How long does it take to recover from whiplash?
I got into a car accident on October 2nd. I had whiplash and I was taken to the hospital to check for any problems. They didn’t find anything but said I should be sore for a week or so.
It’s been almost a month and I still have shoulder and neck pain when I move my shoulder up. The weird thing is, my left neck and shoulder has pain when the accident was on my RIGHT side. My right side of my body doesn’t hurt but it seems to have affected my left side (shoulder/neck).
I don’t think the doctor can do anything else besides give me some muscle relaxers since it’s more of a tissue problem than bone problem. My boyfriend still has problems with his neck too.
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9 Answers
The pain may have “moved” due to muscles opposite the injury overcompensating. I’d ask if there’s some stretching or other targeted exercise you could try. If it gets worse, maybe get another opinion.
This may also be of some use.
I’m sorry to hear. Muscles injuries take their fine time to heal. What you can do is apply hot and/or cold packs to the sore area for 15–20 minutes. The warmth will increase your circulation and the coldness reduces swelling of any sort. Hope you feel better soon.
@chelle21689 I hurt my back in a car accident. I got 18 months of hell before it quit hurting and it was still weak for another few years. No problems now though.
Find a good chiropractor and go. Also, soft tissue massage (the chiropractor probably has someone they work with) will help the neck and shoulder pain.
I was in a car accident and it took nearly a year of treatment, and then several more months before I was normal
Have they talked about sending you to physical therapy? I got rear-ended several years ago and ended up having to do physical therapy for 3 months because of whiplash. I wasn’t able to work the whole time and the other driver’s insurance paid for everything. After the 3 months of physical therapy, I was able to go back to work and start doing normal things again, but still with some pain for several more weeks before I actually felt back to normal.
As far as the pain being opposite from where you were hit, that’s actually pretty common because of the way your body moves around with the impact. I hope you feel better soon.
Lets not forget about seatbelt injuries.
You might want to find a good chiropracter.
It’s not an extreme pain. My back hasn’t hurted but I feel a very slight ache today. It comes and goes. :( Thanks for the answers everyone. If I have money left over enough for insurance I’ll get it checked
@chelle21689 The other driver’s insurance should be covering your healthcare related to the accident. Have you talked to them about your injuries?
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