Acupuncture Could Relieve Your Whiplash Symptoms

Living with whiplash pain? Acupuncture offers an effective way to manage pain and relieve stiffness and other whiplash symptoms.

What Causes Whiplash?

Sudden back-and-forth movements "whip" your neck, injuring bones, muscles, ligaments, or tendons in your neck. Although you may associate whiplash with motor vehicle accidents, car accidents aren't the only cause of this painful condition.

Any injury or activity that involves quick, unexpected neck movements can cause whiplash. You might develop whiplash after riding a rollercoaster or experiencing a fall. High-impact sports that involve sudden movements, such as football, gymnastics, skiing, and snowboarding, may also increase your risk for whiplash.

Older people and women are more likely to develop whiplash, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic notes that weakening bones and muscles in older people and spine and muscle differences in women could be the reasons that these groups experience whiplash more often.

Whiplash symptoms start hours or days after an injury and can linger for weeks or even months. Symptoms may include:

• Neck Pain (Pain may extend to the shoulders, back or head.)
• Neck Stiffness and Tenderness Due to Inflammation
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Vertigo
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Blurry Vision
• Trouble Concentrating
• Irritability
• Bruising
• Numbness or Tingling, Which May Radiate to your Shoulders, Back, or Upper Arms
• Reduced Range of Motion in the Neck

How Acupuncture Can Help Your Whiplash Pain

Injuries affect the balance of yin and yang, two competing forces that must remain equal for good health. Imbalances may happen if an injury prevents Qi from flowing through one of several meridians that travel through your body. Qi is an invisible energy that supports mental and physical health. Before treatment begins, your acupuncturist will perform a physical examination and ask a few questions that will help him or her determine the location of the blockage.

Acupuncturists break up Qi blockages by inserting small needles in the skin at crucial points in the affected meridian. Once Qi flow is restored, pain and other symptoms may subside. Although inserting needles into the skin may sound painful, acupuncturists use needles no thicker than human hairs during treatment. You may not even feel the needle when it's inserted or might only notice a mild tingling or aching sensation.

Acupuncture treatments are designed to:

• Reduce Pain. Acupuncture helps your body release serotonin and endorphins, hormones known as nature's painkillers. Thanks to the pain relief provided by your acupuncture treatments, you might be able to stop taking prescription or over-the-counter painkillers or reduce your reliance on these medications.
• Relieve Inflammation. Inflammation helps your neck heal, but can cause swelling, stiffness, and pain. Acupuncture eases inflammation, which helps reduce stiffness and pain when moving the neck. A Harvard University study on inflammation in mice determined that acupuncture may regulate the body's anti-inflammatory response.
• Improve Range of Motion. After developing whiplash, you may have become painfully aware just how often you move your neck during the day. When your neck is stiff, even slight movements are difficult and painful. In addition to easing pain and inflammation, acupuncture treatments improve your ability to move your neck. In a systematic review published in BMJ Open in 2024, researchers noted that acupuncture may reduce pain and improve range of motion. As research into acupuncture for whiplash is limited, they noted that more studies are needed to confirm the results.
• Speed Healing. Blood flow to your neck may decrease after an injury, preventing nutrients in your bloodstream from reaching muscles, bones, and soft tissues. Acupuncture restores normal circulation to your neck, which may help you heal faster.
• Ease Stress. It's hard to remain calm when your neck hurts, you have a constant headache, and you aren't getting enough sleep. Flooding your body with endorphins and serotonin during acupuncture treatments has a calming effect that may reduce stress and improve sleep.

Concerned about your whiplash symptoms? Contact our office to schedule a visit with the acupuncturist.

Sources:

The Harvard Gazette: Quieting the Storm, 8/12/2020

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/study-reveals-acupuncture-affects-disease-course/

Cleveland Clinic: Whiplash (Neck Strain), 8/9/2022

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11982-whiplash

BMJ Open: Efficacy of acupuncture for whiplash injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 1/17/2024

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e077700

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Acupuncture: Effectiveness and Safety, 10/2022

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/acupuncture-effectiveness-and-safety