” and it is unconscious, not fraudulent. The science shows that personal injury litigation does not adversely affect outcome. In a study from 1993, Drs. Parinar and Raymakers re-evaluated patients they had seen previously for legal opinions, not for treatment, 8 years after the initial consultation. They concluded that lawsuits did not influence the timing or degree of recovery. In 1983, Drs. Norris and Watt reviewed 61 patients who were treated for whiplash injuries, 41 of whom had personal injury lawsuits. They found no change in symptoms after claims were settled. About ten years later, long after litigation had settled, only 12% had completely recovered, and 48% had pain which interfered with normal daily life.
Several years ago a group of patients were analyzed. They were referred for therapy by their attorneys because they were not getting better. The patients were treated with strengthening exercises, body mechanics training, medications, spinal injections and occasionally psychotherapy. No patient in this study needed surgery. Most of the patients did well with significant improvements in ache and function. Although most patients still had mild ache at the end of therapy, it was not enough to interfere with their daily lives. These very favorable results occurred although none of the lawsuits had been settled.
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