While advances in automobile design to reduce  injuries can also pose unique problems for the driver or passenger.  One of the most common product liabilities found in the automobile today is the 3-point seat belt restraint. The 3-point system has been instrumental in reducing fatalities, but can also contribute to injuries such as rib fracture, shoulder dislocation and spinal fracture.  Very little research has been published on these cases and the mechanism of injury.   Nourbakhsh, Patil, Vannemreddy and Smith (2009) reported their research in, “A Noncontiguous 2-Level Spinal Injury in a Young Female Driver Due to a 3-Point Seat Belt Restraint,” a paper published in a peer reviewed medically indexed scientific journal.   This paper’s focus was “to describe noncontiguous fracture and dislocations of the thoracolumbosacral spine in a 23-year-old female driver with a 3-point seat belt restraint” (Nourbakhsh et al., 2009,  p.

Patients that have been in motor vehicle accidents often complain about headache, brachialgia (pain radiating into 1 or both arms), vertigo or dizziness, chewing and swallowing problems, visual-motor disturbances, such as blurred vision and reduced coordination, fatigue and reduced energy, neuropsychologic dysfunction, depression, irritability, and sleep disorders.  On clinical examination, reduced range of motion of the cervical spine is prevalent. One can distinguish between the mobility of the upper cervical spine and the mobility of the lower cervical spine by assessing range of motion using an inclinometer as a visual finding.  However, this is not deemed the method of choice by the American Medical Association.  Ettlin et al.

Patients that have been in motor vehicle accidents often complain about headache, brachialgia (pain radiating into 1 or both arms), vertigo or dizziness, chewing and swallowing problems, visual-motor disturbances, such as blurred vision and reduced coordination, fatigue and reduced energy, neuropsychologic dysfunction, depression, irritability, and sleep disorders.  On clinical examination, reduced range of motion of the cervical spine is prevalent. One can distinguish between the mobility of the upper cervical spine and the mobility of the lower cervical spine by assessing range of motion using an inclinometer as a visual finding.  However, this is not deemed the method of choice by the American Medical Association.  Ettlin et al. (2008) concluded that patients with whiplash disorders would display more trigger points in the upper neck, on the basis of the biomechanics of the injury and the findings by Barnsley and Lord 10 S.M

It has often been said that if an accident victim has pre-existing arthritis (degenerative joint disease- sponylosis), that the ensuing bodily injury was most likely pre-existing.

Study Says 74% of Chronic Whiplash Patients Improved with Chiropractic A new study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine1 not only points out the superiority of chiropractic care for chronic whiplash patients, but also examines which chronic whiplash patients respond best to chiropractic care. The authors begin the paper by explaining that: “Conventional treatment of patients with whiplash symptoms is disappointing.” “A retrospective study by Woodward et al., demonstrated that chiropractic treatment benefited 26 of 28 patients suffering from chronic whiplash syndrome.”2 The question was not whether chiropractic was beneficial for acute whiplash patients, but to determine “which patients with chronic whiplash will benefit from chiropractic treatment.” The authors interviewed “100 consecutive chiropractic referrals for chronic whiplash symptoms,” seven of which were “lost to follow up.” They were able to divide the remaining 93 patients into three symptom groups: Group 1: patients with “neck pain radiating [referred pain] in a ‘coat hanger’ distribution [or pattern], associated with restricted range of neck movement but with no neurological deficit”; Group 2: patients with “neurological symptoms, signs or both in association with neck pain and a restricted range of neck movement”; Group 3: patients who described “severe neck pain but all of whom has a full range of motion and no neurological symptoms or signs distributed over specific myotomes or dermatomes.” These patients also “described an unusual complex of symptoms,” including “blackouts, visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting and chest pain, along with a nondermatomal distribution of pain [pain was not distributed along “normal” nerve supply pattern].” The patients underwent an average of 19.3 adjustments over the course of 4.1 months (average).

Study Says 74% of Chronic Whiplash Patients Improved with Chiropractic A new study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine1 not only points out the superiority of chiropractic care for chronic whiplash patients, but also examines which chronic whiplash patients respond best to chiropractic care. The authors begin the paper by explaining that: “Conventional treatment of patients with whiplash symptoms is disappointing.” “A retrospective study by Woodward et al., demonstrated that chiropractic treatment benefited 26 of 28 patients suffering from chronic whiplash syndrome.”2 The question was not whether chiropractic was beneficial for acute whiplash patients, but to determine “which patients with chronic whiplash will benefit from chiropractic treatment.” The authors interviewed “100 consecutive chiropractic referrals for chronic whiplash symptoms,” seven of which were “lost to follow up.” They were able to divide the remaining 93 patients into three symptom groups: Group 1: patients with “neck pain radiating [referred pain] in a ‘coat hanger’ distribution [or pattern], associated with restricted range of neck movement but with no neurological deficit”; Group 2: patients with “neurological symptoms, signs or both in association with neck pain and a restricted range of neck movement”; Group 3: patients who described “severe neck pain but all of whom has a full range of motion and no neurological symptoms or signs distributed over specific myotomes or dermatomes.” These patients also “described an unusual complex of symptoms,” including “blackouts, visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting and chest pain, along with a nondermatomal distribution of pain [pain was not distributed along “normal” nerve supply pattern].” The patients underwent an average of 19.3 adjustments over the course of 4.1 months (average)

Whiplash is commonly the result of rear-end car accidents, sports injuries and accidents at work. Whiplash can result when the neck is quickly and forcibly moved forward then backward or from side to side. It is important to treat these soft tissue injuries early to avoid chronic pain, although sometimes symptoms don’t develop until long after the accident occurred.

I had a patient ask, “I was in a car accident and think I have whiplash, should I be concerned?” If you have been in an automobile collision and think you may have been injured it is cause for concern. “What do I need to know?” The information in this article is specific and will answer a lot of questions regarding whiplash injuries for auto collisions. What is whiplash