After reading this informative report you’ll know more about Personal Injury and Whiplash than most people in the general sector.


If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years of practice as a Chiropractor, it’s this…Most auto accident victims are unaware of the damaging effects that are seldom detected for months or even years.   
Many studies have been conducted and they conclude that little or no car damage has very little to do with the amount of injury to the accident victim. In other words, your fender bender doesn’t mean that you don’t have some serious soft tissue damage that may affect you for the rest of your life.   

When one car is struck by another, thousands of pounds of force are exerted upon your neck and spine. Your head, which weighs between 7-11 pounds, is very heavy, and sits on the most flexible and fragile part of your spine, the neck. Therefore your chance of injury is increased significantly. So, when your accident occurred, the muscles of your neck were stretched and reacted with a violent spasm in the opposite direction, thereby creating a “whipping action” to every one of your 32 neck joints, whether you knew it or not. This “whipping action” may or may not have been painful to you at the time, but it will result in injury to your muscles, ligaments, tendons, discs, joints, lymph nodes, muscle strength, range of motion and nerves. It also tends to speed up the degeneration process of your spine known as post traumatic osetoarthritis.  

 
Most people involved in an accident feel they are not hurt if they are not in immediate pain. This is a misconception. You don’t have to have any broken bones, or hurt immediately to have soft tissue damage to your neck and spine. In a recent study by three MD’s they concluded that “the amount of damage to the automobile bears little relation to the force applied to the cervical spine of the occupant. The acceleration of the occupant’s head depends on the force imparted, the momentum of inertia of the struck vehicle and the amount of collapse of force dissemination by the crumpling of the vehicle.”   

When you break a bone, it heals itself by adding more “bone” to the injured area and therefore it becomes stronger than it was before the accident. But, with soft tissue injury, your tissue heals with “fibrous tissue” called scar tissue. Unfortunately, this is a cheap grade of tissue that is non-forgiving and non-elastic. This cheap grade of scar tissue is also weaker and less resistant than the original tissue. For example, if you are involved in an automobile accident and damage your soft tissue, it’s like damaging an apple. It becomes bruised and once this happens, the tissue involved can never return to its original state, no matter how you feel. You may feel symptom free, but you can still have arthritis of the joints and soft tissue damage.   

What most of the research has revealed is those patients with whiplash-type distortions or injuries inflicted in automobile accidents tend to develop “progressive” neck pain and “stiffness” during the first few days AFTER the accident. Some people have symptoms that seem to persist years after the accident, but they did not experience any symptoms immediately. Gargan and Bannister reported “a late onset of neck pain, extremity pain or numbness, pain between the shoulders, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness and visual disturbances after one week. Some symptoms may become bizarre and disabling and ensue cumbersome and costly litigations…”   
Most physicians are unaware of the potential severity of injury, and only a few patients are reassessed routinely for possible missed injuries after the initial examination. 
  
Initial x-rays are usually conceived as being normal and may contribute to the doctor’s perception that whiplash lesions are “benign and self-limiting conditions”. Abnormal mobility and early onset of degenerative changes are considered indirect signs of hidden or occult soft tissue injuries are handled immediately by a doctor who understands the care of soft tissue injuries.   

That’s why most whiplash injuries can take up to 12 months to heal if there is no permanent damage. If there is permanent damage or injury to your spine/neck, your symptoms could persist indefinitely.   
If you’ve ever been told that your injury is a simple strain or sprain, like a sprained ankle (which if treated with painkillers and/or anti-inflammatories will resolve itself in 6-12 weeks), you may have been misled. Neck sprains, whiplash and soft tissue injuries, unlike ankle sprains, are very complex. They involve damage to your ligaments, discs, joint capsules, nerves and possibly bones. The real problem is that some of these structures may never completely heal, ever!   
A clinical study concluded that 12½ years after an accident, some victims found that they still have significant findings. Two-thirds of those victims had to permanently alter their leisure activities in order to avoid exacerbation or worsening of their symptoms. 
  
This study also revealed that these whiplash victims were 6-10 times more likely to develop a medical condition called “spondylosis” or arthritis of the bone. They also found that chronic pain developed in almost 40% of the survivors of not only major accidents, but also fender benders.   
There is some important information that you should know regarding your automobile accident and that your greatest loss may actually occur after the wreck! 
  
Recent studies document a possible delay in the onset of symptoms, following an accident: 
  
· 21.6% of whiplash patients did not appear to be injured or have symptoms at the scene of the accident. 
  
· 14% reported the onset of their symptoms between 24 hours to one week after the accident. 
  
· 35% of victims had radicular (radiating) symptoms, three months following the accident. 
  
· 22% of the victims with neck injuries did not have any pain until 12 hours or more after their accident. 
  
My question to you now is…”Are you willing to take a more active interest in securing good health for yourself? Or, will you passively settle for whatever the Medical Doctor/Hospital/ Physical Therapist is willing to do for you?”   
If you are a passive patient, please do not read any further. I cannot help you because you do not want any help. 
  
But…   
If you are willing to play just a slightly more active role in regaining your good health following the accident, and willing to give me just 30 minutes to show up for your appointment…then you are my kind of patient, and I believe I’m your kind of doctor.   

What I mean by that is, I’m going to work with you as no doctor ever has… to bring you to a higher level of radiant health, flexability, robust energy, alleviation or reduction of any aches and pains that you might be experiencing and enhanced longevity.   

Remember, pain is your body’s distress call, telling you that something is wrong. It’s just like the oil light on your car’s dashboard, warning you when your oil is low. Taking drugs that mask your pain is like cutting the wires to your oil gauge. Sure, you don’t get the distress signal anymore, but damage is still being done, minute by minute.
Call for you new lease on life (949) 673-3154

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