Introduction: In 1995, whiplash was defined by the Quebec task force as an acceleration-deceleration mechanism of energy transfer to the neck. An acute whiplash injury follows sudden or excessive hyperextension, hyperflexion or rotation of the neck. It accounts as one of the major burdens of public healthcare and an important cause of disability. It typically results from rear-end or side-impact motor vehicle collision. The impact may result in bony or soft-tissue injuries (injury of facet joints, discs, ligaments, muscles or neural tissue). The affected individual most commonly complains of neck pain and stiffness in the acute phase. The other symptoms are headaches, upper back and shoulder pain, and upper limb pain. Patients may also complain of paraesthesias, numbness, weakness of the upper limbs, dizziness and tiredness. Clinical guidelines recommend a multimodal approach of manual therapy, kinesiotherapy, advice, early mobilization and medication. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to determine the effect of manual therapy after whiplash. Methods: Literature was gathered using PubMed and Science Direct. We selected seven full access articles in English, published between 2010 and 2019 which analyzed the effectiveness of manual therapy in patients after whiplash injury. Results: Different manual therapy approaches have positive effect on reducing the symptoms. The use of dry needling, inhibition of suboccipital muscle technique, neural mobilization, fascial manipulation and multimodal manual therapy found a reduction in analgesic use, neck disability index, posttraumatic stress symptoms, an improvement in pressure pain threshold, thermal pain threshold, range of motion of elbow during upper limb neurodynamic test, nociceptive flexion reflex and cervical spine range of motion. Discussion and conclusion: The results of the examined researches have shown that different manual therapy approaches can be used for treating patient after whiplash. Further researches with larger number of subjects are required. It would be reasonable to asses immediate and long-term effects.
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