Headaches, Neck Pain and Whiplash Injuries

Headaches, neck pain as well as whiplash injuries are commonly treated by Chiropractors.
The main are that is treated are small joints in the back of the neck called facet joints that are responsible for neck pain. When these joints dysfunction / subluxate they can be responsible for neck pain. The nerve fibres that innervate / act as sensors for these facet joints also serve to act as sensors to parts of the head. When these facet joints dysfunction these sensors become active, the brain cannot clearly differentiate between the facet joints and the mapping of the head and create the sensation of pain in a broader area- Headache.

What makes a person suffering from neck pain a Chiropractic patient is based on Chiropractic's principle that joint dysfunction termed "Subluxation" is the cause of a patient's signs andsymptoms. The American Chiropractic Association has defined subluxation as"the alignment / physiological function of a motion segment as being altered although contact between the joint surfaces remains intact (1)."

This altered alignment / physiological function to the musculoskeletal system (2)

notably cause changes in tissue sensory beds, which have been implicated in

subluxation theories.

The effects of altered sensory input on central and efferent activity is of great

interest to clinicians as Chiropractic analyses have been developed in an attempt

to locate dysfunction or subluxation.         

Changes that occur due to joint alterations from micro trauma, sustained loading such as in an abnormal posture, repetitive motions, many times work related may also be a mechanism of injury.

Sports, hobbies, and recreation which may lead to acute or chronic dysfunction and pain syndromes. In addition the effects of ageing, or of a lifetime of micro trauma and macro trauma injuries leading to degeneration immobilization and pain.

Connective tissue changes as a result of inflammation and oedema reorganize tissues, possibly perpetuating immobility and further degeneration. Under normal conditions (2) the nociceptive system is silent because the high threshold of the nocicieptor does not receive the amount of sensory stimulation necessary to initiate an action potential.

However when adequately stimulated nociceptors fire continuously in a non adaptive nature until the stimulus is removed. Thus the person is apprised of a damaging stimulus that causes the pain as long as it persists. Three types of stimuli excite the nociceptors, mechanical, thermal, chemical.

It is this subluxation that we as Chiropractors, find and restore to normal alignment and hence function.
What we do with the Activator Adjusting Instrument is adjust these subluxations, in doing so we initiate passive joint movement , which results in stimulating movement as well as the nerves that sense movement, this stops the nerves that are responsible for pain from being active, and hence abolish or diminish pain (3).

Creation of normal joint structure and function through Chiropractic adjustments may cause the nerves responsible for sensing normal joint movement, and those nerves responsible for sensing pain to work appropriately, meaning that when the joints are working properly then the pain fibre nerves remain dormant, only when there is joint damage or dysfunction are the pain fibres to operate (3).

Several scientific authors have reported involvement of neck pain and headaches stemming from the C2-C3 joints of the neck, and neck and shoulder pain from the C5/C6 joints of the neck, after determining these were the source of pain byinjecting these joints with anaesthetic.