My Neck Still Hurts Months After the Accident!!

I have often seen post "whiplash" victims, rear end collision victims who sustained a true "whiplash" months and even years before who continue to suffer from post accident symptoms even though they have been treated by otherwise competent practitioners.

The secret to dealing with this sort of injury is to go back to the original accident and determine the mechanism of injury. Mostly, you will find that the anterior musculature of the cervical spine, especially the deep muscles including Longus Coli and the Scalenes as well as more superficial anterior muscles like the Sterno Cleido Mastoid are all really irritable.




The theory is that there was initial trauma with those anterior muscles being strained (occasionally the anterior Longitudinal Ligament and even the Anterior aspect of the discs are irritated as well. The theory continues that once irritated, because of the mechanics of the cervical spine, the size of the muscles and the consequences of contraction of the muscles due to the pain experienced after the trauma, that those structures essentially remain in a state of dysfunction for as long as they do until they are addressed directly.

At home, you can:
- Massage the muscles of the anterior cervical spine with your fingers. Be careful not to grab the front of your neck with your thumb because you can actually fracture the Hyoid bone that lives in that part of your neck!

- Back bend the neck as follows: Using a rolled up hand towel, put the towel behind the neck and hold on with both hands pulling downward with the hands. retract your face, (pull back) and then back bend over the towel until the head stops naturally, gently rotate your head left and right a small distance each way (pain free of course. Come back to upright and repeat several times (5 or 6 times to be precise).

- Posture, posture, posture.Try as hard as you can to catch yourself slouching. Try to sit and stand a little taller with your head positioned over your shoulder girdle. Catch yourself while on the phone, catch yourself while working at the computer, catch yourself while driving, catch yourself while standing inline.

- Stretch Gently. Only use the smallest forces to stretch the neck. The muscles are small. The joints as big as your little finger nail. Be gentle. Do NOT swing your head around in a biiiig circle. You can cause real damage to important structures if you do.

Try implement these ideas, and you will hopefully have more luck resolving your chronic neck pain than in the past.