If you feel that you may be suffering from whiplash then it’s imperative that you visit a doctor at the earliest possible opportunity. If you wish to make a claim for compensation, then any medical examinations may form a vital part of the case your personal injury lawyer puts together, and the sooner you seek medical help, the sooner you can access the treatment required to alleviate your pain and suffering.
Where the whiplash is of a fairly minor type the symptoms may clear up quite quickly with minimal treatment, but in more serious cases the pain can last for longer than six months and can prove to have a seriously detrimental effect upon the victim’s life.
The NHS website dedicated to whiplash, available at http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Whiplash/Pages/Treatment.aspx, lists a range of options which any doctor can choose from when putting together a programme of treatment. These include simple steps such as maintaining the mobility of the neck through gentle exercises, a process which, despite any discomfort, will speed recovery and help to lessen the symptoms in the long term.
Alongside the exercises, your doctor may well recommend the use of painkillers such as Paracetamol or Ibuprofen, although these should only be used sparingly and when the pain is at its’ most severe.
In more serious cases, a doctor may prescribe a course of physiotherapy, particularly if the symptoms have been on-going for a period of several weeks. The physiotherapist will devise a course of massage and manipulation as well as giving you exercises which you can perform at home.
Put simply, every case of whiplash is different, and so its’ vital that sufferers seek medical advice in order to access the right treatment for them. If your whiplash was caused by another’s negligence, then a record of the treatment you require will be used by personal injury solicitors when putting together a claim for compensation.
