At Home Care For Whiplash

Treating Whiplash Injuries At Home

One of the things that you must understand is no matter how thorough the level of treatment you receive from any health care provider there is no substitute for a regular regiment of activities throughout the course of your normal daily living when it comes to maximizing your recovery from a whiplash injury.  At Accurate Chiropractic LLC we know that no matter how thorough the treatment you receive at our office the people who get the best results from the chiropractic treatment we provide for whiplash in our office are the ones who apply the methods that we teach for injury prevention and rehabilitation at home as well.  With that in mind we have gone through painstaking research and development to provide you with not only in-offfice training of the proper methods of exercise and instruction, but we have also made available to our practice family members a series of beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercises.  Thes can be accessed by creating a user name and password on the HOME page of this site.  Once you have created a user name and password it takes about 24 hours for you to be approved (unless you do it with one of our staff team members, in which case it is instantaneous).  That being said let's take a look at a few things that will be of great benefit to you and help accelerate your return to a more active lifestyle.

Activities of daily living (ADL) These are the collection of things that we all do during the course of a normal day. They include things we do at home, such as gardening, washing the car, taking out the trash, caring for children, sleeping, etc. They also include those things we do during our leisure time: golf, tennis, hiking, bike riding, surfing, skiing, etc. And then there's work. Many occupations are physically strenuous or require long periods in static postures, such as sitting in an awkward position in a laboratory, or constantly bending, twisting, or leaning.

When you hear the concept of Mind-Body Awareness, you may have the conception of some mystical or mind over matter activity; but that is not at all what is meant by the term.  Mind body awareness simply refers to being mentally aware of the things that create pain versus the activities that are lkess likely to produce discomfort. Certain activities in and of themselves are clearly going to be counterproductive to the healing/recovery process. When there are better ways to do a thing that reduce pain and stress to the area, such a modification is a logical choice and should not be misconstrued as avoidance behavior. On the other hand, patients should be encouraged to go back to their normal lifestyle and resume their regular activities as soon as possible keeping in mind things such as best practices for activities that involve lifting, repetitive stress, etc.

This is definitely a case where your active participation in your care is so important. You are the only one who knows what you do every day and how you do it. Sometimes just changing the way you perform one task at work can make a big difference in how well you feel at the end of the day. The goal of Activty of Daily Living is not to put new limitations on your life-style by disallowing a range of activities that you really need to engage in, but rather to find ways of modifying or adapting them in such a way as to reduce their poor outcomes.

Making The Home Whiplash Friendly

ADL in the home There are several common potentially aggravating factors related to home life, and in most cases these are relatively easy to improve upon. The most important of these is sleeping.  Sleep is the time our bodies recuperate and restore our function; conversely a lack of sound sleep can have disastrous long term effects on our overall health.   Many active adults today actually spend more time sleeping while at home than any other activity there. And seven or eight hours, while healthful on a properly formed and functioning mattress and pillow, can really be very counterproductive to the healing process if the materials you snooze on fail to provide proper support for your spine. I often make recommendations regardfing pillows and mattresses; if you think this may be part of your problem simply ask and I will share with you my best choices.  I will say this; when it comes to sleep surfaces cheap is expensive so don't scrimp: You spend nearly a third of your life sleeping and the quality of rest affects the remaining two-thirds of your life. Besides, most good sleep sets (matresses and box springs) can last for 20 years and have the warranty to back it up. In most instances, I will prescribe a specially designed cervical pillow for you to use during the early stages of healing. These pillows are molded in such a way as to preserve the natural contours of your neck, no matter what position you sleep in.   

Sleeping For The Whiplash Impaired

The normal curve of the neck must be supported during sleep. Using pillows that raise the neck above your shest  flex the neck unnaturally. With no pillow, or one that is too small, you may further stress the spine and supporting muscles by over-exaggerating your cervical curve.  The perfect curve is maintained with a properly fitted cervical pillow. (cervical pillows are available in our Fort Myers office.  In most cases these are a covered expense under your personal injury protection)

Side sleepers need to beware as well.  When lying on the side the effect of too much support will create a kink on the side that is up, while too little support will have the same effect on the down side.  For proper support imagine the relationship from the top of your head to either shoulder being the same as when you are standing. Proper sleep posture is extremely important.   


Another bad habit many of us have is slouching and lounging around the living room or den on our favorite sofa. As comfortable as it once was, slouching and lounging in awkward positions is not a good idea when you have had even a minor spinal injury. Remind yourself to sit up straight. And don't fall asleep on the sofa or in bed (with propped up pillows) watching TV. Remember that the pain you are likely to feel from this kind of abuse is not imediate.  Often this may occur a day or two later. The same is true of reading in bed. Think about the position of your neck and back. If they are curved or distorted, propped up by pillows,  these are definite no-no's.

