this woman’s work

Whiplash

Oct 28, 2002 Read/heard/seen

I’ve got wicked bad whiplash from two car accidents over a decade ago. Neither were my fault. The first one happened as I was on my way to the chiropractor’s to get my hip adjusted. I was driving through an intersection and the other driver turned left into my path. The second one happened as I was driving to get my car washed so I could sell it. I was driving down the street and she popped out of a side street. As I hit her (in slow motion) I saw a child (a girl about 10) looking out the passenger window and screaming. They were both fine apparently. The woman drove off before the police came and the kid flipped me off as they sped away.

I got money for pain and suffering for the first accident. (Not nearly enough but I didn’t know about whiplash then. I should have seen a lawyer.) The woman I hit in the second accident was a drunk driver. She went to jail for our little crash but there was a long list of people waiting to get money from her and she was unemployed anyway (and uninsured) so I got nothing. Nothing except more whiplash, I should say. The kid, by the way, was her niece and was fine.

Anyway, the curve in my neck is gone. You’re supposed to have a nice little curve in your neck but x-rays show that mine goes straight up and down. I have a lot of trouble with it. Headaches, jaw pain, and sometimes it locks up so I can’t turn my head. It’s been getting worse and the last x-rays I had showed deterioration between the vertebrae. I can’t afford to go to the chiropractor anymore (I would go when it got bad and then quit when my neck improved but never had the $$$ to commit to regular treatment) and have been feeling worried about it.

Then I read an entryon Zelda’s journal about chronic pain. She talked about the need to move your body because holding yourself stiffly — to protect yourself from further pain — actually makes things worse. My range of motion has deteriorated in the last few years; I have trouble glancing behind me when I drive (making merging on the freeway a boatload of nervous fun).

I decided to start doing stretching exercises and they seem to be helping. I’m sleeping better at night and not waking up as sore, too, even though I need a new orthopedic pillow. (This old one was causing me to wake up some days unable to turn my head until I started stretching.) It was scary to stretch at first and I still get nervous because I’m so afraid it will hurt but if I do it slowly and carefully, it feels ok.

I’m amazed by how much of a work-out it is just to stretch. I get really tired after sitting there wagging my head slowly for a few minutes. I can tell that the muscles were simply not getting used enough. And I feel it down through my whole spine, especially between my shoulder blades where I have pain. I’ve recently read that whiplash can cause all kinds of upperback pain and that was validating.

Brett, while always sympathetic, used to secretly think I was a bit wimpy until he saw the x-rays. That and watching me get through 36 hours of labor. Now he’s convinced I’m a superwoman who really is hurting 98% of the time. He doesn’t trust chiropractors and is thrilled that the stretching seems to be helping.

I’m so glad that Zelda posted that entry. I’m feeling more hopeful about my neck now. Before I was terrified thinking that the pain would just get worse and worse. I know this isn’t helping with my skeletal structure actually being out of whack, but getting back range of motion is pretty huge.

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