{"id":1233,"date":"2018-05-07T19:06:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T19:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2018-05-10T16:20:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T16:20:09","slug":"whiplash-dangers-of-drops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aerialdancing.com\/blog\/whiplash-dangers-of-drops\/","title":{"rendered":"Whiplash Dangers of Drops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by McKell Anderson<\/em><\/p>\n

While receiving a lovely massage that my husband gifted to me for Valentine\u2019s Day, my therapist began asking me the usual questions:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have any problem areas?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat areas would you like me to focus on most?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you like your pressure?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

My answer:\u00a0<\/strong> “Please destroy my shoulders with all the force an invading finger army can deliver.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So far, pretty normal experience for most aerialists getting a massage.\u00a0\u00a0 During the massage, the therapist moved to my chronically tight neck and she was surprised with how tense it was.<\/p>\n

Masseuse<\/strong>: \u201cHave you been in a car accident recently?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> \u201cNo, my neck is usually tight like this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Masseuse<\/strong>: \u201cYour neck feels like people I work with that have had whiplash.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The wheels in my head began to turn with that statement.\u00a0 I was in a car accident when I was seventeen but that was fifteen years ago and I did not experience any severe whiplash from it.\u00a0 However, I commonly let my body gracefully–and sometimes not so gracefully–fall towards the ground until a piece of fabric halts my descent in a rather abrupt manner.\u00a0 The curiosity seed was planted:\u00a0 Can aerial drops give someone a whiplash injury?\u00a0 Has it given me whiplash?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, let me start by saying that I\u2019m a firm believer that correlation does not equal causation.\u00a0 Just because things seem to relate, does not mean that it is truth.\u00a0 You should know that despite my supplications to the oracle that is Google, my canoodling on aerial forums asking around, or my general inquiries to my aerial role models, I couldn\u2019t find any existing data on the idea.<\/p>\n

Aerial is still a young industry, so having scientific data collected on many practitioners is highly unlikely.\u00a0 Data not existing doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that there isn\u2019t a correlation; it could just be a sign that no one has researched it yet.\u00a0 For the remainder of this post, we will go over what information we DO have on whiplash injuries and aerial drops separately, then compile the information into some helpful guidelines for safe dropping. If you ever come across any research on this topic, I’d love to be the first one you share it with! Much appreciated.<\/p>\n

A Crash Course on Whiplash (no pun intended)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cWhiplash is a mechanism of injury due to forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck, like the cracking of a whip. The energy transfer of the rapid acceleration and deceleration forces to the neck can result in damage to the soft tissue structures of the neck.\u201d\u00a0 -Dr. Emily Scherb<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of the observations made about whiplash relate very specifically to car accidents.\u00a0 Whiplash injuries are kind of a fickle thing and vary by individual.\u00a0 Some people experience a little pain for a few days but make a full recovery with very little side effects in a short time.\u00a0 Others do not notice any symptoms until many weeks after the accident.\u00a0 The unfortunate thing is that the longer the symptoms persist, the more likely that the damage will become permanent.<\/p>\n

Symptoms following a whiplash injury may not be what you would normally anticipate.\u00a0 When you think of whiplash, the normal expectation of symptoms would be tender muscles, limited neck mobility, headaches, and upper back pain.\u00a0 Other symptoms can be a bit sneakier like shoulder pain, anxiety, fatigue, sensitivity to noise, impaired concentration, or temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD\/TMJ) resulting in jaw pain.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve observed (and that doesn\u2019t make this a fact) that TMJ pain is more pervasive in the aerial communities I\u2019ve been in than any other groups I\u2019ve associated with.\u00a0 Could be a coincidence but might not be.\u00a0 Only time and data will tell.\u00a0 There are various factors that can increase the likelihood of getting whiplash in an accident.\u00a0 Some of these facts I found interesting when analyzing them with aerial in mind.<\/p>\n