WHIPLASH TREATMENT
Radio Show Transcript 2
Dr. Gene: Go through the beginning scenario of what whiplash is.

Dr. Darrow: For many years, as long as there have been railroads, there have been whiplashes, especially in the olden days when the cars were not coupled very well they would bump each other as they were traveling and they slowed down, and in those days they called it the "railroad Spine," similar to what we call today as "whiplash."

Let's say that a car is rear-ended. Today these new vehicles have new safety standards were the bumpers are very tough and very, very stiff automobiles so that it takes quite a bit of impact to damage them. And the whole key to this whole thing is acceleration. The greater the acceleration the greater the impact to the spine. And the length of the impact is very crucial. So if you have a very long duration impact, lets say that you drove your car into a piece of foam that was a hundred feet high, wide and long. It would take you a long time to slow down, but you wouldn't be injured. But let's say that you drove into a brick wall, you have a very, very bad injury. It is kind of backwards the way we think about it today. They are in an accident and there is very little damage to their car but they are injured very badly.

One of the biggest keys is that most people do not have their headrests up high enough to protect themselves. SO what happens is typically people have the headrest in the neck area, which is the fulcrum for the head. When the head goes backward the spine and the neck become in a sort of S- shape and when the head goes forward there is a sheer force on the vertebrae of the neck which causes very sever injuries even with a very low impact.
Dr. Darrow: We know there are approximately 3 million new whiplashes each year, 14% of those become disabled. Of those injured 35-50% never even fully recover and these are low impact cases, accidents where you barely see a ding on the bumper. Of the studies that have been done on it, are every poor studies that say whiplash injuries don't really cause much of anything, But ow we are finding out there is neurological damage symptoms that occur, there are Fibromyalgia symptoms that can occur, there is pain that can go down the arms and the legs.

The problem is is that many of these cases don't show "objective findings" it is more soft tissue injuries there are no broken bones or anything, Now with the good imaging studies, like the MRI or the SPEC Scan they can see that there is actually damage to the bones of the neck, the vertebrae.

There is a myth that recovery from whiplash is 6-12 weeks we know now that many of these things can go on for a life time.

Dr. Gene: How does Prolotherapy help Whiplash?

Dr. Darrow: Well Prolotherapy is the best treatment I know for whiplash. What it does is help stabilize the vertebrae and very often people think it is just the muscle that is causes the pain. But when a muscle spasms it usually spasms because here is an injury to where the muscle attaches to the bone and that is where we inject these solutions, which we use dextrose, a very mild sugar solution, it doesn't affect diabetes or anything because it is such a small amount, what we do is stabilize the spine and we can help grow back the connections between the muscle and the vertebrae.

Dr. Gene: Would results come very rapidly?

Dr. Darrow: It depends on the patient, some can come in for one shot and improve immediately, others may take a month or two months before they get any healing response.

Dr. Gene: Let's say a person does get a whiplash and a couple of weeks go by and the feel perfectly okay, but then suddenly the develop a pain in the shoulders.

Dr. Darrow: Well sure they get that they get headaches, back pain can start, funny feelings down their arms, a lot of people get cognitive difficulties and they can't think straight. They get lightheadedness, dizziness, facial pan they get TMJ related symptoms, clicking of the jaw. Some people actually get auditory symptoms they get a loss of hearing or tinnitus a ringing in the ears, other people can get vertigo, blurred visions.

We had a chiropractor in our office, Frank Kaden, he was in a rear-ended accident, he was in a car that was rear ended. The next day I asked him how he was doing and he said great, he walked out of it without any injury at all. I told him that he should at least get an examination so you have it on the record. Within one week he was suffering with some very severe headaches.

I did one set of Prolotherapy injections on the back of his head, where the trapezius muscles attach, and his headaches went away immediately.

Neck Pain and Whiplash Links