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Review
A narrative review on cervical interventions in adults with chronic whiplash-associated disorder
  1. Charlotte Anderson1,2,
  2. Euson Yeung1,
  3. Tiffany Tong1,2,
  4. Nick Reed2,3,4
  1. 1 Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2 Concussion Research Centre, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  3. 3 Faculty of Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  4. 4 Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Charlotte Anderson; charlotte.anderson{at}utoronto.ca

Abstract

Introduction Whiplash injuries are common in society, but clinical interventions are inconclusive on the most effective treatment. Research and reviews have been completed with the goal of determining clinical interventions that are effective for whiplash injuries and disorders, but literature has not recently been summarised on best practices for cervical spine interventions for adults with chronic whiplash.

Purpose The objective of this narrative review is to update and expand on previous works, to provide recommendations for clinical interventions and future research in the area of cervical spine rehabilitation for adults with chronic whiplash-associated disorder.

Method The Arskey and O’Malley methodology was used for this narrative review. CINHAL, EMBASE, Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, as well as grey literature, were searched from 2003 to April 2017. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts for relevance to the review, and content analysis summarised the study findings. A total of 14 citations were included in the final review.

Findings Exercise-based interventions targeted at the cervical spine appear most beneficial for adults with chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAD). Invasive interventions still require more rigorous studies to deem their effectiveness for this population.

Conclusion Further research is required to investigate and determine clinically relevant results for cervical spine intervention in patients with chronic WAD.

  • recovery
  • chronic
  • rehabilitation
  • neck
  • cervical spine

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2017-000299

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors CA and TT completed the literature review for this article. CA wrote the article. NR and EY edited and provided guidance throughout the process.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement The data shared in this article will be available to all. There is no data from this study that was not included.