Radiofrequency Treatments for Whiplash Injury
Do you know a friend or a family member who was involved in an auto accident and subsequently developed neck pain? All x-rays and MRI’s were negative. The patient was told that the pain might be in their head or worse, they were told that they were a malingerer or just wanted to collect money from the insurance company. This creates more frustration because the patient not only has to deal with neck pain but but also the inability to convince the rest of the world that the pain is real. This is the result of failure to diagnose and failure to apply the latest technology to treat this pain.

The neck pain that develops following a rear-end auto collision is called whiplash injury. This cannot be diagnosed on x-rays or MRI’s. There may not be any fracture that can be visualized on x-ray. There may not be any injury to the disc or cervical spine that can be visualized on MRI. If that is the case, what is a whiplash injury? How does one know that he or she has whiplash injury?

Whiplash injury typically follows a rear-end automobile collision when there will be sudden hyperextension of the neck followed by flexion of the neck. Rear-end collisions are responsible for about 85% of all whiplash injuries. Other names that are used for this condition are neck sprain, cervical sprain, acceleration/deceleration injury, myofascial syndrome of the neck. During whiplash injury the patient may have sustained damage to: 1. muscles of the neck; 2. ligaments of the neck; 3. connective tissue; 4. facet joints.

Symptoms and Signs: The patient complains of pain in the neck associated with movement of the neck, pain worse on extension of the neck particularly relieved by flexion of the spine. In addition to the patient’s may also experience headache, pain going into the shoulders and in between the shoulder blades.

Examination by a physician shows tenderness over the neck muscles, facet joints (small joints present on either side of the spine that connect each vertebra). X-ray will rule out any fracture of the spine. MRI will help to rule out any trauma to the spinal cord and herniated discs. Neurological examinations will exclude any damage related to the nerves. Once these are excluded, more often the pathology involves trauma to the facet joints which cannot be diagnosed by the above tests.

How do we diagnose whiplash injury? History of injury to the neck, pain getting worse on extension of the neck with tenderness over the facet joints combined with negative findings on plain x-rays of the cervical spine MRI leaves one to the suspect facet joints. The confirmation of the diagnosis can be made by examination under fluoroscopy followed with temporary blocking of the nerves that supply the facet joints with local anesthetics. If the pain is emanating from the facet joints of the neck the patient will get relief instantaneously.

Treatment Options: Here are treatment options once the diagnosis is made by your Doctor.

• Conservative Therapy: Just as for any other conditions related to pain, conservative therapy is the best choice and should be tried first. This includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as Naprosyn and Motrin followed with physical therapy.


If the above treatment does not relieve the pain, we now have an excellent treatment choice. This is called radiofrequency treatment.


• Radiofrequency Treatment: Once a definitive diagnosis is made a more definitive interruption of the sensory enervation to the facet joints can be done using radiofrequency treatment. In the radiofrequency we use high frequency current which gives a controllable heat lesion in the adjacent tissue. As the high frequency was also used in radio transmitters, the high frequency current was named radiofrequency current. The lesions made with this current were introduced as radiofrequency lesions.