Question
ive had ongoing neck pain for about year or even longer i havent really been keeping track. It all started whan i had a whiplash injury at the time i didnt really know what that type of injury was so i didnt do anything about it, i just woke up the next day with a stiff neck. ever since then i have been having on and off stiff neck at various degrees of soreness. if i dont do strenuous activity for a few days my neck pain dissapears and it dosnt bother me, but if i do alot of activity for a day or so such as lift weights, skateboard, etc. the next day i may wake up with a sore neck and/or back at varying degrees of pain depending on how long i participated in the prescribed activity. this has been an on going problem since the event i told you about. is there anything i can do about this ongoing problem ive already been to a local physician who really couldent help me out and ive been to a chiropractor who did his thing for a while and although it helped a little bit, it wasnt worth sighning up for his healthy lifestyle plan which involved forking out several thousands of dollars for a year of treatment which really wasnt neccessary for my problem and he didnt take our insurance. so what do you suggest doing?

Answer
Hi Shaun,

You didn't sign up for the several-thousand-dollar healthy lifestyle plan? But wouldn't you get the free ginzu knives if you signed up right away?  'Just kidding, obviously.  You are correct in that you probably didn't need to do that.   My main question to you is whether you got any Graston Technique or Active Release Technique performed along with the hands-on chiropractic joint manipulation?  What other methods have you tried besides the chiropractic joint manipulation?   Whiplash injuries can be insidiously pervasive in causing long-term problems.  Sometimes getting resolve requires multi-modal care.  Multi-modal means that you receive multiple modalities, not just one.  Deep soft tissue scar tissue can wreak havoc and cause chronic pain, and scar tissue or deep adhesions don't go away with pain-killer med's or with joint manipulation.   Also, if you are weight-lifting "mirror muscles" such as biceps and chest and ab's, then you are probably provoking your pain.   Spend some time backing off these, and do the muscles that you don't see in the mirror: calves, hams, butt, back, posterior shoulder.   Do a wide-grip chest row, bent-over reverse fly's, 1-arm bent-over rows, prone back extensions (Sky Diver position on a gym ball or extensions on a ball with fingers clasped behind head and lifting head against hands as you extend up), and add single-leg dead lifts holding a dumbbell...for example.   You might find that conditioning (not necessarily strength training) these muscle groups, as well as getting some soft tissue work along with skilled joint manipulation (see www.grastontechnique.com) can make a difference.   Core training is still a good idea, and www.coreessentials.biz is a great resource.  

'Hope this helps,

Dr. G

www.drgillman.com