Mild Whiplash and Your Headaches

In Headaches by Lindsay Michael

75% of all headache, neck or facial pain is referred from trigger points in muscles of the head and neck caused by bite problems — problems with how the teeth come together. Regardless of who you have seen or what you have been told about your continuing headache, a 60-minute appointment in our office could reveal the source of the headache. What would you do tomorrow if you knew for certain that tomorrow was going to be a totally headache-free day?

“Whiplash” is the common term for a neck injury from an auto accident. Typically, the passenger’s head forcibly snaps downward with the chin toward the neck, and then backward as the body is thrown forward. The head then snaps forward in a recoil motion. This severe backward and forward motion damages the soft tissues (muscles and ligaments) supporting the neck, head, and jaw resulting in an unbalanced bite and headaches which can last forever in 60% of victims.  It can be repaired only by getting rid of the trigger points and rebalancing the bite.

It is easy to see why this damage happens, when you consider that the head itself weighs 11 pounds. When the head snaps backward, it creates 500 to 600 pounds of force on the neck! Women are even more vulnerable to whiplash injuries than men because their neck muscles are smaller in relation to head weight.

The symptoms may not be felt until hours, days, months, and even years after the accident and include:

  • Neck pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion (turning the head)
  • Headaches and numbness of the head and face
  • Blurring of vision and pain behind the eyes
  • Problems with balance — dizziness
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Clicking, popping, locking pain of the jaw joints (TMJ)

If you, a friend, or a relative are suffering from the persistent symptoms of whiplash, contact our office. We will conduct a thorough evaluation of your head to determine if our treatment will help you.

Heartfelt Headache Relief in Coeur d’Alene offers you a free consultation to discuss your problem. A diagnostic examination focused on revealing the root cause of the pain.  Treatment (dentomandibular rehabilitation) which targets those root causes without drugs, needles, or invasive surgical procedures may be the answer you have been looking for.