subject: What Speed Do You Have To Be Travelling At To Sustain A Whiplash Injury? [print this page] Many people are of the opinion that you can only sustain a whiplash injury if you have been involved in a relatively serious, high speed collision. This is not, in fact, the case. Whiplash can occur in a number of scenarios and is caused not necessarily by the speed at which the vehicles were travelling when the collision occurred, but by how the body was impacted by the collision. This article looks at how a whiplash injury is actually caused, in what type of scenarios whiplash injuries are commonly sustained and what you should do if you think you may be suffering from a whiplash injury.
The impact to the body during a collision is key in determining whether or not a whiplash injury is likely to be sustained. A whiplash injury is caused when the head and neck are suddenly and forcefully thrown back and forth causing the soft-tissue and ligaments in the neck to be stretched beyond their normal range of movements. A whiplash injury will first be apparent several hours after the accident and symptoms may present themselves in the form of pain, stiffness and discomfort in the neck, shoulders and upper back, restricted movement in the neck, headaches, nausea, dizziness and lethargy. If you experience any of these symptoms, or have other reasons to think that you might be suffering from a whiplash injury, you should visit your GP or local Accident & Emergency department as soon as possible.
Although it is possible for a whiplash injury to be sustained in most road traffic collisions it commonly occurs as a result of one vehicle colliding with the rear of another vehicle, often when the vehicle that has been struck is stationary or moving slowly in a queue of traffic.
If you think you may have sustained a whiplash injury you should seek medical advice as soon as possible. Your injury may be treated, depending on its severity, with painkillers, gentle mobility exercises or a course of physiotherapy. Medical opinion nowadays is that keeping the neck immobile following a whiplash injury can actually lead to complications and/or a delayed recovery period.
Whiplash injuries should be taken seriously as if left untreated the injury could get worse and result in a greater impact on the life of the sufferer, including the need to take time off work and an inability to easily carry out simple day to day tasks.
Copyright (c) 2012 Robert Gray
by: Robert Gray
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