When the body undergoes a hard trauma like a high speed crash, the skeletal system absorbs some of these forces and becomes more rigid as a result. Osteopaths have many different techniques in their tool kits and it would surprise many to learn that the ones designed to treat and properly resolve impact injuries, are the more gentle techniques. These techniques are designed to relieve the compression (rigidity) from the skeletal system that occurs after we fall hard or bounce and which leads to immobility in the affected areas. Think of corn starch paste, if you touch it firmly it it goes rigid, but if you go slowly it lets you in. The body is like this after impact.
Another question people have is whether you can properly resolve impact injuries to return function to pre-injury state. The answer is yes. With specific targeted treatment on affected areas of the skeletal system, normal movement will return but only if impact specific treatment is done. It is common to still feel the effects of a whiplash or fall onto the tailbone as stiffness many years later and this is the original impact still having an effect. The muscles may have loosened allowing better function than originally, but as all muscles, tendons and ligaments attach to the skeletal system, unless impact is corrected at this level the pattern of tension and pain will remain.
In order to resolve these impacts the body goes through a healing process which can feel quite achey, even if dealing with a very old injury as circulation is returned to parts of the body which have lacked it and the architecture of the different structures involved is returned to normal.
The Wanaka Osteopathic Clinic provides very effective treatment to resolve impact injuries, due to our long serving experience dealing with these injuries in the home of adrenalin sports.