Health and Family

Real-life stories:

Taking a tumble happens to us all from time to time. If you’re lucky, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself down and hope nobody saw it. But a patient who came into the surgery last week ended up with more than a red face after she’d taken a trip at home while doing the vacuuming. In fact she ended up with an injury you would normally associate with a car accident. She had a painful and stiff neck, which appeared a few hours after the trip happened. It was difficult to look left or right, and it had started to radiate down into her shoulder a little. She also had a bit of a headache. Recognise these symptoms? These are the classic signs of whiplash. Whiplash describes the motion in the head and neck when the injury takes place – the head is whipped back and forth. It’s become associated with road traffic collisions – and lots of insurance claims, too – but the condition certainly isn’t limited to car crashes. Over the years I’ve treated whiplash caused in a variety of ways. Rugby pitch accidents, people who have been punched and even carnival-goers have ended up with the troublesome neck injury. That’s right, someone developed whiplash after a particularly jolting ride on a rollercoaster. The rapid movement of the head causes a strain in the muscles and ligaments in the neck. Like rotary phones, camera film and VHS tapes, you don’t really see people wearing neck collars any more. We don’t generally prescribe these to people with whiplash now. The idea is to keep the neck mobile – you don’t want to let it settle and stiffen up. That’s difficult after the initial pain starts following the injury, so the best way to do it is to gradually increase the range of movement by moving the head and neck gently every couple of hours. Painkillers can help. Good posture is also important, especially if you work at a desk – sitting up straight is advised. Yoga and pilates will improve posture, as can a single firm, supporting pillow at night. Symptoms ideally begin to improve after a few days, and most people make a full recovery within a few weeks.