What’s Your Whiplash Attitude?
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| Photo: Goldstein |
Whiplash is what is known as a hyperextension/flexion injury. This means that an impact of some sort, most commonly one motor vehicle hitting another from behind, forces the neck into an extreme arch (the head moves backward) and then very quickly into the other direction (the head moves forward). Whiplash injuries can cause neck sprain, neck strain, and facet joint problems.
Many people who have whiplash also have problems with their insurance companies. It seems the insurance companies don’t think the pain associated with whiplash is legitimate. A study done about a year ago found that patients who saw a chiropractor, added chiropractic treatment to their general practitioner care or had more than 2 visits to their GP had a “slower recovery”. The amount of treatment available to these whiplash patients was, of course, related to insurance coverage, but I won’t get into that here. The study concludes that more treatment means the doctors and the system are promoting patients’ fears that they won’t get better – fanning the fire, so to speak. It also says that having more treatment encourages patients to use “passive coping strategies”.
A new study has found that a patients' expectations of getting better (called self-efficacy) is key to whether or not they do get better. The authors of this study strongly suggest the initial diagnosis include an assessment of those expectations to help the doctor estimate how well the recovery process will go. They also think that the lack of self-efficacy might have something to do with the development of chronic back problems later on.
What do you think? Would your belief in your ability to heal after whiplash be a factor in getting better? Would you use passive coping strategies, or are you about actively taking responsibility for your recovery? Can you take responsibility without being under a doctor's care? Use the comment feature below and give us your point of view.
Whiplash Mini-Tool Kit
- How to Prevent Whiplash to Your Neck (should you have the unfortunate experience of being rear ended.
- After an Injury
- Taking Responsibility for Pain
- Articles about Whiplash
- Diagnostic Imaging Tests and What They Show You
- Understand Your Diagnosis - Diagrams of Parts of the Spine and Vertebrae
- Types of Back Pain Doctors
Sources:
Holm LW, Carroll LJ, Cassidy JD, Skillgate E, Ahlbom A (2008). Expectations for recovery important in the prognosis of whiplash injuries. PLoS Med 5(5): e105.
Pierre Côté, Sheilah Hogg-Johnson, J. David Cassidy, Linda Carroll, John W. Frank, Claire Bombardier. Early Aggressive Care and Delayed Recovery From Whiplash: Isolated Finding or Reproducible Result Arthritis Care & Research, June 2007; (DOI: 10.1002/art.22775).
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Comments
I had whiplash twice (first time I was rear-ended by a full gravel truck) and it’s a very real, very painful condition. I couldn’t even turn my head side to side. My insurance covered one visit, and even though my doctor recommended physical therapy, I had to really fight to get it covered. Even then, they only covered a few visits (and I needed much more.)
Second time I got whiplash, I went to an osteopathic physician, and after two treatments, I was back to normal.
Much better than the first experience — but both times, painful.
Also, it doesn’t usually show up for at least 10-24 hours after the accident…so don’t assume if you walk away from a crash that you don’t have any “injury…”
Hard to know how big a factor attitude really is in healing… generally I assume that I can and will heal, and am then surprised when things take longer than I assume.
More of an issue for me is having to search high and low for the one specialist who actually knows something about the tiny bit of your body affected by an injury. In fact, this is SO common in my experience that I sort of assume that part of the healing process will include a protracted search for that person who has the info I need!
Lisa
When I got whiplash in a car accident I saw my chiropractor immediately. I think seeing my chiro and quickly and often, along with trust I had in my chiropractor, helped speed my recovery along. Nothing passive about it.
I was under chiropractic care for two years involving a whiplash injury. The pain would subside after my appointments but then it came right back. I finally gave up and decided to live with the pain. I was tired of going to the doctor.
I imagine insurance companies are leery of the scams and phony lawsuits. But they should cover medical treatment for those injuries and find a way to separate the scammers from the victims.
I worked in insurance claims for 25 years including 10 years handing large lawsuits many of which arose from auto accidents. While many back injuries are valid from auto accidents they are also the most “faked” injuries since they are for the most part subjective in terms of diagnosis. They don’t show up on x-rays, cat-scans, MRI etc.
Unfortunately, most of the plaintiff attorneys and plaintiff doctors who have been indicted and convicted for insurance fraud use whiplash injuries as their favorite type of injury claim.
It’s a shame, but it’s much easier to accept liability for a broken back or herniated disk than just a claim of back pain. As someone who is now 54, I know that back pain does exist and for the most part you cannot cure it, just treat the pain. Mine is, unfortunately, the subjective type of pain. I have no herniated disks.
I’ve had two whiplash injuries and a low back injury from a fall. In every case I went to my chiropractor within 24 hours, and asked a lot of questions about what to expect. While I have a lot of faith in my ability to heal, it did help to hear what a ‘normal’ course was for such injuries. I had great insurance, and was extremely grateful that my care was covered. It is so hard to advocate for yourself when you are in pain and when insurance companies try to minimize your situation. I completely recovered from all of the above.
I had whiplash once after a car accident, and I just took painkillers and put heat on my neck an shoulders and it eventually went away. My husband was so badly injured (in the same car accident) that I didn’t pay very much attention to my own problems. I wonder, though, whether the extent to which insurance coverage will pay for whiplash treatment is dependent on whether the insurance is medical insurance or automobile insurance. Can patients be advised one way or the other, about which type of insurance is likely to yield more coverage?
Having lived with 3 different whiplash injuries (it is amazing how easily you are reinjured after a big injury) and spending three years in and out of physical therapy, I can verify that whiplash is indeed a serious injury.
The hardest part for me was finding a doctor who understood that “normal range of motion” was 60-70% of MY normal. Thank god for the one doctor who understood.
I forgot to point out in my last comment that I was very fortunate to have had the airbag deploy. I think that helped minimize the whiplash in my case (not to mention keeping us alive).
Interesting that there is little mention here of one of the most highly effective natural treatments for whiplash – massage therapy.
Sometimes insurance covers it, and sometimes we need to go beyond our insurance coverage to get the help we really need.
About attitude: one’s healing may require alternative thinking, and stretching beyond the doctor or the insurance or the prescriptions or the surgery or the HMO, etc…
Massage therapy used to be covered by insurance more than it is now, if I am not mistaken. That’s a shame, too, because, so much of the trauma expresses itself through the muscles.