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WHIPLASH TO WELLNESS by Karin Drummond

WHIPLASH TO WELLNESS

A Chiropractor's Journey

by Karin Drummond

Publisher: Blooming Ink Publishing

A guide to recovering from whiplash injuries.

Drummond (Combat Headaches, 2016, etc.) suffered no outward injuries and seemed to walk away unscathed from a fender bender. But within hours, her “neck and mid-back started to seize up.” Soon, “severe, immobilizing pain” rendered her nearly immobile. As a chiropractor, she knew immediately that she was suffering from whiplash, having treated many patients with similar injuries. So she went straight to work healing herself with a range of therapies, including (but not limited to) yoga, hypnosis, massage, chiropractic adjustments, and time in a flotation pod. Drummond chronicles her own recovery in fairly exhaustive detail (“I took another Aleve at noon,” and so on) while also discussing the specific treatments she explored.  The guide explains how whiplash occurs and why this much-mocked injury can be so painful. Numerous illustrations provide useful context. Anyone who is questioning whether a minor accident can really lead to months of incapacitating pain or who is having trouble finding a sympathetic health care practitioner will find Drummond’s book reassuring. Unsurprisingly, her bias is strongly in favor of alternative medicine. She makes a case for exploring nontraditional treatments and avoiding painkillers and other drugs, but at times, her advice veers toward the patronizing. Not all will be as inclined to scorn conventional medicine; for those readers, more advice on how to integrate the alternative therapies she advocates with treatments that might be prescribed by an M.D. would be welcome. Nonetheless, Drummond provides a service by dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding a commonly misunderstood condition. Few who read this book will doubt that “whiplash is real and the pain can be severe enough to be debilitating.”

Helpful advice and validation for those suffering from a common yet invisible injury.