Whiplash is an injury to your neck. It is caused by your neck bending forcibly forward and then backward, or vice versa. The injury, which is poorly understood, usually involves the muscles, discs, nerves, and tendons in your neck.

When you are working, as you’re recovering from a whiplash injury, it’s important to not stay in the same position for a prolonged period of time. The prolonged period of time is the key problem, it’s not the position that you’re in as much as how long you stay in that position.

So getting up frequently from the position that you’re in, if you’re sitting at a desk, standing up, if you’re hunched over all day, standing up. If you are standing all day at a counter doing movements that move your back, bending your spine back and forth, squatting, those kinds of things are really good to prevent you from getting stiff and sore throughout your workday. In treating this condition, often seeing a local massage therapist for muscle tension, a local personal trainer for muscle strength and a physiotherapist for release and conditioning is a good option.  

One of the options for people that work at their desk all day is to get desks that are stand up desks, so they can transfer from being in a sitting position to going up to a standing position. These types of desks help you stay active.

They help your body stay mobile, and they help prevent stiffness and soreness throughout the day, because as you’re injured, there’s some inflammation that might be in your joints and your tissues, and staying active and staying mobile is the key component to helping you recover.

As you start resuming normal day-to-day activities, and as you start trying to maintain them throughout your recovery phase, there are a couple of key things that you might benefit from. One is if you’re reading a tablet, or texting or on your phone, limit the amount of time you’re doing it, and also try to raise it up a little higher, so you’re looking at it more at eye level.

When you go to your dentist, for example, bring a neck pillow that supports your neck, so your neck is not in an uncomfortable position. When you go to a dinner party or out to dinner with a friend, try to find a position where you are sitting facing the person straight on, then you’re not having to turn your neck too much.

And if you’re in a car or in a train, take a neck pillow that goes around your neck, that fits around and can support you if you want to have a little bit of a snooze. Or also if you’re reading it helps keep your neck up straight for a long period of time that you’re sitting.

For further assistance on how to manage your day-to-day activities as you’re recovering, go see your physiotherapist, chiropractor or massage therapist.

Presenter: Bodhi Haraldsson, Massage Therapist, Surrey, BC

Now Health Network Local Practitioners: Massage Therapist