After suffering from a whiplash injury, it is important to treat the pain while you seek treatment to heal your injury. A chiropractor can adjust the joints in your neck and spine to restore the movement in these areas, but you can do additional treatments on your own to help the pain and heal your whiplash. Here are some different types of treatments you can do while you are receiving chiropractic treatment for a whiplash injury.
Natural Treatments
While you are healing and recovering from whiplash, you should provide your body with herbs to help in its tissue reconstruction. An herbal tea made of horsetail, which is rich in silica, is important for helping to build and repair the tissues in your skin, tendons, ligaments, bones, and joints that have been injured during whiplash.
Over a period of several weeks, it can be helpful to drink a horsetail tea up to three times a day. Make your own tea by pouring eight ounces of boiling water over four level teaspoons of dried horsetail herb. Cover it and steep for three minutes. You can also add 15 drops of horsetail tincture to a glass of water to get the same benefits as the tea provides. You can find either horsetail herb or tincture at most herbal stores or online.
Lavender oil is also a great remedy to help relieve tight tissues in your neck and help to soothe anxiety and stress, which also helps your healing improve. Rub some lavender oil onto your injured neck area to relieve tension and mental stress, while reducing any headaches you are suffering from as well.
Ice Treatments
Along with herbs and supplements to help in the healing process, it is important to use ice to help loosen up the soft tissues in your neck that are contributing to the pain. When whiplash occurs, the injury causes the tissues, including tendons, muscles, and ligaments in your neck, face, and back to tighten up and cause stiffness, pain, and discomfort. It is important to allow these tightened tissues to relax for relief of the pain.
Immediately following a whiplash injury, it is important to apply ice to your neck. If you don't have a medical ice pack, you can make your own by filling a plastic zip-closure bag half-full of ice, then wrap the bag of ice in a towel and place the ice pack directly on your skin. The towel positioned between your skin and the ice will help prevent you from receiving any ice burns. Ice your neck in this manner for 20 to 30 minutes every three to four hours for the first two to three days.
Heat Treatments
After icing your neck for two to three days and after the initial swelling has decreased from the injury, switch to a heat treatment on your neck. Heating the injury allows the blood vessels to open up, increasing blood flow, which will help the tissues heal. The heat also helps the tissues relax from their tightened position. Continue this heat treatment to your neck until your injury has completely healed.
To make your own heat pack, fill a long tube sock with dried corn feed or dry rice and tie off the end. Heat the sock in the microwave on high power for one to two minutes, then apply it onto your neck until it has cooled. You can find corn feed in the pet department of most grocery stores, and also at pet supply or agricultural supply stores.
And because moist heat penetrates your tissues better than dry heat, you can also make a moist, warm compact with a couple of wet hand towels. Wet both of the towels, squeezing out any excess water. Place one of the towels into a zip-closure bag and into the microwave, leaving the zip-closure bag opened. Heat the towel for two minutes on high power and carefully remove the towel-filled bag. Wrap the second wet towel over the bag to protect your skin from being burned and apply the heat pack onto your neck for approximately 20 minutes, or until it has cooled.
Use these tips to help your whiplash injury heal while you receive chiropractic treatment.
