Whiplash And Surgical Collars

If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and have sustained a whiplash injury you may be feeling anxious about how long it is going to take you to recover from your whiplash injury and whether you will need to wear a surgical collar to aid your recovery. To answer these questions this article looks at how a whiplash injury is actually caused, common ways of treating a whiplash injury – including surgical collars - and typical recovery times.

A whiplash injury is commonly caused during a road traffic accident, often, but not always, when one vehicle collides with the rear of another vehicle. The impact of the collision causes the head and neck of the driver and/or passengers in the vehicle that has been struck (and possibly also of those travelling in the vehicle that has caused the collision) to be suddenly and forcefully thrown forwards and backwards. This sudden impact causes the soft-tissue and ligaments in the neck of the driver and/or passengers to be stretched beyond their normal range of movement and this, in turn, can lead to a whiplash injury.

The symptoms of a whiplash injury may not be immediately apparent. Often people walk away from a ‘rear end shunt’ collision feeling relieved that they have not been injured and the only damage that has been caused is perhaps to their vehicle. However, some hours or even days later, the symptoms of a whiplash injury may start to appear. These symptoms can include aches, pain and stiffness in the neck, shoulders and upper back, nausea, dizziness, restricted movement and pins and needles.

As soon as you become aware that you may be suffering from a whiplash injury you should visit your GP or local A&E department to have your injuries assessed and receive advice on treatment methods. In the past, a whiplash injury was very much associated with people being prescribed wide surgical collars which were worn for weeks, or sometimes months, following a road traffic accident. The thought of this is not appealing and, fortunately, surgical collars are rarely prescribed for whiplash nowadays as it is thought they can actually hinder recovery rather than help it. It is thought that if you are forced to leave your neck ‘static’ (by wearing a surgical collar) following the diagnosis of a whiplash injury the joints in your neck can stiffen up and make the injury worse.

Nowadays, if you have been diagnosed with a whiplash injury you are likely to be prescribed strong painkillers, advised to carry out gentle mobility exercises and perhaps undergo a course of physiotherapy. In most cases these treatment methods will be enough to ensure that the sufferer makes a complete recovery from their injury without being left with any residual symptoms. Many people make a full recovery from a whiplash injury within 1-2 years of the accident and, more commonly, within a few months of the accident. It is quite uncommon (although, it can and does happen) for the sufferer to continue to experience symptoms of their whiplash injury after 2 years post accident.

If you have suffered a whiplash injury you should seek urgent medical attention from your GP or local Accident & Emergency Department so that anything more serious than whiplash can, hopefully, be ruled out and a course of treatment can be put in place to get you on the road to recovery.

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