Better Low Back Habits

If you have back pain,  than you should be aware of a variety of everyday chores that are likely to aggravate your condition. One of the biggest ones I hear about is standing at the sink in the kitchen.  This is especially painful if  it causes you to stoop forward slightly. In my experience with disc related problems like sciatica, and during my frequent use of non-surgical spinal decompression in the tretament of disc bulges and herniations I have learned that surprisingly enough, this greatly increases the load on low back structures.  To avoid these stresses on your lumbar disc and other lower back structures like the lumbar facets try to get as close to your work as possible to reduce the amount of necessary bending. Prolonged bending or stooping, such as in gardening or ironing, should also be avoided sinc ethese will also increase lumbar spinal loading and can aggravate inflamed or herniated discs, as well as the sciatic nerve (sciatica). Attempt to develop ways of doing your work with as little stooping or bending as possible. You might be able to use a small stool to sit on while doing certain tasks that require squatting or working on hands and knees. Don't try to be a hero.  If you can't modify a task that does aggravate your condition, ask another family member to do it for you.

Here's another helpful hint: Just like athletes getting ready to work out, you should stretch and warm up before doing your work. The stretching routines in our members only section are easy to follow animations with easy to understand descriptions.  You can watch along and repeat as often as you like.

Back braces, like the disc distractor belt and lumbar support cushions are also an excellent way to reduce the stress on your lower back.  If you would like more information on either of these tools simply ask one of the chiropractic assistants or the doctor and we will be glad to help you. 

Mothers With Whiplash

Mothers who constantly hold infants and young children often have difficulties with this after an injury. The reason?  It places quite a mechanical load on the lower back and this, in turn, often affects the neck because the muscles of the back span the neck as well. Eventually, even headaches can be aggravated this way. There are a few possible solutions to this problem. Mothers, like everybody, get into habits and sometimes small children are held more than is really necessary. Reducing this holding time can help. Another solution is to use an infant carrier. These can be worn in front or on the back, like a backpack. Because they more evenly distribute the weight over the back, they are often effective in reducing muscle strain. Of course, caring for small children is always a physically demanding adventure, so the advice given above about having family members help out is appropriate here as well.

Remember that any static (non-moving) position that is held for long periods will temporarily aggravate neck and back pain. That is particularly true when these positions are combined with muscular effort like holding a weight, pushing, or pulling. So this is probably a good excuse to postpone that house painting or wallpapering job you've been thinking about.

There is Recreation After Whiplash

What about social and recreational activities? The answer depends on two factors: 1) does the activity violate the rules we've been discussing about prolonged static postures and repetitive bending, twisting, or stooping, and 2) can you perform the activity without temporarily aggravating your condition? Some sporting activities are simply too strenuous to participate in until your condition is more stable. And while you can continue to participate in some sports at a less energetic level, others such as motorcycle racing, football, rugby, and basketball are examples of very strenuous sports that don't lend themselves well to moderation. Moreover, your chance of injury is often greater with many such sports because your strength and coordination-factors that normally keep you from being injured in that sport-may be adversely affected by your injury. Moreover, your injury makes a second injury from sports activity even more likely.  This happens because the way in which soft tissues heal.  In the case of whiplash or disc hernaiations and disc bulges the body heals by a process called "second intention".  I describe it like this: the body really wanted to produce "new muscle or ligament tissue" but couldn't so it had to do the next best thing and form a "scar".  This scar, or adhesion as it is also called is less flexible, weaker, and more likely to be re-injured.  As a side note; one of the treatment s in which we are noticing a tremendous amount of success, Manipulation Under Anesthesia (MUA), focuses on breaking up these scars and adhesions so the body can move more freely and normally.  The bottom line is: don't push the return to sports until you can tolerate it.

Some sporting activities, such as surfing and bike riding, present special challenges which pretty well rule them out in the aftermath of whiplash injury for some. In both cases, prolonged static posture of the neck in extension (i.e., where the head is bent backwards as in looking up) very commonly aggravate a neck injury. On the other hand, more subdued sports such as golf, bowling, hiking/walking-and even tennis-are often well tolerated by whiplash patients. And, in many cases, you may be able to reduce your level of exertion somewhat and still participate.   I often recommend the assistance of additional training when returning to these sports.  Often a few golf  or tennis lessons to reinforce good swing mechanics can go a long way in preventing future injuries as well.

The gym is a good example of this. Walking on the treadmill, riding a stationary bike, and light workouts are not only well tolerated by most, but will help maintain your level of conditioning and are highly recommended. Remember that, in addition to the positive effects on your physical health, regular exercise is also very important for your psychological well being. Even if all you can tolerate is walking around the block a few times, it's a great start towards improved mental and physical fitness.