More than one million people are hurt in rear-end collisions annually in the US, and a significant fraction of whiplash injury cases result in pain for years or even decades. The good news is that chiropractic care has been found to be a powerful way to treat whiplash injuries and avoid chronic pain. Dr. Stern has helped many San Francisco, CA, residents who have suffered an auto injury and we may be able to help you, too!
A 1996 British paper sums up the problem:
"The 'whiplash' syndrome is a collection of symptoms produced as a result of soft-tissue injury of the cervical spine. The accumulated literature suggests that 43 percent of patients will suffer long-term symptoms following 'whiplash' injury. If patients are still symptomatic after three months then there is almost a 90 per cent chance that they will remain so. No conventional treatment has proven to be effective in these established chronic cases."
The authors of this paper studied the effectiveness of chiropractic in twenty-eight patients with long-term whiplash pain. The patients were referred to the doctor of chiropractic an average of 15.5 (range, 3-44) months after the accident, and were interviewed before treatment by both an independent chiropractor and an orthopedic physician. The patients were allotted to one of four classification groups: A - No symptoms; B - Symptoms are a nuisance; C - Symptoms are intrusive; and, D - Symptoms are disabling. The initial evaluation placed 27 of the 28 patients in groups C or D.
"Following treatment, 26 (93 per cent) of the patients had improved: 16 by one symptom group and 10 by two symptom groups. This improvement was independent of whether it was assessed by an orthopaedic surgeon or a chiropractor. In the group that had improved, 17 had stopped their treatment at the time of assessment; symptoms had recurred to a minor degree in four (24 per cent) of these patients and they were considering further treatment."
This affirms what we find in our office here in San Francisco, CA, #State#. Chiropractic is a wonderful strategy to enable you heal from auto injuries and reduce the risk of future pain and disability.
Don't suffer from old or recent auto accidents! We've been providing care for auto injury patients in San Francisco, CA since 2006. Call our office today at (415) 308-7636 to see how we can help you.
Woodward MN, Cook JCH, Gargan MF, Bannister GC. Chiropractic treatment of chronic -whiplash- injuries. Injury: International Journal of the Care of the Injured 1996;27(9):643-645.