You may have wondered, “Who should I go to for treatment for my whiplash problem?” You have many choices available in healthcare ranging from drug-related approaches (such as narcotic medications) to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic, exercise, and meditation, with many others in between. Trying to figure out which approach or perhaps combined approaches would best serve the needs of the presenting patient is truly challenging.

To help answer this question, one study looked at chiropractic care’s effect on patients with chronic whiplash. The study also determined which type of chronic whiplash patients responded best. The research paper begins with the comment from a leading orthopedic medical journal stating, “Conventional treatment of patients with whiplash symptoms is disappointing.” In the study, there were 93 patients divided into three groups consisting of:

1. Group 1: Patients with a “coat-hanger” pain distribution (neck and upper shoulders) and loss of neck range of motion (ROM), but no neurological deficits.
2. Group 2: Patients with neurological problems (arm/hand numbness and/or weakness) plus neck pain and ROM loss.
3. Group 3: Patients that reported severe neck pain but had normal neck ROM and no neurological losses.

The average time from injury to first treatment was 12 months and an average of 19 treatments over a four-month time frame. The patients were graded on a 4-point scale that described their symptoms before and after treatment.

• Grade A patients were pain free.
• Grade B patients reported their pain as a “nuisance.”
• Grade C patients had partial activity limitations due to pain.
• Grade D patients were disabled.

Here are the results:

• Group 1: 72% reported improvement as follows: 24% were asymptomatic, 24% improved by 2 grades, 24% by 1 grade, and 28% reported no improvement.
• Group 2: 94% reported improvement as follows: 38% were asymptomatic, 43% improved by 2 grades, 13% by 1 grade, and 6% had no improvement.
• Group 3: 27% reported improvement as follows: 0% were asymptomatic, 9% improved by 2 grades, 18% by 1 grade, 64% showed no improvement, and 9% got worse.

This study is very important as it illustrates how effective chiropractic care is for patients that have sustained a motor vehicle crash with a resulting whiplash injury. It’s important to note that the type of patient presentation that responded best to care were those with neurological complaints and associated abnormal neck range of motion. This differs from other non-chiropractic studies where it is reported that patients with neurological dysfunction responded poorly when compared to a group similar to the Group A patient here (neck/shoulder pain, reduced neck ROM, and with normal neurological function).