whiplash

Are you suffering from whiplash or a neck injury? Yoga to the rescue!

I was unfortunately in a car accident last week which got me thinking about yoga and whiplash and how it can help ease some of the discomfort. Here is what I was able to gather on the web.

About 1,000,000 whiplash injuries occur in the United States every year.

Whiplash describes the neck pain which follows a ‘soft tissue‘ injury to neck, that is an injury where no bones are broken but instead the muscles, ligaments and tendons are injured.

What to avoid….

If you tend to have neck pain, Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) can worsen the problem. As the pose drops your chin toward your chest, it makes it very easy to completely flatten the cervical curve or even curve the neck in the wrong direction. So, if you have a fairly recent, still painful, and acute neck injury like whiplash from an auto accident, avoid Shoulderstand. It would only exacerbate the injury, and practicing it too soon could significantly prolong your healing time.

Besides avoiding alignments and poses that flatten the neck too much, you should also work on strengthening the muscles that help support your cervical curve.

This site was great and completely outlines the exact way to go about healing your whiplash injury Yoga Therapy For Whiplash

Here is a nice ‘lil sequence for those of you easing back into your yoga practice.

My yoga sequence

Supta Badha Konasana
Easy Twist
Childs Pose
Cat Cow
Down Dog
Cobra (note: Do not throw your neck back, no matter how cool it may look when other yogis do it! Keep the back of the neck long, it is very important when healing from whiplash)
Legs Up the Wall Pose
Savasana