Whiplash

[mummynumnum]

I had a car accident on Monday. Back is very sore and neck. Back of neck also feels very swollen and hard round one side. Is this normal or something I should return to the docs about?

I have returned to work as a teacher. A good idea or doing more damage?

if you go to the docs, they might get you a physio referral - this could take weeks to come through. Did you go to the hospital straight after the accident? Sounds like you should have done.

They might prescribe you some anti-inflammatories or suggest you take ibuprofen if you can. If you leave it long enough and you still have really stiff and painful neck, they might even prescribe you muscle relaxants.

Or, you could go and see an osteopath/ chiropractor immediately and have the neck looked at - whiplash usually involves some kind of muscular damage and osteos/chiros can release some of the tension.

Teaching small children will be more potentially damaging because of the extra need to crouch/lean down, putting more strain on your neck etc.

You could also try to self-help with this - get something like ibufprofen gel, or Deep Heat, or tigerbalm and rub it into the affected area on your neck, see if it helps.

It's something you need to pop to A&E for so that you can get an x-ray.
Thumb also has some very good advice. I would get an x-ray first though.