We often hear the term "whiplash" used when someone gets into a care accident. And it seems to be most associated with a rear end collision. However, you can get hit from any old side and your head and neck will whip back and forth, side to side, etc, depending on the direction of you or the opposing force.
In fact, a fall, getting hit in a sporting event, by another or a ball, even a bug smacking you when your on a bike can all cause a "whiplash". In other words, your head getting flung in each direction. An example was our new car with super tight breaks - it felt like I was getting whiplashed each time we stopped ( I was in the passenger seat). Basically each time we stopped I was flung back and forth.
So how does this effect your body. Well the neck, which is slightly more mobile than the lower spine will be less secured. In the car your lower body is planted firmly in a seat and we even have a belt too. Whereas we need to be able to move the neck to see, talk, chew, and more. Not to mention that the neck, or cervical spine has 7 vertebrae, and they are smaller; while the lore back has 5. The pelvis and hips also, in a way, shield the lumbar vertebrae. The neck is up there with a big bowling ball on top of it (your head).
When your head and neck gets jolted, it moves the spine out of position. Now sometimes every goes back perfectly in place and we are back to normal, but sometimes it doesn't. That's when we get pain, difficulty moving, maybe even headaches. Not only does it solely affect the spine but you can have muscle problems too. That rapid movement of the neck will most often strain muscles to. In the neck we might be talking about the trapezius, levator scapulae, paraspinal, and even occipital muscles.
Don't forget about the tendons and ligaments. There can often be an extended healing period due to all of these components that can get injured.
We also have discs in between each spinal bone that can be influenced. These discs have a couple components to: you can have a bulge, rupture, tear... So you see that "whiplash" type motion has the ability to possibly cause a number of things.
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