I was in a car accident on my way to meet my wife for lunch on new year's eve. Snow started just shortly before noon in Burnaby, and it wasn't just a little snow. The snow flakes were huge and it was accumulating fast. I'd been seeing patients all morning and the last appointment finished at 2:00pm.
I was driving on Kingsway just before Boundary Road heading west. I've been driving carefully because the new snow on the road hasn't been plowed. I was waiting for a red light to turn green. All of a sudden my car jumped forward and started sliding forward. I didn't realize what happened at that moment. I thought I let go of my clutch by accident while I was in gear. From not knowing what happened to realizing that I was going to hit the car in front of me, I stepped on my brake in time. Then I realized, it was the car behind me couldn't stop and rear ended me. Luckily, the damage was minor. We quickly exchanged information and went on our separate ways.
My neck and shoulders felt stiff. And so did my lower back. The pain got more severe after lunch, and my head started to get cloudy and drowsy. After I got home, I immediately went to bed. I thought I could just sleep it off. I didn't sleep well. I was very tired and drowsy but also hurting. I woke up an hour and half later, and my brain was still foggy.
Most of my pain or any discomfort sensation was in the back of head and nape. I never realized a whiplash from a car accident can be so severe. The impact I had wasn't even big. My rear bumper didn't break. There were only two indentation of bolts from license plate holder and a few scratches.
With nape, head, and brain issue, I knew exactly the acupuncture points to use: Tung's 77.01/02 Zheng Jin/Zheng Zhong on Achilles tendon. The needles have to go through the tendon to treat the tendon on my head and neck. When I inserted the needles, boy, were they painful. The needles barely went in the tendon and the achy sensation was so strong that I felt my tendon was going to cramp up if I kept going. I was able to insert the two on my left leg but not the two on my right side. My head cleared up right away and the neck stiffness decreased to just one spot. I was able to inserted the two needles to the required depth and left them in for 30 mins. My head was fine after one treatment, and my neck stiffness went away after a few days.