Whiplash injury accelerate osteoarthritis

Laine

Hi

I wondered if anyone had read articles about sustaining chronic whiplash injury and this accelerating or having more impact on someone with "wear and tear" on the spine due to age? I never suffered pain before the whiplash injury, was extremele active and in full time wirk. Two years on, i now also have chronic degenerative spinal, hip, knee ostearthritus that has hugely impacted my life . Im confused as to why this only started hurting after the initial chronic whiplash incident. Can the two be related to each other?

helpline_team

Hi@Laine

Thanks for your post to the Helpline. We would not have such detailed information - this might be something to explore with an orthopaedic specialist.

But informally from speaking to people with arthritis over the years I think a physical trauma can seem to impact on peoples' pre-existing osteoarthritis, but that's not the view of a medical professional.

If your osteoarthritis has become more of a problem, it's helpful to see a physiotherapist and review your daily exercises as well as making sure your diet is balanced, to help lose any overweight.

Osteoarthritis (OA) | Causes, symptoms, treatments (versusarthritis.org)

All the best

Guy - Helpline Team

frogmorton

@Laine funnily enough I accompanied my husband to the Gps the other day for neck issues.

One of the things they asked was whether he'd aver experienced whiplash.

Toni x