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First off, it is important to understand what happens when an acute cervical sprain occurs. The joints and ligaments of the neck become stretched in these situations due to repetitive and excessive loads being applied to tissues whose capacities cannot handle the applied load/demand. The affected joint capsule becomes inflamed, irritated, and the muscles surrounding it become painful and tender.
A patient (I’ll name him Brandon) called me this morning and stated, “Help! I’ve sprained my neck and need an emergency adjustment.” He proceeded to tell me how he had tried chiropractic adjustments, steroid injections, and muscle relaxers given to him after an Emergency Room visit, but his problem has only worsened. It has gotten so bad that it affects his work, day-to-day function, sleep quality, and ability to travel.
When you apply a chiropractic spinal manipulation, it is like WD-40, so you are applying more motion to something that is already moving too much (stretched/damaged) and could create even more discomfort. Now, I’m not saying you should never adjust a cervical strain or sprain, it’s just not the right tool, right now. He also had already tried that since getting injured with no success or improvement.
Brandon also asked about his timeline to get better or back to 100%.
There are varying levels of cervical sprains that range from mild (grade 1) to severe (grade 3).
Grade 1 (mild): 7 days to 4 weeks
Grade 2 (moderate): 2 weeks to 1 year
Grade 3 (severe): 2 months to greater than 1 year
Why such a big disparity in timelines?
These do not take into account what quality of treatment you receive and what you do from start to finish. The majority of cases do not require imaging or even surgery as conservative care has been shown to be very effective in treating cervical sprains, and even in the cases that are the most severe, conservative care is required post-surgically to decrease pain, increase range of motion, and help you recover.
Brandon thought that adjusting was the only thing we could do, so that’s all he thought we had to offer. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I told him how we would use a multi-modal approach and how this would be different in each phase of his recovery to not only having a pain-free neck but also being able to reach his goal of traveling with his family.
At Strength & Spine Chiropractic, we have access to world-class equipment that can get you world-class results. We use every tool that we know can help you, whether this is an acute injury or something that has bothered you for years. In his acute stage, we would utilize Winback Tecar therapy to alleviate pain and inflammation while using our NXPro device that uses Interactive Neuromuscular Stimulation (INS) to decrease pain and also reintroduce healthy movement patterns back into his day-to-day function. This, in combination with rehabilitative exercises, have helped tons of our patients not only decrease their pain but also strengthen the structures of their neck to allow for better tissue remodeling and better long-term results!
If you're experiencing neck pain in the Tampa and St. Pete area and want to learn how to manage your neck pain effectively, go to strengthchiro.com and schedule your FREE Discovery visit or your New Patient appointment!
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