Whiplash injuries involving the head and neck constitute the most common non-fatal injuries associated with motor vehicle collisions. Unfortunately, these injuries often result in persistent, chronic pain and poor work outcomes including sick leave, delayed return to work, and impaired work ability. Among working-age adult chiropractic patients, resuming usual work activities is a treatment goal only second to pain relief.
On a societal level, the productivity losses linked to whiplash injuries run into the hundreds of billions of dollars a year worldwide. As such, from a top-down perspective, there’s been a push to identify treatments for whiplash associated disorders (WAD) that help patients return to work at their pre-injury levels as quickly as possible. A systematic review and meta-analysis that included 27 studies identified key factors for shortening return to work time among WAD patients:
- Patients who received hands-on treatment returned to work nearly 18 days sooner, were more likely to resume their full duties, and had less neck pain and disability.
- Treatment aimed at improving full range of motion in the neck not only reduced neck pain intensity but also sick leave.
- Early intervention (within 96 hours) increased the likelihood of full range of cervical motion three years later when compared with delaying treatment more than two weeks.
- Multimodal interventions that used three or more therapies led to better outcomes than usual medical care or minimal treatment—especially with the inclusion of neck-specific rehabilitation exercises.
Doctors of chiropractic are well-versed in both the diagnosis and management of whiplash associated disorders with many taking ongoing training and education specifically on the topic. Chiropractic care for WAD will often include a multimodal approach involving manual therapies like spinal manipulation, mobilization, and soft tissue work; specific exercises to perform between visits; anti-inflammatory measures like nutritional/supplement/diet recommendations and the use of ice and heat; physiotherapy modalities; and patient education regarding the importance of maintaining an active lifestyle within pain tolerances, which is important to reduce the risk for transitioning to chronic WAD.
