Have you developed whiplash symptoms?

[Toby]

Have you developed whiplash symptoms such as neck irritation, stiffness, headaches that you feel may be related to kiteboarding?

Whiplash is a term used to describe an injury to the soft tissue (e.g., muscles, ligaments, tendons) in the neck. Whiplash injury, also called neck strain, neck sprain, cervical sprain, or cervical strain, can occur when a sudden force (e.g., a car accident "or kiting wipeout") causes forward, backward, or sideways movement of the head that is beyond the normal range of motion, or from a sudden jolt.

The neck, or cervical spine, is comprised of seven bones (called vertebrae) and is part of the spinal column. The vertebrae are separated by gel-like cushions (intervertebral discs) and are held together by ligaments, which are attached to muscles by tendons. Whiplash injury involves damage (i.e., stretching or tearing) to these muscles, ligaments, and tendons. The term whiplash is not used to describe additional injuries such as a fractured vertebra, a herniated disc, or a head injury.
http://www.neurologychannel.com/whiplash/index.shtml

[Toby]

I had it once stronger...stupid me jumped high in a shallow area...small kite, that jumps high and then has no surface to bring you down softly...and the gust was gone...I crashed and my body hit ground and the head went after it also on ground...

Like in a car accident, my neck was painful. I went to my mum, she is a physiotherapist, and she fixed it quickly.

And then I have slight soar muscles, when I crash hard.

[FabsPH]

Riding over-powered and toe-side on a surfboard fubars my neck, and of course a nice faceplant does too. Whiplash I get after crashing toe-side, or eating it face first going down in a wave.
Actually I am still feeling it, 2 days later. Was a great wipe-out though

[RickI]

Yes, likely from time, regular kiting water impacts over 11 years and few bad impacts on land. Stiffness, discomfort and the odd headache were getting worse despite chiro, neck traction, lots of conditioning and massage over several years. Started acupuncture over a year ago, and the symptom trend has been reversed. Rarely have headaches, stiffness is much less, range of motion has improved. Also improved the ergonomics of the setup at work, i.e. screen straight ahead, not off to the side, use speaker phone more rather than holding it between my head and shoulder, etc.. Tension comes with work, so do tight neck muscles. Changing things around seems to have helped. I was interested to get a better idea how common whiplash symptoms are out there. I would guess fairly common but what do you think? Who else has a sore neck at times?

Thanks for putting the poll up Toby! What sort of therapy did your mom do with you that brought results?

[GhostDog]

Have you developed whiplash symptoms such as neck irritation, stiffness, headaches that you feel may be related to kiteboarding?

I used to get them playing basketball occasionally, from whipping my head around quickly while battling for a rebound, I get them from kiting occasionally, not very often. Usually go away after a few days.

[bay surfer]

Whiplash put me out of the game for 1 month last year. F-16 the kite at height came down sideways slammed and dragged head first , recovered, said to meself neck d'ont feel right, popped it, felt better, kited the rest of the day. Next day the back spasms started, took a month, of chiropractic, Vallium, and massage before spasms stopped. Even now 9 months latter still having some neck soreness and twinges.
Every time I go big with rotations I CRINGE if I F up and get yanked.

[ian c]

3 or 4 times a year i throw something (sometimes i don't warm up....) and wake up next day and can't move my neck for a day and a half - then it is good to go

[fishy]

About a year ago I developed a pain in my right forearm, got bad after doing backloops. Went to see my mate who is an osteopath and he confirmed it as being caused by whiplash at some point, probably a faceplant. It got worse as I sit at a PC all day using the mouse.

He gave me a few movements which basically opened up the neck bones, I switched to using a tablet & pen instead of the mouse and really made an effort to change posture when sitting. It took a while but the pain did eventually go and is fine now. Also helped not doing all the tricks on the same tack.

If you do get problems of this nature, definitely see a specialist, and if you are prone to joint problems generally I would highly recommed a supplement such as Glucosamine Chodroitin, it's cheap, naturally occurring in the body and widely acknowledged to help maintain healthy and supple joints. Also loads of stretching as well

[Jeza]

Only once so far. Caught the toe side edge i think while fairly powered and met the water face first. The mistake i made was looking up at the kite as i hit the water. If i'd kept my head forward i think i would have been fine. Resulted in a nasty headache at the time and sore neck for a number of days.

[SpaceRacer]

Yes, when I land backwards on rotations and when I get yanked toeside and look up at my kite. I think we are all prone to this. Anytime you are being yanked by force from your midsection you are vulnerable. Question is, how do we prevent?

1) Conditioning? Only goes so far when dealing with the force of the kite vs. the strength of neck muscles.
2) Develop a "Response Reflex" of some sort, where you tuck your chin?
3) Some sort of neck support or protection?

Good post!