WHIPLASH

Whiplash is the action of a person’s head moving forward and back very quickly and is commonly associated with car accidents. It can occur during any activity that involves a similar forceful movement such as a dive or a fall. Injury results when neck structures are ‘overstretched’- these include ligaments, discs, blood vessels, nerves, muscles and joints. More severe cases can involve broken bones.

WAD

The type of neck problems people experience after a whiplash injury vary greatly and are collectively referred to as Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD). These problems can range from mild neck stiffness to fracture/dislocation of the neck. Whipllash associated disorders include:

• neck stiffness
• neck pain
• pain in shoulders/arms/upper backheadaches
• dizziness
• double vision
• altered sensations in neck and arms
• weakness in neck and arms

WHAT THE LATEST RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT WAD

• Assuming serious injury such as neck fracture/dislocation has been ruled out a person with WAD can be rest assured that:
• The symptoms are a normal reaction to being hurt but there has been no serious damage. The muscles and joints have been affected but they have a natural ability to restore themselves which is helped by activity.
• Even though symptoms can persist for a while the acute pain will ease off in a few days or weeks, at least to a point where you can get on with your daily activities to some extent.
• Use simple painkillers to control your pain to help increase your activity levels.
• Avoiding daily activities slows recovery. Don’t stay in one position too long, move round before you stiffen up and keep moving!
• Gentle neck exercises are helpful.
• Try not to worry or be frightened of movement or pain. IN this case hurt is not the same as harm.
• Neck collars and rest are unhelpful.

HOW CAN PHYSIO HELP WAD?

Physiotherapy can help people with WAD provided they do not have the most severe WAD ie: fracture/dislocation of the neck for which urgent medical attention is required. Current research shows that people who carry on with their normal activities improve faster than those who limit their activities. Your physiotherapist can assist you in encouraging and promoting mobility in your neck. Working on mobility decreases the chances of the problem persisting into the long-term.

Physiotherapy can help you achieve this by prescribing you with appropriate exercises and progressing these as you improve. Manual techniques may also be used in the early stages to help with mobility of your neck . Your physiotherapist will also advise you about posture as this also plays a role in the path to recovery.
WADs are best treated with gentle movement as soon as possible-physiotherapists being movement specialists are here to help you get better as quickly as possible!

Yoga can be the key to a better life

“We spend over ten hours a day at work or on work related issues. We not only have to deal with work pressures but also juggle, personal relationships, personal finances, information technology, personal fears and changes. All these aspects of modern-day-living can be incredibly stressful, which imposes high physical demands on our bodies and emotional costs on our lives” (Cohen, 2001).

More and more medical studies illustrate that stress is a bigger problem than was ever previously thought and directly affects our health in many ways. In western society, work is the primary factor for stress. Although every career has its own unique set of problems and sources of stress, stress can be reduced. The immediate action anyone can take is to find ways to take care of ourselves better and manage stress before it turns into a serious health issue.

The World Health Organization (WHO) have recognised for many years the implications of work stress on individuals wellbeing.

“Work Stress is thought to effect individuals’ psychological and physical health, as well as an organizations effectiveness, in an adverse manner….the goals…with regard to stress management are to prevent stress happening or where employees are already experiencing stress, to prevent it from causing serious damage to there health or the healthiness of there organization…This includes the management of. ………Work stress and mental and physical health outcomes” (Leka/Griffiths/Cox 2003 – WHO - Protecting Workers Health Series 3).

Scientific medical studies recognise the effect stress has on a person’s physical and mental wellbeing. It is well documented stress can cause many problems including depression, anxiety, digestive ailments, muscular and spinal injury, skin rashes, sleep disorders, cardio vascular disease, to name but a few.

Stress has also been implicated in the early biochemical environment that is a precursor to cancer. Seems extreme? Perhaps its time to think about how you manage stress. While many diseases are still being studied in relation to stress there is no doubt stress is the cause of many modern health issues.

Yoga gives a broad approach to stress management. Many studies have been conducted into the ways yoga minimises stress. These studies help to confirm the effectiveness of Yoga and illustrates its affects on the nervous system, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the endocrine system (hormonal), the digestive system and much more.

“At work employees face numerous psychological stressors that can undermine their work performance. These stressors have enormous health and financial impacts on employees as well as employers.

Stress has been shown to be one of the factors leading to musculo-skeletal disorders (MSDs) such as: include back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder or neck tension, eye strain, or headaches. Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that can reduce stress and relieve muscular tension or pain.

Practicing yoga….teaches employees to use relaxation techniques to reduce stress and risks of injury on the job. Yoga…is a convenient and practical outlet that improves work performance by relieving tension and job stress” (Yoga for stress reduction and injury prevention at work. Gura, Shira Taylor - Work. Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Date: 2003 11 27, Pages: 3-7 2002)

Yoga helps to curb the stress on a regular basis preventing longer-term health problems from manifesting. There are also many studies citing excellent results in everything from heart disease and diabetes to cancer and depression.

“The state of the mind and that of the body are intimately related. If the mind is relaxed, the muscles in the body will also be relaxed. Stress produces a state of physical and mental tension. Yoga, developed thousands of years ago, is recognized as a form of mind-body medicine.

In yoga, physical postures and breathing exercises improve muscle strength, flexibility, blood circulation and oxygen uptake as well as hormone function. In addition, the relaxation induced by meditation helps to stabilize the autonomic nervous system with a tendency towards parasympathetic dominance.

Physiological benefits which follow help yoga practitioners become more resilient to stressful conditions and reduce a variety of important risk factors for various diseases, especially cardio-respiratory diseases.” (Role of yoga in stress management - Parshad, O - West Indian Med J. Volume: 53, Issue: 3, Date: 2004 09 08, Pages: 191-4)

Its time for Australians to think very clearly about managing stress now rather than waiting for a health problem to arise as a result of ignored and prolonged stress.