Teens & Whiplash?

My daughter is 13, She was at Cheerleading practice (Allstars) and she was doing a round off 3 backhandsprings, she fell but got right back up and practiced 30 more minutes. When they got a break she couldnt move her head, she went to the ER and the Dr. said she had whiplash.

She's developed headaches, and her followup Dr gave her an anti-inflamatory and muscle relaxer. This has been about 6-7 wks, she went back to tumbling tonight done a round off 2 back handsprings, got a headache and is very sore.

The Dr. said a Chiropractor would not help and "time" would. She said at the most maybe some physical therapy. But w/ her head hurting so much I'm worried.

Any suggestions?

Your doctor is wrong..He is not an authority on what a doctor of chiropractic is able to accomplish. As long as there is not a corrective measure taken, this will continue and cause additional problems in the future. Someone this young should respond quite dramatically. Whiplash is something well handled by Chiropractic care... is routine.

This is a structural problem and there is nothing more your doctor can do to treat it. All he is able to do is help the symptoms with meds. It does nothing for the cause of the symptoms.

If you lived in Dallas I could send you to the very best Doctor there is. If you could find a D.O. that does manipulations they could help her , unfortunately only 5% of D.O.'s are trained in it. We are so glad to have 2 great ones in Dallas. If you don't get her help soon she can lose some movement in her neck (personal experience). I spent 1 night in a hospital on vacation once 7,000.00 and no help. Got back home went to the Doctors office and was cured in about 5 minutes(he knew exactly what was wrong from my symptoms, not an $1200.00 MRI.) It would have been cheaper to fly home get an alignment and fly back.

P.S. Stay completely away from chiropractors.

Were x-rays performed on her cervical spine (neck)? Whiplash is a term used to describe an overstretching of the muscles and ligaments in the neck and upper back. Anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers are commonly prescribed and while they may be useful in the short-term they are not a good long-term solution.
Headaches can result for many reasons. One reason could be that the muscles that help support her neck are being overworked.
While time will help there are many things that can be done now to help your daughter with her injury which is bothering her NOW! Ask for a referral to a physical therapist. A PT will help address any mobility and postural issues as well as make sure to protect the area that is healing. You must remember that all those muscles and ligaments were stretched out and injured and an appropriate amount of time must be given to allow them to heal. She may also benefit from being put in a soft cervical collar. This will allow her to heal and prevent the healing muscles from being overworked. She also needs to be taken out of cheerleading until she is cleared by the MD and PT. Please feel free to ask any other questions.