Whiplash is not really a medical condition. It is a term used to describe the sudden acceleration-deceleration mechanism of injury to the neck. A whiplash injury can range from a muscle sprain to spinal cord contusions to fractured vertebra. Spinal cord contusions and fractured vertebra can be easily detected, but a muscle sprain cannot. This means there is no way to prove or disprove most claims of whiplash injury where a muscle sprain is involved.
While a car accident victim can experience neck, head, and back pain following the accident, but can such an energy transfer cause chronic, long-lasting pain, and if so, how?
There is no proven physical reason why a whiplash injury would cause chronic pain. But, in fact, about 25% of whiplash injury patients suffer chronic pain. Additionally, whiplash injuries in the United States come with a price tag of about 2.7 billion dollars a year1. So, what we know about whiplash is important to lowering claim costs.
1 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/03/chronic-whiplash-is-a-medical-mystery/476052/
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