Osteopathic manipulative treatment for facial numbness and pain after whiplash injury

Abstract

Whiplash injury is often caused by rear-end motor vehicle collisions. Symptoms such as neck pain and stiffness or arm pain or numbness are common with whiplash injury. The author reports a case of right facial numbness and right cheek pain after a whiplash injury. Osteopathic manipulative treatment techniques applied at the level of the cervical spine, suboccipital region, and cranial region alleviated the patient's facial symptoms by treating the right-sided strain of the trigeminal nerve. The strain on the trigeminal nerve likely occurred at the upper cervical spine, at the nerve's cauda, and at the brainstem, the nerve's point of origin. The temporal portion of the cranium played a major role in the strain on the maxillary. © 2013 American Osteopathic Association.