In order to better understand whiplash, it is useful to divide it into two stages: hot whiplash and cold whiplash. Typically hot whiplash is more recent, inflamed, immobilized, or neurologically activated. Cold whiplash is usually older and restricted at the joint level.
It is stubborn and affects deeper and denser tissue around the joints.
Mixed patterns can be seen, but it is important to differentiate between each type, as cold and hot whiplash will respond differently to treatment options.
Hot Whiplash
Despite the name, hot whiplash does not feel hot when touching the neck. It does feel delicate and will respond with a brittle or fragile quality. When visiting with a chiropractor for hot whiplash treatment in Jonesboro, the chiropractor will first work with your nervous system before moving on to tissue restrictions. This type of whiplash should be approached carefully and delicately because it involves the treatment of extremely hypersensitive tissue.
The goal of this type of treatment is to first calm down the nervous system to the extent that it will again help your body to move itself. If whiplash has not yet moved to the cold stage, mobility has not become the top priority. Treatment will work to calm the trauma and help the body relax so that it can heal before additional damage can be done in the cold whiplash stage.
Cold Whiplash
Cold whiplash is the stage found after hot whiplash. It sets in after time has passed after an injury that hasn’t yet been resolved. In many cases people don’t know that they have suffered an injury until it has entered the cold phase because this phase is characterized by pain in the joints and stiffness.
When treating this type of whiplash, your Jonesboro chiropractors will focus on restoring mobility to the affected muscles and joints. The process of undoing damage at this phase is extensive because muscle damage and scarring would have already occurred. This type of treatment is more direct than that of hot whiplash.