If you were in a car accident and your neck is hurting very bad, you may have whiplash. The first thing you should do is see a doctor to ensure you do have this problem. You can then see a chiropractor for treatment of your neck pain. 

Doctor Diagnosis

When you arrive at the doctor's office, they may ask you to turn your head side to side and up and down to see how much pain this causes you. If you have whiplash, you will likely not be able to turn your neck very well or move it at all. The doctor will touch your neck in different areas to see where it feels tender. 

The doctor may order x-rays to make sure you do have whiplash as this could be caused by other problems, such as a neck fracture, a dislocated neck, or arthritis. They may order a CT (computerized tomography) scan to allow them to see even better images of your bones.  The doctor may also order an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan to give them a 3D image of your neck bones to help them determine if you are injured and have whiplash. 

See a Chiropractor

If the doctor determines that you do have whiplash this can be treated by a chiropractor. Spinal manipulation is often used  to treat whiplash. This is adjusting your spine in a way to reduce pain in your neck joints. It also helps with joints that are not positioned correctly or are misaligned. The chiropractor does this by gently moving your neck in different directions. 

The chiropractor may also use relaxation or muscle stimulations to treat your whiplash. This is using gentle stretches to your neck muscles to relieve tension in your neck. This also helps relax restricted muscles that cause a lot of pain. 

The chiropractor may choose to use specific trigger point therapy. This allows them to identify the spinal joints that are causing you problems. They use a gentle thrusting technique to restore motion in your neck joints. This can also help stretch your neck muscles which can help relieve pain. 

In some cases the chiropractor may use electrical stimulation to treat your whiplash. This is a device that connects wires to your neck area. The device is turned on and a low frequency current goes through the wires and then into your neck. This is not painful at all and can help with pain. 

A whiplash chiropractor can give you much more information about how they treat whiplash.