How long will it take to get better?

This is a good question after a traumatic auto accident.  Naturally, no two injuries are exactly alike but there are many common traits to most of these injuries.  Whenever you've suffered an acceleration/deceleration injury, (a whiplash), you typically suffer a strain, sprain or both.

  So what's the difference between a strain and a sprain?  A strain refers to muscular or tendon damage and typically takes 4-8 weeks to heal, this is the easy part and doesn't require a lot of time to correct.  However, a sprain refers to ligament damage and may take anywhere from 4 months to a year or more to heal.  Now for the good and bad news, whether you're treated or not, your body is going to heal, unfortunately if you do not get the necessary corrective treatment your body will heal OUT OF PROPER ALIGNMENT.

There are many different types of ligments that may be involved in an auto-accident.  A disk injury is a ligament injury.  There are capsular ligaments around joints and there are long fiber ligaments between joints and along the spinal canal.  Injuries to these ligaments can cause permanent damage, especially if they are not attended to promptly after the accident.  My advice is to play it safe and get checked out if you've been involved in a motor vehicle accident.