subject: Car Accident Whiplash is Real [print this page] Thousands of automobile collisions occur everyday. And every day thousands are injured. Unfortunately for many of these victims the collision is only the start of their woes.
Today there is still a stigma over automobile accident injuries. Many other wise well meaning emergency room physicians, general medical doctors and even many chiropractors do not fully appreciate the extent of injury suffered by these patients. A recent survey found that a significant percentage of family practice and orthopedic physicians question the validity of whiplash. [1]
Insurance companies question the existence of whiplash as well for obvious economic reasons. This often puts the injured parties in conflict with their own doctor and insurance company. All the victim knows is that he or she is hurt, but their pleas for relief fall on deaf ears.
This doesn't have to be.
There are literally hundreds of scientific and medical journal papers precisely describing the tissues injured and the mechanism by which it occurs in motor vehicle collisions. It is no longer theory, but hard science that tells us that whiplash injuries are real.
Human cadavers were filmed with high speed cineradiography (motion x-rays) while being subjected to simulated rear impact loading in 1997 by Panjabi and Grauer at the Dept. of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Yale University School of Medicine.[2] This research documented the mechanism of injury in rear impact collisions.
The study was repeated by Panjabi, Cholewicki, Grauer et al. in 1998 this time on live human subjects and yielded similar results. [3]
The findings of these studies were confirmed on live human test subjects by Kaneoka et al in 1999 at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.[4]
The Panjabi and Kaneoka studies proved what proponents of whiplash treatment have been saying for decades. Namely, the cervical spine is injured in a rear impact collision. Whiplash is real.
What was eye opening about these studies was what happens to the neck when subjected to "whiplash" loads. The neck does not snap back into hyperextension as earlier proposed. Instead the lower bones in the neck rotate backwards and then the upper bones flex forward. At a point in time, merely 50 milliseconds into the loading, the spine takes on an "S" configuration. This deformation of the spine causes shearing forces tot eh joints, discs, muscle and ligaments resulting in damage. Interestingly, this phenomenon occurs so quickly it is actually prior to the subject being aware of the impact and before reflexes can protect them. In other words, by the time you are conscious of the impact via sight or sound, your neck is already damaged!
After studying this research, prominent researcher Nikolai Bogduk of the University of Newcastle wrote "As a result of this study, we no longer rely on inference or speculation; we have a direct demonstration of the mechanism of injury in whiplash." [5]
Many newer studies have been performed, many on live human subjects using high speed cineradiography that conclusively shows the effects of rear impact trauma on the cervical spine. Whiplash is no longer a theory that can be disputed. Medical science now proves without reservation that whiplash is indeed real.
References:
[1] Evans RW, Evans RJ, Sharp MJ. The physician survey on post concussion and whiplash syndromes. Headache. 1994;34:268-274.
[2] Panjabi MM, Grauer JN (1997): "Whiplash produces a S-shape curvature of the neck with hyperextension at lower levels. " Spine 22 (21): 2489-94.
[3] Panjabi MM, Cholewicki J, Nibu K, Grauer JN, Babat LB, Dvorak J, Bar HF (1998-12-01): "[Biomechanics of whiplash injury]." Orthopade 1998 Dec; 27(12): 813-9.
[4] Koji Kaneoka, Koshiro Ono, Satoshi Inami and Koichiro Hayashi (99-04-15). "Motion analysis of cervical vertebrae during whiplash loading." Spine 24(8): 763-770
[5] Spine 1996; 21: 1737-1745
Car Accident Whiplash is Real
By: Dr Barry Marks
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